If you are a protester in America, or if you disagree in what we are doing in the Middle East:
Since January, Iran has killed around 45,000 protesters - That we know of. If you are a Protester, America is the BEST PLACE TO BE. I.C.E. shot 2 knuckleheads and Democrats wanna eliminate the agencies that enforce the laws that politicians wrote.
Iran Protest Death Toll Could Top 30,000, According to Local Health Officials
The Privilege of Protests: America’s Dissidents Have No Idea How Good They Have It
In the summer air of American cities, from Portland to New York, there is a distinct sound of grievance. It is the sound of chants, bullhorns, and the rhythmic pounding of fists on federal property. We are told by the Left, by the mainstream media, and by the angry mobs that America is an oppressive state. We are told that the United States has no moral authority to act in the Middle East. We are told that the greatest threat to a protester’s safety is the local police or a federal agent from the Department of Homeland Security.
Let’s pause that narrative for a moment and look at a reality the chattering class refuses to acknowledge. Since January of this year, the Islamic Republic of Iran a regime that the Biden administration has desperately tried to appease with nuclear concessions has reportedly killed an estimated 45,000 of its own citizens. Let that number sink in. Forty-five thousand souls. Men, women, and teenagers who took to the streets to demand basic human dignity. They weren’t throwing milkshakes or blocking traffic; they were begging for their lives, and the mullahs answered with live ammunition, torture, and disappearances.
If you are a protester in America even one who disagrees fundamentally with what we are doing in the Middle East you are living in the safest, freest, most legally protected environment for dissent in the history of the world. To argue otherwise is not just ignorant; it is an insult to every person crushed by the tyrannies we are supposedly too "heavy-handed" to confront.
The Tyranny We Refuse to See
The contrast could not be starker. In Tehran and the surrounding provinces, the protest movement known as "Woman, Life, Freedom" was met with a level of state-sponsored brutality that is medieval in its savagery. Security forces fired shotguns full of pellets at the faces of young girls. Prisoners were raped and executed. The regime bulldozed graves to erase evidence of the dead.
Forty-five thousand dead. That is the conservative estimate from outside human rights groups. The Iranian regime doesn’t arrest you for "wrongthink" and give you a court date; they hang you from a construction crane in public.
Now, look at the American protester. When an American disagrees with U.S. policy regarding Israel, Iraq, or the naval presence in the Strait of Hormuz, what happens? They gather on a public sidewalk with signs. They are given a permit. If they block traffic, they might get a citation. If they become violent—if they throw a Molotov cocktail or assault a federal officer they might be arrested.
And yet, the narrative on the progressive left is that the American protester is the victim of a fascist takeover. This is cognitive dissonance of the highest order.
The "Knucklehead" Defense
Which brings us to the recent incident involving I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and the "two knuckleheads." I use the term "knuckleheads" because that is the kindest description for individuals who allegedly engage in dangerous behavior that necessitates law enforcement intervention. Without endorsing specific unproven allegations, the conservative position is clear: We enforce the laws that our elected representatives wrote.
Here is the fundamental truth that the defund-the-police crowd refuses to grasp. Democrats in Congress, spurred on by the Squad and the radical fringe, are currently pushing legislation to eliminate or cripple the agencies that enforce the laws on the books. They want to abolish I.C.E. They want to defund the FBI. They want to hamstring Customs and Border Protection.
Why? Because a handful of agents, in a high-stress, split-second encounter involving potentially armed individuals, did their job.
The conservative view is that you cannot write laws establishing a border—or establishing the rules of engagement for federal agents—and then abolish the very mechanisms that enforce those laws because you don’t like the optics. If politicians write a law that says illegal entry is a civil violation or a crime, they have a moral and constitutional duty to provide the executive branch with the tools to enforce it. To do otherwise is chaos.
When Democrats demand the elimination of I.C.E., they are not fighting for justice; they are fighting for the dissolution of the American nation-state. They are siding with the lawbreaker over the lawkeeper.
The Middle East Paradox
To the protester who says, "I disagree with what we are doing in the Middle East," I have a simple question: *Do you prefer the Iranian method of dealing with dissent?*
Because that is the alternative. The United States maintains a presence in the Middle East not out of imperial greed conservatives largely reject the neocon fantasy of nation-building but out of necessity. We are there to keep the straits open, to protect Israel (the only functioning democracy in the region), and to prevent the very regime that kills 45,000 of its own citizens from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
If the protesters got their way tomorrow, and the U.S. withdrew all forces and cut all aid to allies, what would happen? Iran would sweep the region. The protests in Tehran would go from 45,000 dead to 450,000 dead. The "knuckleheads" who assault I.C.E. agents in America would find themselves facing the morality police of the Islamic Republic. And I guarantee you, they would not be asking for the abolition of the police; they would be begging for the return of the American Constitution.
Domestic Order vs. Progressive Chaos
We have seen the progressive vision for American protests. It was the summer of 2020. It was federal courthouses burning in Portland. It was the "Autonomous Zone" in Seattle where two young black men were murdered by the very "community protection" forces that the Left put in place after they chased the police out.
The American protester has the luxury of burning a flag or spray-painting a monument because 240 years of conservative principles rule of law, property rights, and a Bill of Rights that protects speech even when it is hateful have built a wall of civility. The moment you tear down that wall, you get Tehran.
Democrats want to eliminate the agencies that enforce the laws because they believe that all law enforcement is inherently racist or violent. That is a radical, nihilistic position. The vast majority of I.C.E. agents and police officers are decent public servants. They are the thin line between the chaos of the mob and the order of a republic.
When you shoot a "knucklehead" who is posing a lethal threat, you are not committing an act of tyranny; you are enforcing the social contract that allows the other 330 million Americans to sleep safely in their beds.
The Bottom Line
So, to the protester in the street, the one with the megaphone screaming about American imperialism: Look in the mirror. You are breathing free air. You are not being dragged to Evin Prison. You are not being shot with a shotgun pellet to the face for showing your hair.
America is the best place to be a protester precisely because America has a strong backbone. We have a military that projects power to keep the tyrants busy in their own backyards. We have law enforcement agencies like I.C.E. that ensure that the rule of law applies at the border. And we have a conservative movement that refuses to apologize for any of it.
The Democrats want you to believe you are a victim. They want to abolish the very institutions that guarantee your right to be an irritant. Don't fall for it. If you truly want to see what happens when the "abolish I.C.E." crowd wins, buy a one-way ticket to Tehran. Just don’t expect to come home.
#Protesters #Iran #MiddleEasr #Protesting