Tea at Trianon: The Politics of Angry and Intolerant Children

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, March 3, 2019

The Politics of Angry and Intolerant Children

From The National Review:

Young activists may be entitled to treat their beliefs as earthshaking revelations, even if the wiser among them will someday look back on their extremist views with a little embarrassment. But too few adults are paying heed to their profound hostility to the democratic process — a process that depends on its participants’ treating opposing views with respect and bothering to answer criticisms. Silencing opponents to achieve one’s objectives does long-term damage to democracy. (Read more.)

From The Daily Wire:

The situation, Limbaugh suggested, reveals a "scary" reality created by the Left, including Democrats like Feinstein and now, in a more radical way, Ocasio-Cortez. Not only do the kids have "no concept of representative republican government" — believing it simply means that they're entitled to "get their way" and, if not, get to "shout and proclaim things" —some of them appear to be genuinely "scared to death" about climate change. These are the "scary, scary" consequences of an education system that has embraced left-wing indoctrination, said the host. Limbaugh began by setting the scene: A group of largely children activists called the Sunrise Movement converged on Feinstein's San Francisco office last week to demand that she vote for the Green New Deal. The seasoned senator wasn't impressed. (Read more.)

Not all young people are lefties. From The Western Journal:

The conservative student organization Turning Point USA hosted the Young Latino Leadership Summit over the weekend in Phoenix, Arizona, promoting the values of free-market capitalism, American exceptionalism, and national sovereignty. Turning Point USA founder and president Charlie Kirk told The Western Journal that the event was the group’s largest gathering of its type to date (it has previously hosted four such summits) and, to his knowledge, represented the largest gathering of conservative Latino students ever. “Just the gathering itself is a success, but we want to make sure everyone leaves better connected and better trained,” Kirk said of the 300 who attended. “Better trained on how to debate their values and principles.” Those values, he said, include the belief that “America is the greatest country,” as well as the importance of “strong borders, national sovereignty, and the rule of law.” (Read more.)

Meanwhile, AOC thinks people should reconsider having children. From The Blaze:

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) suggested during an Instagram-live video that young people should reconsider having children because of climate change. "Our planet is going to hit disaster if we don't turn this ship around and so it's basically like, there's a scientific consensus that the lives of children are going to be very difficult," Ocasio-Cortez said while chopping food in her kitchen Sunday night. "And it does lead, I think, young people to have a legitimate question, you know, should, 'Is it OK to still have children?'"

Her commentary was aimed at Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and all climate change "delayers" who have dismissed her "Green New Deal" resolution, which she claims would save the environment. The plan was introduced by the freshman congresswoman and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) earlier this month. The Green New Deal includes a plan to "upgrade or replace every building in U.S. for state-of-the-art energy efficiency" and a complete overhaul of the nation's transportation system. The estimated plan would seek to phase out all fossil fuels and airplanes, as well as eliminating nuclear power. (Read more.)