There have been, as expected, media stories of the moral depravity of the Republicans regarding Ruth Bader Ginsberg. The revelation of her most recent cancer bout rendered some party members giddy with the prospect of gaining another Supreme Court seat.
The traditional Left has an excellent point when it challenges the supposed decency of the, well, I’ll call it the Alt-Left. With the decision of the Republicans to abandon fiscal responsibility and their desire to consolidate power in a single Presidential source, it’s hard to call them the Right.
The Alt-Left has demonstrated that they are willing to put politics over basic humanity, and are delighted that a person is battling a life-threatening illness. This, because of political disagreement and potential gain.
I don’t want to hear that message from the Democrats, though, because it reeks of hypocrisy.
David Koch died last week. The man was a noted philanthropist, donating to dozens of charitable causes. Not, as has been intimated in many Democrat activist venues, to simply political causes, but rather to dozens of non-profit groups and preservation societies around Manhattan and throughout the country.
Most notably, he donated millions to cancer research facilities throughout the country, including building a $100 million facility at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; he helped the New York Ballet stay afloat by paying $100 million to renovate their Lincoln Center home; and he paid to help the Smithsonian keep exhibits on things like evolution and dinosaurs available to the public.
Beyond his donations to non-political charities, he was at heart a Libertarian. He ran on their ticket for Vice President once, and later in life donated millions of dollars to freedom-oriented causes, becoming tied to the Republican Party as well as the Libertarians.
Those ties dissipated with the nomination of Donald Trump. Unable to stomach what the Republicans were doing, the Koch checkbooks – those of both he and the other brother who remains an activist donor, Charles – effectively closed to that party. When faced with a choice between standing on principle or lowering themselves, they stood on principle.
This angered the Trump followers, which is one reason why the thanks for decades of support were muted by the Republican punditry last week. He rejected nationalism in favor of freedom.
In theory, this should make him a hero to the Left. Far from it.
David’s death was met with a combination of jubilation and vileness from notable Democrats and Leftists throughout both the country and the world. From articles in The Guardian to The Nation to tweets, they came… steeped in their revulsion for the man.
He had been successful in holding an agenda that did not match theirs. That was the extent of his crime. Many of the same people horrified at the mean-spirited reactions to their “Notorious RBG”, whose decisions have helped shape what people may honestly believe are terrible consequences for the country, are utterly blind to the fact that they are celebrating the death of a philanthropist because he was against climate change and promoted individual freedom.
If we are ever going to be better people – to get along with each other – we have to rise above such pettiness. These are people, with families and friends, who have worked to better the country… whether we necessarily see it that way or not. No matter how much you may disagree with them, they are human beings who are philosophically against rendering harm to other human beings. That deserves, if not praise, at least respect.
Last week both the Traditional Left and the Alt-Left demonstrated that they are havens for horrible people, embracing the politics of hate. They both need to clean house. Until they do, both should be rejected.
