The avoidance of imposing consequences is a basic tenet of “progressive” social philosophy. The “progressive” approach to social control and law and order is the insistence that we be kinder and gentler, particularly to preferred minorities and those on the far left. No harshness should be allowed to any human being, no matter what they do or don’t do–except for non-progressives. We have seen the results in dealing with foreign adversaries, drug use, crime, illegal immigration, and education.
Everyone knows who is behind the terrorism in the Middle East. The Islamic Republic of Iran proudly proclaims the forthcoming destruction of Israel and the U.S.A. Iran generously funds Hamas, Hezbollah, and Shi’a militia proxies in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen and provides support from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Iran is behind the aggressive attacks on Israel and American assets in the region, and is responsible for the barbaric atrocities recently committed by Hamas in Israel. Iran endorses the ongoing terrorist campaign by Palestinians to murder as many Jews as possible.
The theocratic government of the Islam Republic of Iran has clear goals in mind: First, to establish dominance of Shi’a Islam over Sunni Islam, and Iran over the Middle Eastern countries with Sunni populations or governed by Sunnis. Second, to take back all of Palestine, including what is now Israel, because as previously part of the Islamic Empire, the area, which in the minds of Muslims may never be legitimately alienated from Islamic control, had been hijacked and occupied by the Jews. Third and finally, the ultimate goal is to conquer the world for Islam, converting all inhabitants, or at least placing all humanity under Islamic authority and in obedience to Allah.
You might think that other non-theocratic countries, especially democratic countries, would view the Islamic Republic with considerable concern. But no. The totalitarian opposition to Western countries, including Communist China, Post-Soviet Russia, and Communist North Korea, are keen on Iran, because Iran is an implacable enemy of the United States of America. Also because it supplies oil to those totalitarians who do not have any.
How do the democratic (or once democratic) countries of the West respond to Iran? The Europeans, ostensible allies of the U.S.A., especially Germany, are also enthusiastic about Iran, because they love the profits from trade with Iran. What about the U.S.? Iran was the most loved country of the two Obama-Biden administrations, and of the Biden-headed “third Obama administration.” The Biden administration, riddled with Iran influencers, has repeatedly begged Iran, which always refers to America as “the great Satan” (a serious designation for religious fanatics), to be a friend and make an agreement, and showered Iran with billions and billions of dollars. Iran, which was on the verge of economic collapse at the end of the Trump administration, was revitalized by Biden dollar transfusions and the suspension of sanctions, even while its terrorist sponsorship continued unabated and was energized by Biden bucks.
So, what were the results of no consequences for Iran’s quest for nuclear weapons and its continual sponsorship and funding of terrorism throughout the Middle East? It has gone ahead full throttle toward a nuclear weapon, blocking international inspectors meant to assure limited progress, and fully funding, supplying, and directing its terrorist proxies. The barbaric slaughter of 1,400 Israelis and the taking of 200+ hostages by Hamas is just the latest Iranian sortie.
President Biden, leading the Obama administration’s third term, refuses to name Iran as the culprit, to threaten Iran if it sponsors further bad deeds, or to punish Iran for it many offenses against other countries and peoples. On the contrary, the Biden administration has rewarded the Islamic Republic of Iran since coming into office without any benefit in return. As a result, there is no deterrence to discourage Iran from continuing on its preferred course. In the Hamas massacre, terrorists killed 31 Americans and took others hostage. Elsewhere, in Iraq and Syria, American soldiers have been attacked by Iran’s militias. This is a direct attack on the United States. From the Biden administration: no consequences.
We see a similar pattern for the most serious threat to America: Communist China. China has declared a “people’s war” against America, and the communist government has been relentlessly carrying out a cold war against America, which China wishes to displace as leading superpower. In the face of these ongoing assaults, the Biden administration says that China is not an enemy, but a competitor, that the world benefits when China does well, and that there should be no disengagement from China (which is music to the ears of Biden’s big money donors who profit from engagement with China). So for China’s bad deeds, there are no consequences, and thus no deterrence. Communist China continues on, free to attack America on multiple fronts.
These deadly shortcomings in foreign affairs are very serious, but by no means the full story. Domestically, the same picture is seen: no consequences for bad deeds.
Many of our major cities have been inundated by an ever larger number of people living on the streets. Most of these people are drug addicts, mentally ill, or both. They set up shelters, sleep, defecate, shoot up, and attack passers-by on public sidewalks, parks, playgrounds, and parking areas, spreading filth and danger. Progressives say that they have the right to do these things, and that it would be cruel to inhibit them in any way. On the contrary, they say we should be assisting them in getting the drugs they needs, clean up after them, and provide food and other facilities at great cost to the taxpayer. Squatter settlements take over, chasing ordinary citizens away. The result of this “kindness” is more people on drugs and living in public, fewer public facilities for regular citizens, and more overdose deaths. To whom, exactly, is this being kind?
One of the great projects of progressives is “justice reform.” We have seen this attempt to be “kind” to criminals in a number of spheres. “De-incarceration,” having fewer people in jail and prison, would be, other things equal, a good thing. What this has meant in practice is that thousands of violent criminals have been released from prison to, once again, prey on the public. One excuse is to fight racism, because too high a proportion of the prison population in America is African American. The reason for this, in fact, is not racism, but the overrepresentation of African Americans in the criminal population due to their very unkind violence, mostly against other African Americans. But because, in the intersectional fantasy of all blacks being oppressed, black criminals are deemed by progressives to be victims themselves, no thought is being given to the people they have victimized through their criminal acts and those they will victimize next.
Property crimes are now no longer considered crimes. In California, each thief can steal $900 a time in stores, without getting into trouble. Progressives view property theft as a “victimless crime.” But there are victims: the people who built the business, the investors (anyone with pension funds), employees who work there, and ordinary citizens as the stores first lock all items up and then close the stores down, leaving local people unable to purchase what they need. So too with the George Floyd, Black Lives Matter, Antifa riots that destroyed billions in property. Store owners, many from minority communities, saw their life’s work destroyed. These riots were funded by progressive politicians, such as Vice President Kamala Harris. No one has been held to account for any of these travesties. (For progressives, the ulterior motive is to pander to black voters upon whom they depend for election.) The bottom line for no consequences “social justice reform”: crime skyrockets across the country and law abiding citizens no longer feel safe and no longer have faith in America’s institutions and politicians.
Illegal entry into the United States is a federal crime. But the Biden administration has declined to close the border and to remove people who enter the country illegally. The progressive rationalization is that these millions are poor refugees from oppression, terror, climate change, and economic exploitation, and so we must be kind and let them flood in. But in immigration courts, for those “refugees” who bother to attend, 90% are rejected as not qualifying for refugee status. Progressives prefer to be kind to all illegal entrants. (The ulterior motive of progressives is that these illegals, dependent on the government and grateful for its largesse, will vote for the Democrat Party and them. The other motive is that by bringing in millions of BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of color), the progressives advance their war on America’s white majority.)
As there are no consequences for entering, people come flooding in from around the world, and the flow will continue as long as there are no consequences other than free entry and full welfare support (and maybe citizenship down the road) for doing so.
People are not the only thing flooding into the country. So too are massive amounts of illegal drugs that poison and kill over a hundred thousand Americans a year. The results are loss and grief in American families, and billions of dollars to criminal cartels in Mexico. Progressives shrug; a small cost for keeping the border open. No negative consequences for criminal cartels who carry their work out freely.
America’s public schools have failed miserably: test scores for reading, writing, science, and civics have fallen to the lowest level in decades. Teachers’ unions extract more and more billions of dollars from taxpayers, although schools’ job performance deserves termination rather than raises and government subsidies. True, learning reading and math is no longer a progressive priority; it has been replaced by teaching pupils reverse racism and reverse sexism, and grooming them for the gay and trans communities. No one has been held to account for this travesty, not university faculties of education, teachers’ unions, education bureaucracies, school boards, school administrations, or teachers. What is the result of no consequences? No real education, only entrapment in extreme race and gender ideology.
Today there are no consequences for bad behavior, and so bad behavior has become the norm.
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