Conservatives–especially the extreme, radical kind of conservatives like me and the people I meet at our regular “Gun-Fondling, Bible-Thumping, and Fried Chicken” festivals–tend to be on the pessimistic side. America, in their view, is forever on a slippery slope to tyranny, just one election away from losing our rights, under the creeping shadow of totalitarianism, yada, yada, yada.
I have my moments where I let the blackness overtake me, and I wallow in my pessimism, but I try to keep a lid on it because, hey, this is America after all, the greatest force against totalitarianism the world has ever known. The people who poo-poo the pessimists must at least have part of a point. Americans love their freedom, they say, and will never allow the kind of oppression here that we see in other countries. Anyone who says otherwise is only a paranoid kook.
Well, here we are. The picture below is of a man being hauled out of his home in the middle of the night by the authorities because he made a YouTube video that embarrassed the ruling regime.
And not to sound like a paranoid kook or anything, but if stuff like this can happen, we’re not on our way to tyranny; we’re already there. Instapundit comments:
By sending — literally — brownshirted enforcers to engage in — literally — a midnight knock at the door of a man for the non-crime of embarrassing the President of the United States and his administration, President Obama violated that oath. You can try to pretty this up (It’s just about possible probation violations! Sure.), or make excuses or draw distinctions, but that’s what’s happened. It is a betrayal of his duties as President, and a disgrace.
He won’t resign, of course. First, the President has the appreciation of free speech that one would expect from a Chicago Machine politician, which is to say, none. Second, he’s not getting any pressure. Indeed, the very press that went crazy over Ari Fleischer’s misrepresented remarks seems far less interested in the actions of an administration that I repeat, literally sent brown-shirted enforcers to launch a midnight knock on a filmmaker’s door.
But Obama’s behavior — and that of his enablers in the press — has laid down a marker for those who are paying attention. By these actions he is, I repeat, unfit to hold office. I hope and expect that the voters will agree in November.
From your lips to God’s ears, Professor Reynolds. But I’m afraid I’m not so sure. While Obama is enough of a problem on his own, the bigger problem for America is a population that would elect him president. And worse, support him no matter what he does, while the press casts rose petals at his feet.
Donald Sensing comments further:
This president is implementing dhimmitude on us without a second thought. He is appeasing Islamists everywhere, pure and simple. So the attacks will intensify and continue for longer than ever. Islamists everywhere now know with certainty that they have Obama on the ropes.
Right, except for one thing: “On the ropes” implies that Obama is competing against the Islamists, putting up some kind of fight. He’s not “on the ropes”; he’s “in their corner.” They’re not necessarily on the same team, but they’re fellow travelers. The President of the United States is every bit as indifferent to free speech rights as the most wild-eyed Tunisian rioter. That’s not where we’re going; that’s where we are.
So, my fellow fellow conservative pessimists and I can stop talking about slippery slopes and the tyrannical threats to America’s future. The future is now. The America we loved is dead. Any action we take going forward isn’t to save America, but to revive it. Freedom-loving citizens are now in the business of resurrection.
As a side note, it’s funny to me–in a sad, bitter way–to think back to the beginning of the war on terror now. So many people said we were overreacting. How could a bunch of religious fanatic goat herders be any real threat to the United States?
Well, more than a decade on, if you were a spectator watching this clash of civilizations from outer space, who would you say was winning?