Hillary or Bust

Reaction, instead of proaction, is a scary thing. People who are reacting aren’t thinking clearly. Their minds are swamped with emotions; their hearts darkened with anger.

It is precisely in this state that many American progressives are now, only they don’t realize it. Angered by eight years of Bush, emboldened by the recent failures of the Republicans, and backed by a firm belief that they are what’s “good and right” and the Republicans are outright evil, progressives are quickly becoming the tyrants they claim they are against.

The tyranny began at the Democratic caucuses, where Hillary Clinton’s supporters were harassed and intimidated and sometimes lied to in order to skew the results towards Obama. We were then subjected to an orchestrated effort by the DNC and a complicit media to stop Hillary and silence her supporters. This effort continues now, as blogs like mine have been harassed and sometimes hacked by Obama supporters who apparently feel that the right to free speech only extends to those who tow the party line.

But they feel justified. After all, they’ve spent the last eight years protesting Bush’s war, and going to rallies where nothing but pure, abject hatred has been encouraged. Anyone who is seen aiding and abetting a Republican is an enemy that must be defeated, in the minds of these overzealous activists.

In their blind hatred and anger, they never stop to consider other viewpoints. Let’s take a look at the pro-life perspective, just for example. I have been pro-choice my entire life but I can also understand the pro-life philosophy. If you really, honestly, believed that babies were getting murdered during abortions, wouldn’t you feel passionate about stopping abortion too? Perhaps about as passionate as some leftists are about the civilian casualties in Iraq? So how on earth can you paint all pro-lifers as being evil women-haters when they are just following their hearts and consciences?

But radical progressives don’t want to see another side to things. They need an enemy – the right – to define themselves. Emotionally, they are stunted, seeing the world in shades of black and white with nothing in between. Anyone who is against them is the enemy. They are right, and anyone who disagrees is wrong.

It is in this reaction mode that radical progressives right now are the most dangerous political group in our country. It is they who, enamored with a cult-like passion for Barack Obama, participated in coercion at caucuses. It is they who try to censor other Democrats on the Internet who don’t think like they do. It is they who would be more than happy to throw democracy out the window in the name of their progressive “issues.”

Progressives Who Want to Overthrow the United States Government

I’ve actually spoken to a Barack Obama supporter who told me that he was a communist, and thought that the United States government needed to be overthrown completely. He wanted “the people” to seize all assets of corporations. He wanted there to be a law against owning private property.

I told him, “That’s not going to happen in America. No-one’s going to let that happen.”

He said to me in full sincerity: “The people will make it happen.”

Ah yes, the people. Funny how the term “the people” only applies to those people who agree with you. In case this fellow hadn’t noticed, the majority of people in this country are quite happy with capitalism, thank you very much, and will fight tooth and nail to keep our basic rights.

Sadly, this guy wasn’t just a lone fruitcake. I recently read a frightening article over at Natural News, which is generally a decent website that covers alternative health issues. Alas, Mike Adams, the founder of the website, has gone off the deep end, writing his fantasy scenario of America collapsing under its current woes, with “the People” rising up to take health care back from the pharmaceutical companies.

Now, I’m not fan of Big Pharma, but I also don’t think we need to ban drugs and conventional medicine, or throw CEOs off the top of buildings, like this guy is suggesting. Part of his fantasy world is that the advertising of processed foods would be banned. You know what? If you don’t like those ads, turn off your TV. I’m not forcing you to watch.

He has romanticized a revolution, writing as follows:

Cultural revolutions are not always a pretty thing, but they are often part of a Cathartic process through which a society to vents its anger at an institution that has committed horrible atrocities against the human race (watch some of the post-Nazi films from WWII if you want to see what this social “venting” really looks like).

Um, Mike, “cultural revolutions” are more than just a “cathartic process” – they are generally bloody, messy, and end up restricting freedoms, not creating more freedoms. Any political process whereby anger has taken over a mob is going to end up in a lot of hurt and sorrow.

I for one do not think America needs a revolution. I don’t think America is perfect, and yes, we’ve got major problems to deal with. But the answer is not to react so strongly out of anger that we create a worse situation, a land of oppression and fascism.

Right now, we have seen the warning shot across the bow. We know that a certain segment of Obama supporters are radical, reactionary, and filled with mindless anger. They are willing to do anything to overthrow the Bush “regime” and put their man in office. This includes threats, intimidation, harassment, and a complete and total disregard for the democratic process.

Some of these kids (and they are mostly kids, and a few older, angry adults) are so brainwashed that they are now changing their middle names to Hussein.

Romanticizing “the revolution” by hanging posters of Che Guevara in Obama offices, these idealistic, misguided youth are being led by a dangerous, charismatic man, Obama, who is willing to do whatever it takes to get into office.

In a year where we are facing economic uncertainty, in an unpopular war, it is all too easy for this powder keg to blow up in our faces.

It is for this reason that more moderate progressives, who aren’t blinded by anger and hate, have to stand firm and not let the fringe wing of the left take over the presidency and our country. In this way, many Democrats (or former Democrats) are finding common ground among moderate Republicans, who cherish our democracy and will not stand to let it fall to fascists on either side of the political spectrum.

Tags: fascism, peak oil, progressives

This entry was posted on Monday, June 30th, 2008 at 9:18 pm and is filed under Barack Obama. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.