Last Wednesday, South Dakota's Gov. Kristi Noem gave a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. 

The leading Republican advised members of the Republican Party to “get over yourself.”  Lest we mistook her admonishment as one aimed at the Cheneys and Romneys of the MSNBC cocktail lounge, she quickly clarified to make sure it was understood that she was talking to us -- to you and me. 

She continued: “We all have people in our lives that we’ve stopped talking to.  We have been offended by them, or we believe that they’re too far on the other end of the political spectrum from us that there is no sense in wasting words even speaking to them, and we need to get over ourselves. And start by listening. No one feels like anyone listens to them anymore. Listen carefully. Ask questions. Build a relationship.”

So, in Noem’s estimation, the problem with American conservatism is that we need to “get over ourselves” and listen more to the other side.  She all but lectured us to check our privilege and to strive to be an ally. 

One reason conservatives easily win debates (and why the Left often refuses to debate altogether) is that we do listen more, whether by choice or by force.  American conservatives and their children are bombarded on a daily basis with Leftist groupthink in the public schools, the universities, the mainstream media, by Hollywood, by “woke” corporations, and by our own elected Republicans.  They are largely prevented from hearing any dissenting narratives by the increasingly brazen censorship regimes at Facebook and Twitter.   To the other side, we “listen” plenty, governor. 

Does the Left listen to us?  Who among their leaders is advocating for them to listen carefully, ask questions, and build a relationship?  Other than Tulsi Gabbard, where are the “mavericks” on the Left?  Rather, the Left is openly advocating violence against us.  And these calls to violence aren’t just the rantings of black-masked Antifa incels.  They emanate from the top tiers of the media and the Democrat party.

Should we “ask questions” when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) laments the lack of uprisings across the country, when Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) tells his supporters to “fight in the streets,” and when Joe Biden advocates “physical revolution”?  Or when Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa Jr., former Attorney General Eric Holder, and then-President Barack Obama advocated for physical violence against their political opponents?  Or to Bette Midler, Morrissey, and Madonna, when they all publicly called for the assassination of President Trump?

Should we “build a relationship” with state representative Stephanie Kifowit (D-IL) who wished that the family of a Republican colleague would die by poisoning?  Or with public school teachers who opine that “conservative Christians need to get COVID and die”?  Or with professors who call for Republicans to be publicly harassed, castrated, or executed?  

Should we “listen carefully” to presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton who sneer that half of Trump supporters are deplorable?  Or to Keith Olbermann, who “corrected” Clinton by stating, “The correct number…is not 50%, it’s 100”?  Or to privileged upper-class revolutionaries who routinely shout down campus speakers, a tactic supported by 66% of college students?

To be fair, the Left does partially adhere to Noem’s advice.  They do indeed “listen carefully”, but they certainly don’t follow up by asking questions or building a relationship. 

The Left listened carefully to Mumford & Sons banjoist Winston Marshall when he praised a book by Andy Ngo and then proceeded to cancel him, forcing the band of 14 years to break up. 

The Left listened carefully to J.K. Rowling when she…what’s the phrase?...”followed the science” by stating the basic biological fact that “people who menstruate” are women.  They then promptly scrubbed any reference to her from Harry Potter fan sites, performing arts schools, and so on. 

The Left listened carefully to tennis legend and longtime gay-rights advocate Martina Navratilova, who, likewise, followed the science and stated that biological men competing in women’s sports have an unfair advantage.  She was then sacked from the advisory board of Athlete Ally and predictably pilloried as “dangerous,” “hateful,” “transphobic,” and “troubling.”  There is nothing more threatening to dogma than heresy.

The Left listened carefully to Clarence Thomas and then embarked on a three-decade-long personal attack, slandering him as everything from a sexual predator to a race traitor.  They listened carefully to Brett Kavanaugh, and then strategically waited until the last minute to unleash a comically unbelievable smear campaign, the basis of which fell apart upon the most cursory of rational glances.  They then tried to storm the Supreme Court to prevent his confirmation. 

The Left listened carefully as President John Gibson of Tripwire Interactive tweeted his support for a Supreme Court decision regarding abortion, as video game creator Scott Cawthon donated money to Republican candidates, as high school football coach David Flynn expressed concern that his daughter’s class curriculum was becoming inherently political, as “The Mandalorian” star Gina Carano decried our self-censoring political climate, as university student Kieran Bhattacharya questioned the definition of microaggressions during a panel discussion, and as high school teacher Peter Vlaming refused pronoun compulsion.  These individuals, and many untold more, have since been fired or pressured to resign.  Should they “get over themselves”?

After all, they were the lucky ones.  The Left didn’t bother to go through the motions of “listening carefully” to the aforementioned Ngo.  They just beat him to the point of brain damage, in broad daylight and in full view of the Portland police.  Or to conservative activist Hayden Williams, who was punched repeatedly at UC Berkeley.  Or to teenager Hunter Richard, who was assaulted, as countless others have been, simply for wearing a MAGA hat.  Maybe they just need to “build a relationship” with their attackers.    

But poll after poll illustrates the fact that conservatives are more tolerant of liberals than liberals are of conservatives.  The Survey Center on American Life recently polled that liberals (28%) are far more likely than conservatives (10%) to end a friendship over political disagreements.  A recent Axios poll found that 37% of Democrats wouldn’t be friends with someone of the opposite party, as opposed to 5% of Republicans.  A study by The Hill found that Republican strongholds had much lower levels of disdain for political opponents than did Democrat strongholds.  Governor Noem had a good point to make, she just made it to the wrong crowd.

You can’t compromise with extremists.  There is no give-and-take, no meeting halfway across the aisle.  And this isn’t because we aren’t “listening carefully” our “building relationships”.  It is because extremists don’t see other people as human beings worthy of civility or respect, much less the very freedoms of speech, petition, and association that are essential in order to “build the relationships” that Noem desires.  And if there is a realistic way, she failed to outline it in her speech.

For decades, we have been “listening carefully”.  And we are hearing from Leftists, loudly and clearly, that they want us socially exiled at best, dead at worst.  We are hearing that they have no inclination whatsoever to peacefully coexist with people with whom they disagree, and are openly committing violence, coercion, and censorship to attain that end.  To “build a relationship” with such sociopathology is to agree to guard your fellow camp inmates on the condition that they kill you last and painlessly. 

These aren’t Maheresque old-school liberals.  These are petty tyrants motivated by envy, resentment, and arrogance.  These are intellectual dwarves who mask their sadistic criminality behind the incidental cause du jour, the complexities of which remain to them hopelessly incomprehensible, and whose tenets they would jettison at a moment’s notice if others arose which offered them a more expedient path to totalitarian power. 

You can’t not know this.

Governor Noem, do better. 

Image: Gage Skidmore, via Flickr // CC BY-SA 2.0