I picked quite a time to go on a weekend
 trip to Charlottesville.
What was supposed to be a nice
 getaway with my wife turned into a
 journey through the eye of a national
media storm.
On Saturday, clashes between “Unite
the Right” protestors and “anti-fascist”
counterprotesters at the foot of a Gen.
 Robert E. Lee statue—which the City
Council had voted to remove from a
local park—turned violent.
One woman was killed when an Ohio
man allegedly associated with the white
nationalist marchers rammed his car
through a wave of people. He has been
charged with second-degree murder.

The clash between Nazis and leftists
 in the streets was an ugly and surreal
 scene one would associate with 1930s
Germany, not a sleepy American town
 in the heart of central Virginia.
A City, and Country, in Shock
The attitude of people around Charlottesville—
the silent majority—deserves to be noted.
They were almost universally upset,
blindsided, and resentful that these groups
showed up in their community to drag down
 its reputation and fight their ideological proxy
 wars.
Albemarle County, which includes
Charlottesville and a few other small towns,
 is deeply blue in its most populated centers
around the University of Virginia and dark
red on the outskirts. It’s politically purple. Yet
everywhere I went, the attitude toward the
protests was similar.
As a thunderstorm rolled in on Saturday
 evening, a waitress at a restaurant I ate at
said, “Let’s hope this washes the day away.”
A local gas station attendant told my wife:
“These people from out of town, Nazis,
[Black Lives Matter], they’re all hate groups
 to me.”


Inez Stepman 
✔@InezFeltscher
Gas station mart attendant to me last night in : "these people from out of town, Nazis, BLM, they're all hate groups to me."
9:53 AM - Aug 13, 2017
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In the aftermath of the events, most townsfolk
walking in the Charlottesville downtown area
appeared stunned and shaken. The overall
 feeling in the area was resentment—certainly
 not sympathy for any of the groups involved.
It would be a mistake to blow the events in
 Charlottesville too far out of proportion by
linking either side to a mainstream political
 movement. In the grand scheme of things,
 it was a small-scale clash between groups
who clearly represent an extreme minority
 in this country.
Even calling the gathering of a couple hundred
 people a “movement” would be a stretch. The
 overwhelming media attention given to these
 fascist, racist groups even before violence
 took place served as a conduit for the views
of this handful of people.
The media’s role in blowing this event out of
 proportion is lamentable and predictable, but
it doesn’t excuse what took place.
What the event does demonstrate is the
 looming danger of identity politics run amok.
 This is what is in store if we are consumed by
 the tribal politics that have destroyed so many
 other countries.
In June, I wrote about why I think politically
incorrect historical monuments—even
Confederate ones like the Lee statue in
Charlottesville—should stay.

In our iconoclastic efforts to erase the past, we rob ourselves of knowing the men who forged our national identity, and the events that made us who we are. This nation, of almost incomprehensible wealth, power, and prosperity, was created by the decisions of men like Lincoln—and Lee, too.
The zealous march to obliterate America’s
past, even parts we dislike, will leave us
a diminished civilization.
Though many have now jumped to
conclude that the events in Charlottesville
 show the need to give in to the desire
of people to tear down statues, this will
only serve to strengthen and embolden
the radicals—on both sides—to step up
their efforts to plunge the nation into
constant social unrest and civil war.
Identity Over Individuals
In a sense, the “alt-right” and leftist
 agitators want the same thing. They
 both seek to redefine the battle over
 American history in racial and tribal
terms in direct opposition to the most
 basic ideas of our national existence.
Such was the case in the unsightly
scene in front of Charlottesville’s Lee
statue.
The real individuals whom these statues
 represent simply ceased to matter.
It was telling that a counterprotest
erupted in Washington, D.C., in front 
of the Albert Pike memorial. Pike had
been a Confederate general, but the
 memorial itself was simply dedicated
to his work as a freemason and not his
 military career.
That fact was irrelevant.
Only the war over identity mattered. Pike
 must be plucked out and purged.
In a country of 320 million people of
stunningly diverse ethnic backgrounds
 and philosophies, this is a fire bell in the
 night for complete cultural disintegration.
 The end result will be uglier than the
already sickening events that took place
this past weekend.
The Federalist’s publisher, Ben
Domenech, rightly noted what this
means for the direction of the country:
 “[I]t is the open conflict of a nation at war
 with itself over its own character. This
 war will end badly, no matter how it plays
 out. And the way this story ends is in
demolishing [Thomas Jefferson’s]
Monticello brick by brick.”
There is no arc of history bending 
perpetually on its own toward justice.
 History is instead a series of twists and
 turns, influenced by cultural and social
 forces as well as individuals and
 communities.
America has never been a perfect nation.
 It has benefitted from great ideas
advanced by imperfect men, and almost
miraculously formed a great and good
national community out of widely
 disparate elements.
This history is worth remembering and
even celebrating. It shouldn’t be buried
 because a few evil men have twisted it
 to serve their causes. Nor should it be
used to attack and haunt the living.
As the late 19th-century poet Henry
Van Dyke wrote:
I know that Europe’s wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
But the glory of the present is to make our future free —
We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.
This is the spirit of our country, and it
 won’t change because a few thugs wish
to turn our most fundamental principles
on their heads. We have a duty to
 repudiate them through a stronger
 dedication to the founding principles
 that have made this country great.