Bullying for adults

By Tom Quiner

Bullying is big news.

Most news and most op-ed pieces focus on the bullying that occurs in our schools. Bullying has been around as long as there have been kids. Now it is the cause of the moment.

The Des Moines Register ran an interesting piece this morning by Jennifer Oman, a local psychotherapist.

She acknowledged that bullying is alive and well with adults. She cited a personal experience:

” … some Iowans know of Sen. Tom Harkin’s  praise of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement for their “agitation.” That “agitation” took the form of four busloads of 100 CCI members recently flooding the yard of our family home with signs and bullhorns, coming up to our house yelling and taking pictures through the window of our study. The protest originated because these people disagreed with my husband, who joined 2,500 other Iowa volunteers in a bipartisan effort called “Fix the Debt.”

Upon meeting with the group afterward, Harkin said, “God bless you. You can’t create change without agitation. This is my way of saying thank you.” While Harkin’s staff later said he didn’t know that the “agitation” he’d praised included trespassing on a private citizen’s property, Harkin did nothing to correct himself when he was apprised by the media of CCI’s aggressive actions.”

If bullying advances liberalism, then it’s okay.

The same group shouted down Paul Ryan when he spoke at the Iowa State Fair last year.

Bullying.

Vice President Joe Biden interrupted and talked over the dignified Paul Ryan in their nationally televised debated last year.

Bullying.

A local grocery chain, Hy-Vee, wants to build a new store not far from my house at the expense of another one of their stores in the inner city. They want to reconfigure and downsize the inner city store since the store is less profitable due to so much shoplifting. CCI came to their townhall meeting and yelled and screamed and intimidated a store spokesman who was simply there to show off the redesign.

Bullying.

Is there anything wrong with bullying? No, not if the bullying is being dispensed by liberals.