Erick Erickson: Charlottesville violence and the regressive ideas of white supremacists have no place in America

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For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. As the left-wing social justice warriors have created mobs across America intent on destroying lives for daring to engage in wrong-think, an equal and opposite white supremacist movement has risen up. Both would silence the other side for wrong-think. Both work at the extremes of American politics.

Both the social justice warrior left and white supremacist alt-right will continue on this course unless an external force is applied to stop them. Those of us who find both abhorrent must be that force. But for now, following the planned white supremacists rally that turned into a day of violent clashes in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday – leaving at least one person dead and 19 injured when a car rammed into a group of counter-protestors – we should focus on the white supremacists.

White supremacists, white nationalists, or alt-right are a group of people who have decided to embrace left-wing tactics and strategies to advance the noxious idea that the white race is superior to others. There is actually no evidence for this. In fact, the idea flies outside the bounds of both science and theology.

Scientifically, we are all largely biologically equal, though we have different colors of skin, eyes, and hair and different widths and heights. Theologically, we are all created in the image of God and are therefore all born equal. White supremacy is a sin against God because it posits that God created one race of people superior to others. There is no scriptural evidence for that and it is therefore a sin to think it.

The regressive ideas of the white supremacists in Charlottesville have no place in America any more than the censorious totalitarianism on display last week at Google. They are all from the same strain of secular uncertainty rising as Western cultural certainties collapse.

But beyond science and theology, the idea of racial superiority is equally anathema to our founding creeds. Though an imperfect nation of sinners that at one time failed to live up to its founding creeds, our founding Declaration posits that “all men are created equal.”

The regressive ideas of the white supremacists in Charlottesville have no place in America any more than the censorious totalitarianism on display last week at Google. They are all from the same strain of secular uncertainty rising as Western cultural certainties collapse.

President Trump should be forceful in his condemnation of the white supremacists and the Republican Party – the party of Lincoln, who freed the slaves – should speak with one voice against the white supremacists.

More importantly, we should acknowledge that much of what is on display is boys playing at being men. They have picked up citronella tiki torches and claimed some level of grievance. They got together because individually they lack the courage of their convictions. They play at strength through numbers, but they are in the minority.

The nation appears to have lost its mind at the moment. It is therefore important for the saner voices of our better angels and politicians to speak up against this.

More importantly, we should remember that Newton’s laws do apply here. The reaction of the social justice warriors will be equal to what is on display in Charlottesville, which in turn will force another reaction from these boys.

The only way to stop these competing childish reactions and amplifications is for external forces to be applied. Law enforcement should aggressively clamp down on violence and the average American should speak loudly that these boys do not protest in our names.