When I was growing up in the \u201960s and early \u201970s, conservatives were the enforcers of conformity. It was the right that was suspicious, sniffing out Communists and scrutinizing public figures for signs of sedition.<\/p>\n
Now the role of oppressor has passed to the left. In Australia, where I spoke, Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to do or say anything likely to \u201coffend, insult, humiliate or intimidate,\u201d\u009d providing alarming latitude in the restriction of free speech. It is Australia\u2019s conservatives arguing for the amendment of this law.<\/p>\n
As a lifelong Democratic voter, I\u2019m dismayed by the radical left\u2019s ever-growing list of dos and don\u2019ts \u201d\u201d by its impulse to control, to instill self-censorship as well as to promote real censorship, and to deploy sensitivity as an excuse to be brutally insensitive to any perceived enemy. There are many people who see these frenzies about cultural appropriation, trigger warnings, micro-aggressions and safe spaces as overtly crazy. The shrill tyranny of the left helps to push them toward Donald Trump.<\/p>\n