Protest Culture Is Annoying and Un-American

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., likes to argue that the “whole point” of protesting is to make people “uncomfortable.”

Debate. Dissent. Running highly misleading political ads on TV. These are all part of our great tradition of political discourse.

In this, as in so much else, the Democrat darling is incorrect. 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 was 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.