RUTHFULLY YOURS

There are people who live to be offended. They’re called progressives. They are offended by Confederate statues, by monuments that they say celebrate white supremacy and colonialism, by Trump supporters, by Trump himself, and by those who refuse to get on their knees and grovel before Black Lives Matter.

Well, I’ve got news for them.

An Open Letter to the Legion of Lamentation:

I don’t give a rodent’s rear end if you’re offended by the following:

1. I’m white – I don’t feel guilty about slavery, segregation, the Trail of Tears or the treatment of Chinese railroad workers – because (now get this) I didn’t have anything to do with any of this. I’m no more responsible for these injustices than the Indian of today is responsible for the Black Hole of Calcutta. The idea of racial guilt is absurd. White privilege is a myth. Where is the White Miss America Contest, White History Month and White Entertainment Television? Where are the quotas and set-asides for Caucasians?

2. I love America – I believe in American exceptionalism. America pioneered representative government guided by a written constitution. We fought a war with 620,000 dead to end slavery. We defeated Nazi Germany and liberated the death camps. Our arms kept communism from conquering the world. Our factories and workshops produced a flood of inventions and products that benefited humanity. What country has done as much – especially in 244 years, a relative hiccup in time?

3. I’m a Zionist – I would be even if I weren’t a Jew. (Today, there are more Christian Zionists than Jewish Zionists.) Modern Israel is a miracle and a fulfillment of Biblical prophecy. Israel is a beleaguered outpost of civilization in a savage region and a bulwark against the forces of darkness.

4. My heroes include George Washington, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt – Washington and Lincoln were indispensable men. Washington defeated the greatest army on earth and led our country for the first quarter-century of its existence. Lincoln saved the Union and inspired generations with his rhetoric. Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans, represented the pioneer spirit. Teddy Roosevelt led the charge into the 20^th century, the American Century. Together, they gave us a country so free that malcontents like Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib can dump on it without fear of reprisal.

5. I think police officers are generally decent/honorable men and women who are doing a difficult, dangerous, often thankless job – You couldn’t pay me enough to do it. Besides risking their lives every time they go to work, there are the daily insults to bear. They are the punching bag for the nation. And, like our military, they are all that stands between us and the abyss.

6. I sleep better knowing that 37% of U.S. households have one or more guns – That’s why we’ll never have a Holocaust here. Europe has had the divine right of kings, religious persecution, Communism and Nazism. We have the Second Amendment. The anarchy in our streets, coupled with calls to defund the police, underscore the need for civilian gun ownership.

7. Reparations is racial plunder. The idea of racial guilt is an obscenity from the dark recesses of 19^th century European history – There’s no group in the world that hasn’t been oppressed at some point in time. Will Denmark pay reparations to the English for the Danelaw? Will Mongols and Manchus compensate the Chinese? How about the English and the Irish, the Mongols and the Russians, the Cossacks and Jews? Will bi-racial Barack Obama take money out of one pocket and put it in another?

8 Believing that you’re a member of the opposite sex doesn’t make you one – Gender is determined at birth by your DNA. Just as you can’t change your DNA, you can’t change your sex. You should not be able to force others to participate in your fantasy. Reality isn’t hateful.

9. At this perilous juncture in our history, I’m glad Donald Trump is president – The president loves this country. He really does have Israel’s back. Who else is strong enough to stand up to China and Iran? Unlike almost everyone else in Washington, as a businessman, he understands the market economy. He’s giving us judges who deliberate instead of legislating. And he has the guts not to be liked.

10. You have a right to disagree with me. You do not have a right to try to silence me – Being offended doesn’t trump the First Amendment. Attacking statues and assaulting those with different values is Brownshirt behavior. Generations of Americans died for freedom of speech, not freedom to suppress speech.

To say you’re offended exalts your feelings above everything else. It’s not an argument, but a call to end discussion – an admission of intellectual impotence. Being offended isn’t a mark of virtue; it’s a sign that you’re a big, blubbering baby who will throw a tantrum if you can’t get your way.