According to a recent Reuters poll, support for Brett Kavanaugh has suffered a hit due to Christine Blasey Ford's 36-year-old assault allegations and the ensuing media circus.  However, it does appear that Senate Republicans have started to rally behind Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Chuck Grassley.  As we learned late Tuesday, Grassley resisted the growing chorus of Dem demands to delay the scheduled Monday hearing of Kavanaugh and his accuser, Ms. Ford.  Susan Collins, a swing-vote moderate in the GOP, also appeared to give the left some tough love via Twitter as she urged the accuser to show up and testify on Monday.  Even Flake and Corker seem to be forgoing the "look at me" opportunity to thwart their own party again.  These developments are cause for individual freedom-loving Americans to breathe a sigh of relief.

At the same time, we shudder in horror as mainstream media pundits lecture us incessantly about how we must believe the accuser or else.  The echo-chamber drones chant on about the solid credibility of Ford's claims and scold us about how viciously Anita Hill was attacked when she came forward to accuse Clarence Thomas.  As usual, it's an exercise in leftist virtue-signaling to cover for the actual goal, which, in this case, is to delay the confirmation.  Delay at all costs until Dems get control of the Senate after the midterms – or so they hope.

What's even more unsettling is that there's another nefarious message for us dregs: if you don't just accept the unsubstantiated decades-old claims of this woman, then you are evil, must be exposed, and must be bullied into submission.  This "guilty until proven innocent" movement is real, and it is amplifying.  The rush to condemn is a dangerous side-effect of the #MeToo era, and it must be opposed by reasonable people.  We mustn't ignore all the extenuating circumstances of Ms. Ford's story, such as the lack of witnesses, corroborating evidence, or recollection of details, not to mention her leftist activism.  There are a host of other questionable actions such as Feinstein sitting on the letter and Ford wishing to remain anonymous and then submitting to a polygraph.  If Ford took these accusations to local Maryland authorities today, they wouldn't be able to do much of anything with dubiously unsubstantiated claims of underage assault older than some members of Congress.  They'd kindly walk her to the door, because the statute of limitations was likely over before the Bears did the Super bowl shuffle.  Couple in the 11th-hour timing tactics, and it all bodes rotten. 

If the left is permitted to derail the confirmation of Kavanaugh with this growingly blatant character assassination, then we are looking at the beginning of the end of decent people choosing to serve our country.  It is just too easy to destroy people's careers by such reckless means.  The presumption of innocence is a requirement of our system for all Americans, not just when it benefits the left.

It is worth reminding everyone that the "guilty until proven innocent" movement made its big debut under the Obama administration.  His Justice Department rolled out a guidance initiative to colleges and universities to protect young women on campus by giving alleged victims of sexual assault extra-constitutional rights.  It was sold as a noble cause, but those paying close attention came to the quick conclusion that the benefit to victims came at the cost of the constitutional rights of the accused.  Subsequently, the futures of innocent young men have been put in jeopardy – a needless compounding of tragedies.

For the most audacious application of the "guilty until proven innocent" movement to date, look no farther than President Trump.  How much of our president's time in office has now been spent fighting to prove his innocence?  Legally, he has been in the clear from the beginning, but the presumption of his guilt has been a nonstop project for the left and their great enabler, the Democrat media complex.  To this day, the presumption of his guilt has been the fuel that has kept the special counsel flame burning.

The left is trying to break down the main tenets of our system, one individual freedom at a time.  The presumption of innocence is the bedrock of the Bill of Rights and must be the guiding principle as we assess every accusation, large or small.  If we as conservative, right-leaning, libertarian individuals do not vocally resist these talking points of the left and vigorously defend our principles, then we will be complicit in the demise of our freedoms.

Follow Michael on Twitter at @_MYoung.