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Articles:
Politics
The
Red Scare All Over Again
Friday, March 10, 2006
I'm
half expecting the extreme right-wing to someday soon reanimate
the corpse of Senator Joseph McCarthy. They won't bring him
back in order to hunt down communists in our midst. Instead,
they'll merely harness that good-old paranoid witch-hunting
attitude to seek out "anti-American" citizens. Extreme
conservatives seem to believe that today the threat isn't
from commies, it's from those Americans who dare to speak
out against our current executive administration.
Maybe
I'm naive, but my perception of liberty, our US Constitution,
and the First Amendment is that they guarantee our ability
to criticize our own government. After all, the government
is supposed to be "of the people, by the people, and
for the people". I AM the government. YOU are the government.
We're ALL the government. As such, it's up to each of us to
be involved in the operation of the country. Sure, we elect
representatives for most of the detailed work. But still,
they're supposed to act in our interest. If they don't, we
can criticize them or vote them out of office. That's the
nice thing about America, at least in theory: the nation is
controlled by the people.
Despite
this ideal, I'm constantly harassed by conservatives who seem
to believe I have no right to criticize the government. Specificially,
our president and his administration.
We
can't criticize the president? Where were all these conservatives
during the Clinton administration? CRITICIZING THE FREAKING
PRESIDENT! Funny how a person can bash a president they don't
like, but then upon the election of one they do like, suddenly
it's a capital crime.
I
don't believe I'm being melodramatic. I get harassed by people
when I question the actions of the Bush administration. The
most disturbing part is that I'm often called "anti-American"
for doing so.
I'm
deeply concerned that some conservatives immediately brand
anyone critical of the government as anti-American. It's a
cheap shot, an unintelligent knee-jerk label they slap on
people in a pathetic attempt to make them look bad. The throw
around buzzwords like "anti-American" and "unpatriotic",
much like McCarthy. Does someone not agree with you? Call
them anti-American! Who wants to be anti-American? No one!
If we call them that, we must be pro-American! No one will
question it! We're brilliant! What a wonderful new method
of propaganda!
This
seems to be the strategy for the right wing. If anyone refuses
to profess their undying love for our Lord and Savior Jesus
Bush, they simply must hate America. It seriously freaks me
out that this simple strategy is endeared so well with a portion
of Americans. How dare I have an opinion! How dare I exercise
freedom of speech! I should fall in line with the rest of
the sheep and goose-step before our glorious leader! I should
be blacklisted, rounded up and deported for having the nerve!
Americans, wake up and tremble in terror, for we have ANTI-AMERICANS
in our midst!
What
a disturbing way to discredit the opposition and turn public
opinion against them. That's really all this is about. There
is no threat from "anti-Americans". Like the Red
Scare, this is just a cheap attempt by some to turn people
against the political oppositon. Most people seem to acknowledge
that the McCarthy commie witchhunts were shameful and an embarassment.
Yet here we are almost sixty years later, and it's all happening
again. And again, it seems to work on some people. It definitely
works on the people that attack me for speaking my mind.
People
suggest I move to France or Iraq or some other nation if I
don't like America. Wake up, I do like America. I am an American.
That's why it pains me so to see our leadership do things
that I believe are harmful to our country.
These
people seem to believe we must admire and agree with our leader.
We must not question his god-like wisdom. We must not be critical.
We must support anything and everything he does. If they believe
this, maybe THEY should move to North Korea or Iran or some
other country that holds those authoritarian ideals.
I
live in America, and I'm going to exercise my freedom to say
whatever I want, whenever I want. The only anti-American person
here is the one who attacks me for daring to do so.
He
that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his
enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes
a precedent that will reach to himself. --Thomas Paine
Many
are destined to reason wrongly; others, not to reason at all;
and others, to persecute those who do reason. --Voltaire
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