Reichstag Fires

Wouldn't it be great if we could go back to when there weren't all these conservative talk radio hosts or Fox News getting people all riled up? Like the 1960's, when there were no political assassinations or acts of civil unrest.

Listen, this has hit a new level. Oberhman et al have descended into telling out and out lies and reporting half of the known facts so as to paint the picture they want. I'm not implying the inside job nature of the Reichstag incident, I'm simply talking catalysts. I've thought about this, gotten angry about it, and come up with what I think explains the scenario.

The Left in this country is on a train. And that train is on a single track, formed by two rails. One rail is ideological, the other political. The former, in this instance, facilitates the latter.

Rail 1: The Ideology

The Left has the unique tendency to be obsessed with "root causes" when facing a tragic event or even an act of war. It's never the individual(s), it's some external factor that caused them to act. Right after 9/11 their echo chamber was full of "what did we do to make them hate us?" Time Magazine even dedicated a cover asking almost that exact question. Major Hassan was facing foreclosure on his home, it was the Bush economic crisis, and it goes on and on. What they seem never to consider is that some people are just evil. And I don't mean that tritely - quite literally the Left has a disbelief in "absolute evil." And my hypothesis is that to believe in the existence of absolute evil, one must then acknowledge the possibility of absolute good. Enter God, or the "less offensive" phrase, "higher power." See once you buy into absolute evil on the part of the individual as a concept, the discussion turns from external causes to internal. Discussions of the soul, God, Lucifer, after life. In short it is a discussion about Faith. And they are much more comfortable discussing this world. Home foreclosures, our support of Israel, Glenn Beck - these worldly forces are to blame for abhorrent acts of violence. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying "the devil made Loughner do it" (although that Satan alter found in his back yard makes such a theory more plausible then the idea that Bill O'Reilly made him do it). I'm simply saying that the individual makes his own choices. And that sometimes he chooses to embrace absolute evil, end of story. And since the Left can not accept that premise because of where that discussion leads, they sometimes look to find their answers as to "why" in the most ludicrous of places.

Rail 2: The Resulting Politics

There is so much hypocrisy and flat lies I scarcely know where to begin.

Let's start here - I remember distinctly Bill Clinton, within days of the bombing of the Murrow Federal Building, being interviewed and lamenting in an off handed way that people like Limbaugh going on the air 3 hours a day railing against the government help to motivate militia separatists. Now he didn't single out McVeigh by name if I remember correctly, but it being days after the bombing the connection he was making was clear. Well he (Clinton that is) caught hell, and almost just as quickly backed off that statement, later clarifying that only McVeigh and his accomplices were to blame. So in essence ever since the first small-government advocate to become nationally successful via the medium of talk radio came on the scene, the template was there, ready to go the moment any assailant struck against that government or any in her employ. But this time, out of frustration, the Left isn't content to merely intimate Rush et al's culpability, and then back off. Let me explain. . .

The 24 hour "the Right is to blame" frenzy didn't just go after "Republicans", or the American Right in general, this was a targeted attack. The Tea Party, Conservative talk radio, and Sarah Palin. Those three specifically. Why? The answer is simple. Those three have been by far, BY FAR, the most effective thorn in the side of what was a majority Left Wing control over this government until recently. The Left has been unsuccessful in every attempt to stop, thwart, or diminish the effectiveness of that trio, so they have chosen to stretch this horrific tragedy to include those whom they can not beat in the ratings or at the ballot box. Pure and simple, discredit the messengers and you discredit the message, politics 101.

The problem is that Oberhman and the rest have though is they didn't wait to see if the guy was a Right winger; an RNC alum; a Tea Party advocate. No, it didn't matter - he was white, the target victim had a (D) after her name, and off they went, taking cue from the asinine statements of that Prima County Sheriff. It's been 4 days and here's a summary of what we (read: me) have learned: the shooter was clearly unbalanced mentally, dating back to run-ins with police at his community college. His favorite books include the Communist Manifesto and Mein Kompf. I listened to his "best friend" being interviewed last night and he flatly said that the 2 media images that most influenced Loughner "more than any other" (his words) were the movie documentaries Zeitgeist and Loose Change. The former explores the "myth" of Jesus Christ, the G.W. Bush plans for bringing down the World Trade Center, and the idea that an international group of bankers control the world's finances and are purposely devaluing the American dollar. The latter film is exclusively dedicated to "uncovering" the 9/11 conspiracy, namely that it was Bush and the government at large who killed 3,000 people. NOW - does that sound like a conservative? The myth of Christ, Bush brought down the Towers, and the Communist Manifesto? Those are almost exclusively Left wing oriented. But MSNBC, the NY Times, Oberhman, Krugman, Democrat law makers and the rest are flatly refusing to acknowledge this, DESPITE THE ON AIR TESTIMONY OF HIS BEST FRIEND, and are instead making mention only of Mein Kompf and the currency conspiracy as they show the Palin map with cross hairs over the districts she targeted for defeat in 2010. Oh ya, and he had a make shift devil worshipping alter in his back yard. I can't count how many times I've been at parties and family gatherings with fellow conservatives and as soon as the booze starts flowing, out comes the Satan paraphernalia and we're off building an alter in his image. . . Give me a break.

In fact, by their standard I could easily make the case in the opposite direction - how many political assassinations/attempts were there made between 1963 and 1988? JFK; Martin Luther King Jr; RFK; two on Ford; the congressman gunned down by Jim Jones; one on Reagan; and I think one in California, in the late 70's. So conservatively lets say 7. How many have their been since Reagan's FCC lifted the Fairness Doctrine and nationally syndicated AM talk radio was born? Prior to Saturday I think the number was ZERO. So by their standard isn't it just as plausible that not only was Loughner a rabid Left Winger, but that it is because of talk radio that these assassination attempts have went down? I could assert that because of the steam it allows people to blow off, connecting like minded folks in a way that no longer makes them feel alone in their convictions, that talk radio is the prime reason we don't have more acts of violence, right? It's served to generate "peace." Isn't that just as plausible?

But all that is irrelevant to them. Reality is irrelevant. Facts, irrelevant. The Tea Party, talk radio, and Palin must be neutralized; and if this event serves that purpose, they feel justified in looking square in the camera and lying. And in my eyes that's what makes this so dangerous. Titus once wrote that if he had to choose an era to live in, from history, it would be as/amongst the Polymath's of the Renaissance. A fine answer. But I want to point out the renaissance we are living in now, that I think we oft fail to recognize. Information. We are living in the most information accessible age in the history of man kind, period. Freedom of speech, the ability to communicate ideas and thought are nearly boundless at this stage in the American, in the human, experience. Do you realize how finite a window in history that is? How special, how narrow a sliver of the human experience this freedom to speak and access information at a click or turn of the dial is? Gentlemen, this isn't the norm. As you well know, this is not how it has been through most of man's existence. This is unique ... recent ... fragile. And it's that last one which concerns me the most. Fragile. If history is our guide then it tells us inevitably there are those whom see such freedom as an impediment to a "just" world. Now I'm not preaching conspiracy, I'm simply looking at the past. Even in our own nation, from Adams to Wilson, speech was curtailed, limited and challenged. The various levels of individual liberty experienced throughout time have inevitably been snuffed out, more often then not from within. And I think it would be foolish for us not to acknowledge that our liberty, the right to speech and the free exercise thereof, will be challenged again at some point. The FCC on Tuesday December 21st, 2010 ruled in favor of regulating the Internet, they are now writing the rules for "net neutrality." And the Fairness Doctrine, or some version thereof, has taken the form of a federal bill, ready for submission. Some event, some catalyst, and suddenly we must act contrary to the principles of our Republic in order to "save it." That scenario seems inevitable to me.

Is this that event? Probably not. That spooky, eerie mug shot of the shooter alone is nearly enough to make most Americans see "crazy" as the source, not Limbaugh. I mean this face is what you'd expect to see when the Saw guy removes the clown mask, creepy incarnate. But what is very clear is the Left's intent on defeating their critics by silencing them. Either by intimidation or legislation they are set on beating the trio proven most effective against them by eliminating the argument, not winning it. They were willing to take this event, minus a shred of evidence, and claim conservatives caused it, telling bald face lies in the process. So what will happen if a future a shooter does claim to be motivated by Glenn Beck? If they are willing to go this far minus a scintilla of a connection, what happens when in the aftermath interview Geraldo or Barbara Walters sits down with a gunman and he says flatly that talk radio turned him against the government and caused him to act? I fear we are are just a Reichstag fire or two away from our speech being challenged, if not flatly suppressed. And as such, conservatives must continue to often and loudly call out fools such as Oberhman for the charlatans they are. For these charges are so egregious, so without foundation, so scurrilous, they can only survive in a vacuum of silence.