Conservatives need to learn from our foes when it comes to forcing the major institutions of our society away from the left's agendas, back toward sanity. For far too long, we have let the left combine infiltration (pressure from within) with demonstrations and organized influence campaigns (pressure from without) to capture governments, corporations, schools, and nonprofits and bend them to the service of its own goals.

An example of how this can be effective comes from Tufts University, where a very reluctant university administration was forced against its will to expel the Chinese communist propaganda organ knows as a Confucius Institute from campus. Jack Beyrer reports in the Washington Free Beacon:

Tufts University announced on Wednesday it will close its China-backed Confucius Institute after months of protests from students and local activists.

The university's closure of its Confucius Institute came after months of protests from local Taiwanese, Uighur, Tibetan, and Hong Konger citizens who, along with several student groups, saw the Chinese organization as a threat to political and academic freedom on campus. (snip)

Howard Fass, the president of the Massachusetts chapter of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, a nonprofit that advocates for Taiwanese independence, said months of relentless commitment from activists and students helped push China off campus.

"Tufts did not [close its Confucius Institute] because they wanted to. In fact, they did everything they could to keep it as long as they could," Fass said. "They finally closed it because they saw that our collective resolve was unbending and that we would not give up with our peaceful protest for truth."

For weeks, activists protested on campus and outside the home of Tufts University president Anthony Monaco. The activists said they sent the university and multiple members of Congress more than 600 letters urging the school to close the institute.

Protesting in front of the home of an official strikes some conservatives as out of bounds. I used to think so, myself. We have a tradition of civility, after all, and yes, the world would be a better place if more people acted with restraint and let the private lives of others — even political opponents — be separate from their official duties.

When that state of affairs is restored, then by all means, let's respect it. But face reality: the left has grabbed institutional dominance in 21st century America by a combination of infiltration and intimidation. These tactics work. And if only one side uses them, then only one side will predominate and shape the future. And if the other side shuns such tactics, their foes have no incentive to stop using them. It is analogous to the nuclear war doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction. Nations in possession of nuclear weapons have so far shunned their use because they know that nuclear retaliation will come if they do. The reason why Iran's nuclear program is so worrisome is that this thinking does not work with the Mullahs, who eagerly anticipate nuclear Armageddon, believing the Twelfth Mahdi will return form the dead and lead humanity to its final stage of perfection.

I don't believe the left has any comparable beliefs about students rising up against them and ushering in paradise.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky.