When a movement says, “silence is violence,” it is no longer democratic, but a totalitarian movement that opposes the very essence of choice -- the right to be apolitical. Mass movements with ostensible democratic goals start out toward benign change, but their successes only feed a hunger for greater political transformation. Left to the streets, that hunger is attracted to the extremes as the extremists are attracted to it. When  the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who has passionately sided with the opponents of police brutality, is heckled out of a demonstration because he refuses to commit to the mob’s demand to defund the police, that is shoving someone into the theater of the absurd. In the world of realpolitik, you build coalitions where you can find them. In street theater, you ignore political reality to shove an important ally away. The demonstrations over the horrific death of George Floyd at the hands of a police officer have...(Read Full Article)