Ask an adult living in America or anywhere in the West to describe the left, and something like violent opposition to the state is very likely to be included in the description.
The 1960s—whence comes much of the left’s modern image—were punctuated by riots, assassinations, robberies, hijackings, murders, assaults, kidnapping and hostage-taking, forcible takeovers of various institutions, and more than 2,500 bombings…all on behalf of left-wing causes and ideas. Some are aware of, or are old enough to remember, the activities of Students for a Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the Symbionese Liberation Army, the FALN, the Japanese Red Army, the Brigatte Rosse, and others. And thus they know that violent leftwing groups—such as today’s BLM and the self-styled “fascist-fighters” of Antifa—are nothing new. Being “anti-establishment” is generally considered to be a core aspect of leftism.
And yet…
Over the last few years, we have seen a shift. The left is defending the regime. Leftists’ interests are suddenly aligned with government, the CIA, big corporations, law enforcement, the military industrial complex, the IRS, and just about every other agency of the state—everyone they used to claim to hate.
How did this happen?
Simple: They are no longer anti-establishment BECAUSE THEY ARE NOW THE ESTABLISHMENT.
It is no different from communists shutting down labor unions and crushing all dissent. When the left gets into power, this is what they do.
Never forget that. The differences between libertarians and the left are enormous.