Fascism, the End of Free Speech, and the Democrats

Fascism, the End of Free Speech, and the Democrats

Imagine if Republicans were trying to suppress liberal and leftist points of view by having the government order television and radio stations not to carry programs like Bill Moyers' Now. Imagine if John McCain retaliated against liberal newspapers by replacing their reporters on the campaign plane with reporters from conservative newspapers? As Dr. Lott points out, Obama and the Democrats seem intent on ending freedom of speech--at least, for those that disagree with them:

Last week the Obama campaign kicked reporters from the Dallas Morning News, the New York Post and the Washington Times off the campaign plane — making it difficult for their papers to cover Obama’s final campaign appearances. The reporters were replaced with writers from magazines such as Glamour. The editorial pages of all three papers had endorsed McCain.

The Obama campaign explained the decision as simply occurring from an excess demand for seats. But Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon told radio show host Mark Levin on Friday evening that they had been covering the Obama campaign from the beginning of his run for the presidency, and that those endorsements were “the only one common thread among [the three newspapers].”

Keep in mind that the liberal wing of the Democratic Party--the ones that actually believed that the correct response to speech was more speech--has largely been replaced with "progressives" who believe in free speech only as long as they are speaking. This is the same mentality that drives "speech codes" on college campuses, and Obama supporters using Molotov cocktails to burn a McCain sign. As this report from the Portland Oregonian points out:

There you will find Gene Scrutton and his proud but charred John McCain campaign billboard, two lonely Republican stalwarts in a churning blue sea of liberalism.

It's been a difficult election season for Scrutton and his sign. They've been admonished by the city, cursed by motorists and firebombed by some guys with four Molotov cocktails and bad aim.

...

"It's disappointing to me that many of my former colleagues in the environmental movement, self-styled progressives, are quite intolerant of different, minority viewpoints," says John Charles, president of the Cascade Policy Institute, a free-market think tank based in Portland.
"I'm a little surprised," says Greg Wooldridge, a Navy veteran who moved here from Florida in June 2006. "People aren't as tolerant as Democrats purport themselves to be."

Of course, the left has always believed in playing with fire: burning the Reichstag (which was actually done by a Communist, although the Nazis took full advantage of his stupidity); and of course, Obama's friend and political godfather, Bill Ayers, who firebombed the house of a New York judge some years back.

There is a real danger of fascism in this country, when you look at the combination of idol worship and fanaticism that characterizes Obama's supporters.