Gardiner & Loconte: Defend US statues and monuments - here's what the mobs really want to destroy

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/defend-us-statues-mobs-destroying-this-
nile-gardiner-joseph-loconte

The radical left has hijacked debate over America’s monuments to wage a
cultural war. Their goal: to deny the moral legitimacy of our democratic
republic.

Violent attacks on statues and memorials aren’t mere vandalism. They are
an assault on the United States itself and the values upon which this
great nation stands. We should all stand united as Americans in the
defense of our heritage, culture and the rule of law.

In America, as in Great Britain, we have built statues to memorialize
individuals and events representing some of the noblest moments in our
civilization. Such artwork helps us to remember and defend our highest
political, moral and religious ideals. The mob violence directed against
it is an assault on civilization itself.

DAVID LIMBAUGH: RADICAL LEFT HATES OUR COUNTRY'S FOUNDING – WILL AMERICA
WAKE UP BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE?

The rioters are targeting national heroes of all kinds. In the U.S.,
they’ve gone after statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham
Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant — individuals who invested their lives to
establish and preserve American democracy.

Yet even these giants have not been spared from the culture of rage.
Attempts to destroy them are an assault on one of democracy’s great
achievements: respect for the rule of law.

We must not give in to mob rule. Those responsible for criminal acts must
be held to account and face the full weight of the law. All Americans
should condemn any attempts to tear down and vandalize statues and
monuments across the country.

If the rioters are allowed to continue toppling statues, it won’t stop
there. The destroyers will declare more and more things to be offensive,
and their destruction will spread to more and more streets, more and more
towns. Left unchecked, they will target every cherished statue and symbol
in the land, secular and religious.

On both sides of the Atlantic, Western civilization is under siege. In
London, rioters have attacked Winston Churchill’s statue in Parliament
Square, as well as the Cenotaph in Whitehall, the sacred memorial to
Britain’s war dead. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French
President Emmanuel Macron have taken a strong stand against the far Left’s
attempts to bring down statues representing their nations’ cultural
heritage.

We cannot allow the forces of anarchy to replace the rule of law. They
must not be allowed to win.

Johnson condemned the attacks on Churchill, and other monuments declaring
that “the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square is a permanent
reminder of his achievement in saving this country – and the whole of
Europe – from a fascist and racist tyranny. It is absurd and shameful that
this national monument should today be at risk of attack by violent
protestors.”

He also warned that “we cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We
cannot pretend to have a different history.”

Across the Channel, Macron sent a similar emphatic message in a televised
speech to the French nation: “I will be very clear tonight, compatriots:
the Republic won’t erase any name from its history. It will forget none of
its artworks, it won’t take down statues.”

In the U.K., British authorities are actively identifying and prosecuting
individuals who have attacked historical monuments. The British government
has refused to appease those who seek to rewrite history and trample upon
the foundations and achievements of those who played a major role in the
country’s past.

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The same must be done in the United States. Law enforcement, mayors,
governors and federal authorities must make every effort to ensure that
further destruction is prevented. President Trump was right to sign a new
executive order last week protecting American monuments, memorials and
statues. It sends a clear message that lawlessness will not be tolerated.

The United States is the leader of the free world. No nation in history
has done more to defend the principles of liberty and freedom. America’s
very foundations today are under attack from left-wing anarchists who seek
to sow fear, disorder, violence and hatred. We cannot allow the forces of
anarchy to replace the rule of law. They must not be allowed to win.

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Joseph Loconte, Ph.D., is the director of the Simon Center for American
Studies at the Heritage Foundation.



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