The degree to which irrationality is now driving public debate is depressing and, quite frankly, frightening. It would take too much space here to catalogue all the places in America where memorials and statues have been attacked, defaced and vandalized. But I will mention two.

A monument in Kansas City, Missouri, honoring the wives and mothers of Southern soldiers, was defaced. A red hammer and sickle was painted on it – the symbol of the old Soviet Union.

We reported last week that the individuals responsible for tearing down a monument to a Southern soldier in Durham, North Carolina, were members of a radical communist group that supported North Korea.

The Antifa movement is littered with communists of various kinds. Some refer to themselves as “anarchist communists,” which is an interesting, if not contradictory, term. Communism is all about government control.

But why are communists playing such a large role in these attacks on our memorials?

Of course, I don’t need to remind you that communism was the other great mass murderer of the 20th century, along with Hitler’s Nazis. And why aren’t mainstream liberal politicians denouncing these radicals engaging in acts of vandalism and violence?

The second controversy got my attention because of the mindset revealed by one of the demonstrators. A monument honoring Christopher Columbus came under attack this weekend in Detroit. Here’s what Antonio Cosme had to say:

“Christopher Columbus has a real disturbing legacy in the United States. He’s a central narrative to white nationalism. He’s one of the key figures in this whole Western identity. This whole idea that the civilization of the world started in England, that it started in France, that it started in Germany. Instead of making it Columbus Day, we want to make it indigenous and African peoples day.”

Playing The Race Card

All the way back to 1964 when I supported Barry Goldwater for president, the “race card” has been played against conservatives and the party founded by Abraham Lincoln. I think we all agree that hating someone because of the color of their skin is wrong. Making decisions on the basis of skin color instead of logical considerations, such as character, is racism. For Christians, racism is a sin.

But for decades the terms “racism” and “racist” have been abused in such a way that it serves only one purpose – not to combat real racism, but to shut down debate by delegitimizing conservative ideas. Here are some examples:

Ronald Reagan was one of the most decent men to ever serve as president. He did not have a racist bone in his body. But because he wanted to cut back the growth of failed Great Society policies, he was labeled a “racist.” It was such a pervasive charge that in some inner city schools students cheered early reports of the assassination attempt on his life.

Conservatives have long advocated for school choice, mostly to provide assistance to inner city children stuck in failing schools. The main argument used against this idea is that competition will jeopardize the jobs of inner city school teachers, many of whom are black.

But the students are overwhelmingly black and far more numerous than the teachers. The left is so committed to keeping minority children in these failing schools that Barack Obama canceled Washington, D.C.‘s voucher program. Thankfully, it was revived by congressional conservatives.

Since 1973 there has been a national debate over abortion. Conservatives have argued that abortion takes innocent human life, and that pro-abortion groups intentionally locate clinics in minority neighborhoods, guaranteeing that more minority children are never born. The left claims conservatives are racists for trying to limit the rights of minority women. But conservatives get no credit for trying to save the lives of defenseless black and Hispanic babies.

Conservatives believe we need to secure the border in order to control who comes into the country. The left says that will have a disproportionate impact on Hispanics, so border security is racist.

Research shows that immigrants who learn English quickly become part of the economic mainstream. But the left says that pushing English as our unifying national language is racist.

The president gave a tremendous speech in Warsaw, Poland, defending the contributions of Western Civilization. Yet some leading progressive commentators denounced the speech as a “dog whistle to white nationalists.”

As we saw last week in Barcelona, we are at war with Islamic supremacists. But anyone in Europe or the U.S. who suggests that we restrict immigration from countries most infected with jihadism is accused of racism.

One last example. Countless college students, many of them raised in progressive families, are arriving at our major universities believing they (the students) are sensitive on race issues and would never judge anyone based on the color of their skin. Instead, they are told that they are guilty of “white privilege.” In other words, they are guilty because of the color of their skin. Of all the things I have listed, that is the only one that could qualify as racism.

Here’s why this matters: Republicans and conservatives have been insufficiently outraged and engaged in fighting back against these disgusting smears. All too often, once the chant of racism becomes loud enough, establishment politicians bolt like scared rabbits.

Now much of the conservative agenda is being demonized with this charge.

Unless conservative and Republican leaders, whether they are Trump fans or not, fight back, they will find that normal conservative ideas will become unspeakable.

The irony here is that the typical GOP voter understands this, which is why they rallied to Trump last November and continue to do so, even when he could be more articulate in certain cases, such as the aftermath of the rampage in Charlottesville.

Attacking Law & Order

Tragically, six police officers were shot Friday evening. Two were killed in Kissimmee, Florida, in what appears to have been an ambush. The individual arrested has been linked to anti-white hate groups.

These attacks are happening while the far left has been stoking overt hatred toward the police. A favorite slogan of these radicals is “Cops and Klan go hand in hand.” It has been heard in Dallas, Durham and Seattle.

The left is doing what the left does. Why isn’t every Republican official with a pulse linking the left to the growing carnage of the men and women who keep us safe?