A Shocking Poll!
Written by Brian Garst, Posted in Culture & Society
[A]ll experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
Declaration of IndependenceA CBS poll has found shocking results. It seems that 16% of the public thinks it is sometimes justified “to take violent action against the government,” including a full 28% of Republicans!
Wait, that’s not the shocking part. What’s shocking is that 76% of the public, and 64% of the dangerous, far-right, radical Republican party, thinks it is never justified to take violent action against the government.
This is absolutely amazing. Seventy-six percent of the citizens in a country that only exists due to the violent overthrow of an oppressive government thinks such action is never justified. Never.
I suppose they must think the Declaration of Independence reads thusly, “But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to complain nonviolently about such government.” Inspiring stuff.
The poll result would be understandable if the question premised that the government remained representative and the democratic process continued untarnished. Certainly violent action against the government is not justified just because one particular party won an election over another. But to say that violent action is never justified, with no qualification whatsoever, is ridiculously naive. Or maybe a cabal of Loyalists have remained active all these years, secretly growing their ranks and plotting their revenge.
Hat-tip: NRO
I serve as Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity, a non-profit think tank dedicated to preserving tax competition and free markets. This site features my personal views, which are not reflective of CF&P.