David Hines, a committed member of the right, says political violence, fighting in the streets, is a game the right won’t win because the left are way better at organizing and because, essentially, the culture and media are more sympathetic to left views. Yes, there’s Fox News, however look at what Hollywood says and implies. It’s not a right wing viewpoint. Plus, I would add, the left, via masses of apparatchiks, has control on way more levers of power than the right.
If there’s one thing righties believe, it’s that they could beat lefties in a fight.
You see this attitude reflected over and over again, to the point that it’s probably something engrained in the right-wing psyche. Pajama Boy vs. tactical deathbeast? Pffft. No contest. Look, righties have the guns, righties have police and they have the military. If one day the balloon ever goes up, righties will just organize behind a leadership of their veterans, coordinate with the active service, give all the lefties free helicopter rides, and live happily ever after. Right?
That’s pretty much what the Confederacy thought about the Yankees, and it didn’t exactly work out well for them.
Unlike many on the right, Hines studies the left, says the tactics and strategy used by the left are smart, and finds laughable, as does anyone on the left, that Soros is secretly financing us. If only…
He is genuinely concerned, as am I, that we could spiral into serious violence. (Read his Storify for more on this.) Which would not be grand and glorious as we righteously smite the enemy. Instead it would be blood in the streets, injuries, trauma, death, and your side might lose so then you get tortured. Woo hoo. Sign me up. “Dig, the time is right for palace revolution, but where I live the game to play is compromise solution” said  the Stones in “Street Fighting Man”, and that’s still good advice.
Political violence isn’t fun for the whole family: it’s long, and it’s ugly, and everybody suffers. And nobody ever thinks this when they have a Great Cause, but maybe, just maybe, your Great Cause won’t win. And then what? “It couldn’t be worse” is the sort of thing Turkish coup plotters say right before their attempt fails and leaves their bete noire in undisputed charge of writing the purge lists.
I have spent time on the far left, helped organize sometime huge protests, and agree with what he says about the strengths of the left.
The organizational capacity required to build a new world is the same organizational capacity have Lefties built to pressure government. So who’s in a better position to shape the big moment when it comes? Hell, if tomorrow civilization goes completely Mad Max: who’s got existing local networks of people who they’re used to turning out and doing stuff with on a regular basis? Answer to both questions: not the Right.
The first thing righties have to understand about Lefties is that lefties have a lot more practice building their own institutions, and assuming control of existing institutions, than their counterparts on the right do, and they share their practical experience with each other.
The second thing to understand about Lefties is how they actually function. There’s a lot of independence involved. Righties like hierarchy, so often think of the Lefties as taking marching orders from George Soros or whoever in a very hierarchical fashion. Not so much. A lot of left-wing organization is very decentralized, and they negotiate with other lefty groups as to exactly how they’ll do things and time things to not hurt each others’ work.
Lefties are excellent at protests, not because they pay seat-fillers, but because they’ve professionalized organizing them, as you’ll discover if you read any of their books. The protesters aren’t paid. The organizers are paid. The people who train the organizers and protesters are paid.