Riot in Charlottesville

The question for me about the fight in Charlottesville is: is this the future? Is this where the ever-increasing division of America into conservative and liberal camps is heading?

Against this we can say that neither side in this brawl was representative of America; white nationalists are a small minority, and violent antifascists are a not much bigger one.

But for it is the underlying trend in the country, the ever more rigid division in warring factions that can speak to each other only in insults.

Maybe, though, this is actually an opportunity. So far most conservatives have come out hard against the white nationalists, like this from Ted Cruz:

The Nazis, the KKK, and white supremacists are repulsive and evil, and all of us have a moral obligation to speak out against the lies, bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred that they propagate. Having watched the horrifying video of the car deliberately crashing into a crowd of protesters, I urge the Department of Justice to immediately investigate and prosecute this grotesque act of domestic terrorism.

Or this from Southern Baptist theologian Russell Moore:

"Blood and soil" = the idolatry of the flesh fueled by the dark spirit of the age. The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against such. The so-called Alt-Right white supremacist ideologies are anti-Christ and satanic to the core. We should say so.

What is needed now is a response from the Left acknowledging that many conservatives don't like Richard Spencer and David Duke, either. We need a national coalition against the real purveyors of open hate, and we can't have it unless we exercise a little tolerance for people on the other side of other important battles.

This is a chance to step back from the edge. I hope we take it.