Guilty As Charged

Yet another rotten fruit of the Bush administration hits the headlines. This little bit from Homeland Security (surely a misnomer) is the most outrageous, totalitarian, festering pile of rubble to be puked out of Washington. I have been meaning to publicly howl about the authoritarian “Fairness Doctrine” but this really tops the list for government over-stepping their bounds.

The Department of Homeland Security, originally created to integrate security efforts when fighting terrorism, has now targeted dissenting political opinions as egregious violations against the will of the state. Their latest report is really quite astounding. I have no problem with the state enforcing the laws among those who perpetrate terror and violence or plan to do so. But apparently in today’s U.S.A., thinking is enough to be a terrorist.

If you oppose the following, you are an enemy of the state: abortion, illegal immigration, same-sex marriage, and more restrictive gun laws. The report specifically points out one group as potential threats: not Islamists, not anarchists, but the veterans of the United States military. What has become of this nation? When peacefully opposing political laws along and coming home from war make a man a threat, the DHS ought to be ashamed.

We seem to be developing a pattern of political censorship. It started with “hate speech”. People even as old as I have grown up in a world where simply saying a phrase can get you kicked out of public school. People with legitimate arguments and reasonable opinions have been shouted down. You don’t fancy homosexuality as a lifestyle congruent with your moral tastes? BIGOT! HATER! Find the slaying of the unborn unpalatable? ANTI-CHOICE! These are the refrains I’ve heard my entire life.

Enter the “Fairness Doctrine”, a measure offering the government the power to manipulate and dictate what goes on privately owned radio stations. Apparently the American people aren’t savvy enough to decide what they like on the radio; they need some policy wonk in D.C. to tell you what you like, they’ll decide what’s fair, just trust them, they’ll be honest. Sick to your stomach yet? This is the type of censorship that runs contrary to what makes America, uh, well, American!

The party of free speech and “open-mindedness” seems only to push those measures as far as you walk in stride to their goose-step. And so when it comes to it, they turn out to be remarkably close minded. They’re willing to shout down, humiliate, and ultimately silence any dissent. And just remember, you’re only close minded if you disagree with them.

Now the icing on the cake. According to Janet Napolitano’s little kingdom of overpaid analysts and fear instigators: rational political dissent is enough to suspect the makings of a domestic terrorist. This is the modus operandi of the totalitarian state. It is necessary for the people in power to cast those who dissent as threats. It is the only way to gain the tacit cooperation of otherwise peaceful people.

I don’t want to sound too shrill here. We’re not in “1984”, at least not yet. If we were in such dire circumstances, you wouldn’t be reading this blog. My compatriots and I would on our merry way to the gulag for re-education. But this sickens me. Where does it stop? I’m fed up. I’ve had enough. And if the DHS says political dissent is a crime, I’m guilty as charged.

If our American heritage is doomed to fail; if reason, liberty, and justice aren’t going to fall by the wayside, let’s at least not let them depart with a whisper.