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The Federalist- Homeland Security Chief: To Attack Our Monuments Is To
Attack America
This weekend, we celebrate the birth of the greatest enterprise in the
history of mankind, the United States of America, and our ancestors’ brave
decision to fight for their freedom from British oppression. That fight was
led by George Washington, but sadly, the mobs of violent protestors who recently
debased statues of our first president and founding father despise him and
the nation he built.
The Fourth of July observes one of the most seismic shifts in human history.
Before the Declaration of Independence, mankind was divided into nations by
ethnicities and tribes. The Founding Fathers gave birth to a new type of
nation. As G.K. Chesterton wrote, “America is the only nation in the world
that is founded on a creed… It enunciates that all men are equal in their
claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice, and that
their authority is for that reason just.”
The miracle of the American experiment was not the result of a natural
sequence of events. An exceptionally virtuous and educated cadre of statesmen
broke away from the politics of millennia and created something new. Only by
this political miracle do Americans enjoy our freedoms. It is on the virtue
and sacrifice of the founding fathers and the numerous men and women who
carry on their legacy that America is still free today.
It should be no surprise that George Washington receives such a special
vitriol from the lawless mobs, as he was the paradigm of our founding
fathers. Under Washington, the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of
happiness were realized. He mobilized volunteers to enforce our rights
against the world’s preeminent superpower. His soldiers and ragtag militiamen
routed a king’s army and navy.
Yet, when Washington’s power reached its maximum, he gifted it away. By the
time Washington became president, this was the least impressive item on his
résumé. But even in that endeavor, he set the gold standard for
statesmanship. Washington again voluntarily relinquished his power after two
terms in office, inaugurating a foundational democratic principle that has
lasted centuries.
To this day, American citizenship remains the most valuable privilege anyone
can possess. American citizens enjoy protection under the rule of law and the
right to live in a society where anyone can pursue the American Dream—brought
to you in part by Washington himself. As just a small tribute to his
immeasurable contribution to the nation and the world, our capital and the
tallest structure in it are named for him.
However, his role in shaping this country is precisely the reason so many
hate him and want to expunge our cities of this champion of liberty. In
Portland, Oregon, a violent mob recently draped an American flag over the
face of a George Washington statue, toppled it, and set it on fire. No
American should loathe the man who ended monarchy. No “de-colonizer” should
diminish the first—and most successful—revolution against colonialism.
The violent mob is not worthy of even polishing Washington’s statue, let
alone desecrating it. But they don’t stop there. In a bizarre turn of events,
they have also vandalized statues memorializing abolitionists, Union
soldiers, and Ulysses S. Grant.
They even threaten a 19th-century statue of Abraham Lincoln that was
dedicated by abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass and financed by donations
from freed slaves. These heroes ended slavery and knew racial oppression more
intimately than modern-day rioters do. Their only crime is not submitting to
the standards of the woke mob sometimes more than 100 years after their time.
In contrast to peaceful protestors exercising their First Amendment rights,
violent protestors defiling statues are no better than the looters and
rioters who ransacked hundreds of small businesses, many of which are owned
by minorities, across the country under the guise of racial justice protests.
But the symbolic destruction of monuments benefits nobody and only robs
future generations of Americans of the ability to pay their respects to our
country’s great leaders.
When we wash away history, we wash away inquiry, and we wash away the truth.
But it is truth, transparency, and debate that increase our understanding of
what is right. Good people must not stoop to the mob.
Some in the mob worship a statue of Vladimir Lenin in Seattle. Lenin
represents untold repression, ethnic cleansing, and the mass killings of
millions of his countrymen. Let it stand as a testament to their
self-contradictions and a memorial to the historical evil that Lenin and his
modern-day successors represent.
And when someone tries to desecrate a statue of the guardians of America’s
foundational principles, make no mistake: they attack America itself. Police
must protect public property. Prosecutors must punish perpetrators.
Politicians must neither placate nor patronize these pillagers.
President Trump has led a firm response to the lawlessness sweeping our
nation. The Department of Homeland Security is following his lead in
deploying special units to defend our national treasures from rioters. Rest
assured, we will leverage every tool and authority in our arsenal to make
sure these landmarks remain intact for our grandchildren and
great-grandchildren to learn from so they can carry on America’s great
legacy.
Chad F. Wolf is the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland
Security.
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