This is not about the politics of populism. It's about the politics of the jackboot. It's not about an opposition that has every right to free expression. It's about an angry minority engaging in intimidation backed by the threat of violence.
There is a philosophical issue here that gets buried under the fear that so many politicians and media-types have of seeming to be out of touch with the so-called American heartland.
The simple fact is that an armed citizenry is not the basis for our freedoms. Our freedoms rest on a moral consensus, enshrined in law, that in a democratic republic we work out our differences through reasoned, and sometimes raucous, argument. Free elections and open debate are not rooted in violence or the threat of violence. They are precisely the alternative to violence, and guns have no place in them.
Indeed, the politics of brownshirts and violence. Not needed, and again, the argument isn't about state laws, it's about the ugly message being passed on by fringe elements being manipulated by both business and the Republican Party, which only has one agenda - to oppose the White House. Make no mistake, this isn't about healthcare reform, it's about an irritated group of people still po'd over the results of last year's election.
Dionne also make sthe point that he can't imagine the Bush Administration tolerating Marxists carrying guns and making implied threats against the President. Those folks would have ended up on a no-fly list or in some jail someplace.
E.J. Dionne Jr. - When Protest Becomes Intimidation - washingtonpost.com
1 comment:
Hate to break it to you, but during the Bush era, there was MUCH talk of putting Bush/Cheney on trial and executing them. There were the various wingnuts who camped on and near his ranch, and he handled it with good humour and aloofness. He never called out the goons squad, the way Obama did. What the unions did at the behest of Obama escalated an explosive situation. If Obama had been more like Bush, then noone would ever have brought guns to the protests.
But talking of jackboots, Dionne conveniently forgets the Black Panthers, the ones who DID go to polling places in militray garb, with clubs, with the specific intent to intimidate voters. These brutes behaved exactly like the Taliban, and when brought before Obama's Justice dept, they are released.
So, what has become crystal clear, is who is wearing the jackboot, which leads us to ther other misconception of dear Dionne.
An armed citizenry is precisley what defends that moral consensus, the laws, and our freedoms. All that basis, the body morality, is useless without teeth and the will to defend when attacked.
So many years, decades actually, where folks have been taught to fear those with guns, those Americans with guns, because of the feeling that guns are evil, and those that possess them are instruments of evil.
In some parts of the world, yes. Been there, seen that, and dear God almighty, the USA is not the rest of the world. My neighbors have guns, and I am not afraid, or worried, or bothered. I know it is a right, and an obligation, and a responcibility. It is my hope to pass them on to my kids, and they pass them on to their kids, but that is needed, I can defend myself.
If it were not for the armed citizenry, you most liekyl would have seen more union thuggery like St Louis. But now the word is out, the thugs are muzzled, and you won't be seeing much of the guns anymore.
Our freedom rests on the desire to work out differences, even if it gets raucus, and to strive to make our point clear. But the freedom can only be ensured by the ability and the means to defend one's self from those that escalate loud words to fists, clubs and jackboots.
In the protests I have been involved in around here, I have yet to see a weapon, or the need for it. The closest was at Blanche's Bella Vista fundraiser, where one of HER goons came out and threatened one of our protesters, and began cursing loudly in front of the young children that were present. We had been nice and cordial, Blanche's people were rude and obscene.
Don't threaten the protesters with force, you won't see any weapons. It is that simple. No union goons, no guns. Let's play nice out there.
See you at the town halls and protests out there. I will be unarmed, maybe a little loud, but not obscene.
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