David Webb: The politics we deserve

Whether your parts are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) or aftermarket, whatever is in your underwear below the navel should dictate the bathroom you use. 

We don’t need bathroom laws or bathroom monitors. I don’t care who you’re wearing, be it Oscar de la Renta or Levi’s. I don’t care what you do with your personal life. And you, whoever “you” are on any side of the issue, better damn well respect the rights of others if you want the same respect. 

{mosads}If you’ve seen “Wag the Dog,” a late ’90s movie wherein a fake war is cooked up by a Hollywood producer to cover up a U.S. president’s bad response to an unproven accusation, you can see we now have such a “tail wagging the dog” society. The modern-day perceived dog whistle can originate with a tweet or other social media post that’s then driven by unchecked and unverified fervor by the asses and the masses. We’ve gone beyond having debates on issues — now we suppress dissenting opinions, and too often outright oppress them by every means available. And consequences, intended or unintended, will occur.

Take the example of Haines, Alaska, senior Nattaphon Wangyot, a transgender woman who takes hormones and competed in the all-state track and field finals against girls as young as ninth-graders. Wangyot took home all-state honors in two categories. Now some of those born female competitors are crying foul. I wonder how many of Wangyot’s girls volleyball and basketball teammates had anything to say during their seasons — would the school board and other interested parties have labeled them as some form of phobic?

In many of our colleges and universities, and even on some high school campuses, the “safe space” crowd is afraid of its shadow — but more than willing to step on yours with institutional victimhood and intellectual cowardice. 

In the government sector, the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has a mountain of existing issues and in many cases lives on the line, is now considering a proposed rule posted on the White House’s Office of Management and Budget website that would end the longstanding ban on gender reassignment surgery. A simple question: How does this relate to the VA mandate to serve the millions of veterans and family members, many of whom are currently underserved? 

However, all is not lost. The pendulum will swing back center toward common sense in time, as it has done in the past. For example,  Georgia ACLU director Maya Dillard Smith resigned after her two elementary school aged daughters were “visibly frightened” when three transgender women, “all over 6 feet tall, all with really deep voices, all were obviously men,” entered the bathroom with them in Oakland, Calif. She still supports “finding middle ground” on the issue, also the name of the website she created. The main point here is that consideration of other points of view is also important.

When suppression in the public arena via social media or even by a form of libel and legal terrorism no longer works, violence is the next likely tactic.

Protests, primarily from the left and combined with the anti-American crowd, are too often violent and destructive. Property even not associated with the target, like police cars and businesses, are targets of opportunity. Instead of condemning such behavior, it is often explained away and excused. In Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, city officials gave rioters an area to target under the guise of cooling off. Who gave the city the right to choose property as OK for criminals to destroy?

For years I have gone inside these protests and interviewed as many as possible. One of my tasks, as should be yours in life, is to make our part of it, small or large, a better place. If more of us did our part in this manner, the world would be a better place. There are good and bad people, and many in between, often based on time and circumstance. Stand with the good, punish or eliminate the bad, and watch those in between to see which way they fall, then act accordingly. 

Andrew Breitbart said “politics is downstream from culture.” Take an honest look at our culture, especially among many millennials, the leftover hippies and the institutional left, and you may well understand more of our social and political landscape. Too often the political class responds to the loudest, but not necessarily the best, voices. 

There will be many who read this article and choose to attack and demonize rather than consider and discuss. By doing so, you make yourself irrelevant to the real debate and lessen the chances of solutions — even ones you may not like.

Webb is host of “The David Webb Show” on SiriusXM Patriot 125, a Fox News contributor and has appeared frequently on television as a commentator. Webb co-founded TeaParty365 in New York City. His column appears twice a month in The Hill.