Honorable Exile

In November 2008, Barack Obama, a junior senator from Illinois, was elected President of the United States. On January 20th, 2009, George W. Bush stepped down as the 43rd President and retreated to the quiet of West Texas. He managed to stay out of the public eye, and spent much of his time on charities for wounded veterans, relaxing with his family, or on the golf course. As tempting as it may have been, he refrained from weighing in on the impassioned public debates as they unfolded across his television over the next 8 years: hot-button issues such as universal healthcare, closing Guantanamo, the Iranian nuclear program, and climate change. 

On Hate Speech

Richard Spencer, the identitarian responsible for coining the term Alt-Right and often miscategorized as a Nazi, is not stupid. He is actually anything but. His writing and speeches lay out an intellectual, yet superficial and flawed case for his worldview that has pulled the wool over the eyes of many able-bodied young males, as evidenced by Charlottesville. He does not condone violence, but rather, wants to achieve his objectives through open discourse. Punching him in the face only makes him look more reasonable. It only lends support to the idea that he cannot be challenged intellectually, thus building his following. As much as people want to conflate their Antifa water balloon street brawl with the allies storming Normandy, it just isn't accurate.