Fascism is an overused word that essentially means a mindset where opposing points-of-view are not tolerated and must be punished.

The owner of that restaurant in Virginia who refused to serve presidential spokesperson Sarah Sanders certainly is guilty of a fascist display in my opinion.  Ms. Sanders is a law abiding American who works for the federal government. That’s who she is.  

Is that restaurant owner entitled to deny service to all government workers with whom she has a beef?   

Do they have to pass some kind of ideological litmus test before she serves them? 

This is about as un-American as it gets, yet the business owner sees herself as virtuous; as the guardian of enlightened moral thought and behavior.   

Forget the fact that about half the country supports the policies of the President, this woman believes she has a right to discriminate against those people. 

If you study history, you know that the “virtuous” mindset has been used by people who promoted the most bigoted and destructive belief systems on earth.  Racial purity, economic equality (communism), religious intolerance, etc. In each of those cases, attacks on human beings were perpetuated in the name of “virtue.” 

God is on our side. All power to the people. We are the master race!

In the case of Sarah Sanders, the expulsion from the restaurant was triggered by President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy toward illegal immigration. The left is crazed over the temporary separation of migrant children from their parents during the processing period after an adult comes into contact with ICE. 

But few liberals said anything when President Obama did the exact same thing. The southern border is a chaotic mess and overreactions are, indeed, hurting kids, as I have pointed out. Both President Trump and President Obama are obligated to protect ALL children if they can. 

Thankfully, Mr. Trump recognized that last week and reversed most child separations with an Executive Order. But that action did not enable Ms. Sanders to get a meal.  No, the restaurant owner is willing to shun Sarah and her family because she disagrees with her politics. 

This “virtue fascism” is taking deep root in America. The MeToo movement, with tremendous help from a corrupt press, is obliterating due process and proudly celebrating its demise.   

On college campuses, non-liberal students are under siege, sometimes receiving unfair grades designed to punish them, and even being falsely accused of bigotry.  

All in the name of virtue. 

We are heading down a dangerous path. 

The Spanish Inquisition torturers believed they were extremely virtuous and justified their brutality because, in their warped minds, it advanced the cause of Christian righteousness.  The Salem Witch hunters did the same thing. 

Mao and his killer cadres preached virtuous equality as they killed millions. The same for Pol Pot and his Cambodian slaughter crew. 

True virtue is loving your neighbor as yourself, and accepting honest differences from sincere people. It is decidedly not attempting to harm people who hold different views. 

The restaurant lady in Virginia may think she is promoting virtue by her foolish passive-aggressive action against Sarah Sanders, but of course she is not.  

Quite the opposite.