By: Daniel Nardini
I am hearing all kinds of non-sense from a whole lot of people that make me wonder if I am living in a fascist Twilight Zone. I have heard people describing current U.S. President Barack Obama as a “socialist,” a “secret Muslim and radical,” and “a Kenyon not born in America.” The two worst things I can say about Obama is that he is not all that competent and lacks real leadership. Hence why his term has been disappointing to say the least. But to view him in some kind of conspiratorial mode is to put it mildly chilling. Perhaps because this is an election year that all of the right wing extremists are really coming out of the woodwork like never before, but I feel that this has all been building up ever since day one of his presidency.
When I think about it, I realize that Obama has become the lightening rod for everything that those who want power (or a share of it) view him as “illegitimate.” Lately I have seen some people put on to their car bumpers bumper stickers that say, “SOS: Stop Obama’s Socialism.” I even read where one Illinois State Senator said we must prevent the United States from becoming “socialist” like Spain and Greece. Spain socialist? It is a monarchy, and its current prime minister is Mariano Rajoy—a member of the People’s Party which is conservative. Hardly a socialist nation. And what about Greece? Like everything else in that country, the government is a mess. The current president, Karolos Papoulias, is a member of PASOK, Greece’s largest Socialist Party. However, the prime minister is Antonis Samaras, who is a member of Greece’s New Democracy Party which is the country’s major conservative party. In fact, the Greek people are not interested in living in what some right wing Americans are calling a “socialist welfare state” more than trying to get their country in order.
Therein lies the crux of my argument—there are a growing number of right wing extremists finding their way into the system of this country. These people range from being members and supporters of the John Birch Society to the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform and Accuracy in Media. Some are even more extreme—being members of the neo-nazis to the Ku Klux Klan. There are four things these people are working for. These include a “Christian” America (Jews are O.K., but no one else is), an America driven by “conservative values” (ask me what conservative values are and I cannot answer), an America that follows “religious” values, and an America that provides special powers to the president and the Congress to “fight enemies of the state” (i.e. lock them up without trial, use torture and brutality, and imprison people who do not share the values of the right wing extremists). A fifth element that neo-nazis and Klan want are laws that discriminate against “non-white people.”
We are seeing things like this happen in Arizona, Alabama and Georgia with state immigration laws, in Alabama with a law against Agenda 21 which has no real meaning, and in the Republican Party where a platform against Agenda 21 has been adopted. Worse, we are seeing voter I.D. laws being adopted in a number of states so that it will weaken voter turnout for the presidential election in November (those that will be most affected are the Democrats, Libertarians and Greens). Clearly, these type of laws are unconstitutional and is the brainchild of a number of right wing groups that want to keep “illegals” out of the voting booth (despite the fact that there are no major cases of voter fraud). The right wingers are creeping into our system of government, and if Mitt Romney wins the chances are they will creep in faster.
The Right Wingers, They are a Creeping into the System
By: Daniel Nardini
When I think about it, I realize that Obama has become the lightening rod for everything that those who want power (or a share of it) view him as “illegitimate.” Lately I have seen some people put on to their car bumpers bumper stickers that say, “SOS: Stop Obama’s Socialism.” I even read where one Illinois State Senator said we must prevent the United States from becoming “socialist” like Spain and Greece. Spain socialist? It is a monarchy, and its current prime minister is Mariano Rajoy—a member of the People’s Party which is conservative. Hardly a socialist nation. And what about Greece? Like everything else in that country, the government is a mess. The current president, Karolos Papoulias, is a member of PASOK, Greece’s largest Socialist Party. However, the prime minister is Antonis Samaras, who is a member of Greece’s New Democracy Party which is the country’s major conservative party. In fact, the Greek people are not interested in living in what some right wing Americans are calling a “socialist welfare state” more than trying to get their country in order.
Therein lies the crux of my argument—there are a growing number of right wing extremists finding their way into the system of this country. These people range from being members and supporters of the John Birch Society to the Federation of Americans for Immigration Reform and Accuracy in Media. Some are even more extreme—being members of the neo-nazis to the Ku Klux Klan. There are four things these people are working for. These include a “Christian” America (Jews are O.K., but no one else is), an America driven by “conservative values” (ask me what conservative values are and I cannot answer), an America that follows “religious” values, and an America that provides special powers to the president and the Congress to “fight enemies of the state” (i.e. lock them up without trial, use torture and brutality, and imprison people who do not share the values of the right wing extremists). A fifth element that neo-nazis and Klan want are laws that discriminate against “non-white people.”
We are seeing things like this happen in Arizona, Alabama and Georgia with state immigration laws, in Alabama with a law against Agenda 21 which has no real meaning, and in the Republican Party where a platform against Agenda 21 has been adopted. Worse, we are seeing voter I.D. laws being adopted in a number of states so that it will weaken voter turnout for the presidential election in November (those that will be most affected are the Democrats, Libertarians and Greens). Clearly, these type of laws are unconstitutional and is the brainchild of a number of right wing groups that want to keep “illegals” out of the voting booth (despite the fact that there are no major cases of voter fraud). The right wingers are creeping into our system of government, and if Mitt Romney wins the chances are they will creep in faster.