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Beta Commentary Page |
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DataQ ShowMeWare - Administrator's Personal Commentary |
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Monday, October 13, 2008
BARONE: The coming liberal thugocracy
Michael Barone
COMMENTARY: "I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your
neighbors," Barack Obama told a crowd in That's what Obama supporters, alerted by campaign e-mails, did when
conservative Stanley Kurtz appeared on Milt Rosenberg's WGN radio program in Obama fans jammed WGN's phone lines and sent in hundreds of protest
e-mails. The message was clear to anyone who would follow Mr. Rosenberg's
example. We will make trouble for you if you let anyone make the case against
The One. Other Obama supporters have threatened critics with criminal prosecution.
In September, St. Louis County Circuit Attorney Bob McCulloch and St. Louis
City Circuit Attorney Jennifer Joyce warned citizens that they would bring
criminal libel prosecutions against anyone who made statements against Mr.
Obama that were "false." I had been under the impression that the
Alien and Sedition Acts had gone out of existence in 1801-'02. Not so,
apparently, in metropolitan These attempts to shut down political speech have become routine for
liberals. Congressional Democrats sought to reimpose the "fairness
doctrine" on broadcasters, which until it was repealed in the 1980s
required equal time for different points of view. The motive was plain: to
shut down the one conservative-leaning communications medium, talk radio.
Liberal talk-show hosts have mostly failed to draw audiences, and many
liberals can't abide having citizens hear contrary views. To their credit, some liberal old-timers - like House Appropriations
Chairman David Obey - voted against the "fairness doctrine," in
line with their longstanding support of free speech. But you can expect the
"fairness doctrine" to get another vote if Barack Obama wins and
Democrats increase their congressional majorities. Corporate liberals have done their share in shutting down anti-liberal
speech, too. "Saturday Night Live" ran a spoof of the financial
crisis that skewered Democrats like House Financial Services Chairman Barney
Frank and liberal contributors Herbert and Marion Sandler, who sold
toxic-waste-filled Golden West to Wachovia Bank for $24 billion. Kind of
surprising, but not for long. The tape of the broadcast disappeared from
NBC's Web site and was replaced with another that omitted the references to
Mr. Frank and the Sandlers. Evidently NBC and its parent, General Electric,
don't want people to hear speech that attacks liberals. Then there's the Democrats' "card check" legislation that would
abolish secret ballot elections in determining whether employees are
represented by unions. The unions' strategy is obvious: Send a few thugs over
to employees' homes - we know where you live - and get them to sign cards that
will trigger a union victory without giving employers a chance to be heard. Once upon a time, liberals prided themselves, with considerable reason, as
the staunchest defenders of free speech. Union organizers in the 1930s and
1940s made the case that they should have access to employees to speak freely
to them, and union leaders like George Meany and Walter Reuther were ardent
defenders of the First Amendment. Today's liberals seem to be taking their marching orders from other
quarters. Specifically, from the college and university campuses where
administrators, armed with speech codes, have for years been disciplining and
subjecting to sensitivity training any students who dare to utter thoughts
that liberals find offensive. The campuses that once prided themselves as
zones of free expression are now the least free part of our society. Obama supporters who found the campuses congenial and Mr. Obama himself,
who has chosen to live all his adult life in university communities, seem to
find it entirely natural to suppress speech they don't like and seem utterly
oblivious to claims this violates the letter and spirit of the First
Amendment. In this campaign, we have seen the coming of the Obama thugocracy,
suppressing free speech, and we may see its flourishing in the four or eight
years ahead. • Michael Barone is a nationally syndicated columnist. |
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Copyright DataQ March. 2003 - |
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