Petty Tyrants in College Have Moved Into Congress

My initial outrage over the anti-Semitism expressed by Ilhan Omar quickly dissolved not into acceptance but into expectation. The Democrats’ weasel worded statement refusing to hold her personally accountable and diluting the act with every other hatred is not surprising. Nancy Pelosi’s initial rebuke was back tracked as she tried to embrace the rising left of her party.

I have been concerned about the rising anti-Semitism on the left for decades. Leftist feminist Phyllis Chesler noted long ago the rising and visceral anti-Israel rhetoric from her side of the aisle. The anti-Semitism on college campuses has been left unaddressed, justified by free speech codes and tolerance of the intolerant. Few rational minds separate the translucent veil of anti-Zionism from the underlying anti-Semitism.

The anti-Semitism in our Congress is just a vile element of the illiberalism that has become accepted on our campuses. The politically correct, microaggressions, and identity politics has brought tolerance and understanding to an end. Students who shouted at professors, refused to allow speakers from different opinions, and refused to respect any opinion other than their own were tolerated and encouraged. Why should we be surprised when they have graduated and now carry their intolerance into Congress; screaming at Senate hearings, accosting government workers from the other side in restaurants, and otherwise acting like spoiled brats and arrogant fools.

In college they were deferred to with respect they did not earn or merit. Now they have power and it has gone straight to their woefully underused brains. We have replaced thoughtful policy with juvenile unicorns like the Green New Deal. We are now in the “cheap seats”. How can we be surprised today to see what tolerating these petty tyrants in college has led to? What you tolerate you teach.

Fellow Democrats are refusing to address this problem in their midst just as the colleges refused to address it earlier. It will only get much worse until it is soundly defeated by elections.