Sorry, AOC protest culture is un-American

Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez likes to argue that the “whole point” of protesting is to make people “uncomfortable.”In this as in so much else, the Democratic darling is incorrect.Debate, dissent, running highly misleading political ads on TV: These are all part of our great tradition of political discourse.Taking to the streets to disrupt the lives of average citizens is a leftist ideal, not an American one.It’s antithetical to the highest virtue of republicanism, namely minding your own business.But decades ago American leftists began conflating “activism” with patriotism, and millions of young people were convinced that protesting is an expression of good citizenry.These days, caring is often given more reverence than wisdom, knowledge or achievement, let alone patriotic activities like working, getting married and raising kids.An equally intolerable and parallel notion has also sprung up: It says the rest of us have a patriotic duty to admire anyone who’s “making a difference” or engaged in “participatory democracy,” no matter how insufferable or wrong they are.And protesters are almost always insufferable and wrong.Every loudmouth ignoramus with an opinion has a First Amendment right.

You’re not special.Yet modern left-wing protesters believe their passion and anger imbue them with moral license to demand things and speak over their fellow citizens.Just watch the video of those self-righteous “activists” disrupting church services in St.Paul the other day, or global-warming cultists shutting down traffic in major cities, or college students using their heckler’s veto to disrupt speeches and debates.As we’ve seen with two recent shootings in Minneapolis, protest culture can have deadly consequences.Then again, most of these efforts aren’t organic or spontaneous expressions of political anger anymore.They are well-funded and well-managed by organizations that see political benefit in creating chaos and turning our country into...