The boot of the oppressor

Perhaps I should be pleased that although the terra firma under the feet of the far right is beginning to seem a bit muddy with the slime of an increasing number of scandals, they aren’t refraining from pumping up the volume. Scaly Scalia for instance, asserts that consenting adults have no constitutional right to be left alone in their choice of mates or partners and must be regulated in what they do in their bedrooms. To some, that statement is as revolting as asserting that although all men are created equal and are entitled to equal protection under the law, it doesn’t apply to slaves, or to women, or heretics or anyone the retrograde religionists dream up as a group unworthy of freedom.

I watched HBO’s Mister Conservative the other night, a documentary about the career of Barry Goldwater, who as the Republican presidential candidate in the 1964 election convinced America that he was so far to the right of center that he bordered on being a madman. He was outrageously conservative enough to believe that adults had a right to be left alone; free of government regulation in their private lives as long as they weren’t harming anyone or their property. He despised the religious right and he would have despised Scalia were he alive today. There is no doubt he would have said so and there is no doubt that he would be condemned as a left wing extremist by the dogs of Murdoch and the fatuous Fox followers and Limbaugh losers.

Look how far to the right we have slid since George W. Bush oozed into Washington on a tide of oily lies; since the American Hizbullah, the plutocrats, the cleptocrats, the misbegotten incompetents, the perverted prophets and pedophiles swarmed into every crevice of every office in Government.

Through the cynical barking about activist judges who want to use the law to preserve freedom and justice, we have somehow failed to notice the black robed vermin striving to use the law to serve the extermination of liberty; to make this a country where obedience to authority is the only freedom we are allowed. What resemblance can anyone find to a nation where liberty was always to be preferred to safety and where government was limited and authority was subject to the will of the governed? What resemblance remains between King George of Jesustan and the nation founded on getting the power of government out of people’s private affairs, beliefs and practices?

Even the right to a fair trail, the right to challenge an accuser, the right to be charged or released, the right to an attorney, the right to be treated humanely, the right to due process are all too Liberal for those who wish to dismantle Liberty in the name of fear. Perhaps too, those attorneys who defend the accused can also be deprived of their rights and freedom at the whim of Imperial government. Take the case of Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart who defended Omar Abdel-Rahman, a blind Egyptian sheik sentenced to life in prison after he was convicted in plots to blow up five New York landmarks. Although the details are complex, the 67 year old, cancer-ridden defense attorney was convicted of aiding terrorists and prosecutors sought a sentence of 30 years.

Face it, we are not conservatives, we are not seeking any conservative goals, we are war mongers, jingoes, authoritarians, imperialists and barbarians for whom the only allowable freedoms are the freedom of the leader from the law and the freedom of us all to obey.

Now why did I say I was pleased? Because I can hope that some breaking point will occur that will stir the outrage of Americans, Conservatives and Liberals alike. Because I still believe there is a chance for America to wake up screaming from this nightmare and to take back our country, arrest the criminals, restore the rule of law and to try to keep our heads above water for the next 40 or so years until we can restore some sanity to the Supreme Court.