By Scott Tibbs, July 5, 2017
I face more than enough opposition as a conservative without my own side undermining and sabotaging me. Conservatives need to stop supporting and strengthening the Leftist agenda, even if it brings a very short term political advantage. We have to be devoted to our principles first, foremost and always.
After a deranged Bernie Sanders volunteer opened fire on Republican members of Congress, I said on Twitter that "I hope conservatives realize how dangerous it is to free speech to link words to violent actions. Leftists do this to us all the time." We are playing a very dangerous game, and advancing the Leftist narrative.
I am especially aware of this because of my anti-abortion stance and rhetoric. I have been told I have blood on my hands more times than I can count, especially after the assassination of George Tiller in 2009. No matter how many times I repeat my belief that abortion must end through peaceful, legal means, I am lumped in with the tiny number of fanatics who resort to violence.
Look at what we are seeing on college campuses. Leftist radicals claim that speech they dislike is actually "violence" against one oppressed group or another, and they are therefore allowed to use violence to suppress that speech. Therefore, riots are actually self-defense. Blaming the Left's rhetoric for the shooting rampage is just one step removed from that depravity.
There is exactly one person (and only one person) who is guilty of the attack on the Republican members of Congress on that baseball field: The shooter himself. He planned the rampage and he pulled the trigger. Despicable rhetoric should be condemned, but it should not be connected to violence. Above all else, we must guard freedom of speech from efforts to censor it using fraudulent claims of "safety." You better believe conservative speech will be the first to be silenced under such a regime.
