|
Recently by Thomas DiLorenzo: Rethinking
Americas Supreme Judicial Dictatorship
The communistic rabble-rousers at the left-wing hate group known as the
Southern Poverty Law Center have produced yet another libelous smear of
well-meaning Americans who would like to see their Constitution enforced.
This time the smears, lies, false innuendo, character assassination, and hate
are directed at all those who believe that part of the definition of an
American patriot is one who believes in the founding fathers philosophy of
limited constitutional government.
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is a far-left hate group whose modus
operandi is to attempt to censor criticisms of big government in America
by calling people names. If you are a Jeffersonian who believes that limited
and decentralized government is better than unlimited, centralized,
monopolistic government, then they will label you a racist, a slavery
defender, or worse. If you are a Ron Paul constitutionalist, they will
insinuate that you are probably a terrorist who would like to blow up
government buildings. If you are not a leftist, then you are, by definition,
a "hater." If you are a critic of the welfare state, it is because
you hate poor people. If you are a critic of the government school
bureaucracy, it is because you hate children. If you are a critic of racial
hiring quotas (which are supposedly illegal under the Civil Rights Act of
1964), then you are a racist. If you oppose socialized medicine, it is
because you hate sick people. If you are a critic of the Ponzi scheme known
as "social security," it is because you hate old people. There
cannot possibly be any intellectual reasons to doubt government intervention;
all criticisms of intervention are motivated by hate and nothing else
according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
With the advent of the TEA Party and the Republican takeover of the U.S.
House of Representatives, the SPLC issued one of its cartoonish
"intelligence reports" on "The Year in Hate," bemoaning
the "explosive growth" of "the radical right." Everyone
on the "right" is a "radical extremist." There are no
radicals or extremists on the left in the eyes of the extreme radical
communists at the SPLC.
A recent SPLC "intelligence report" attacks so-called
"patriot groups" in America. As is its usual practice, the SPLC
digs up a tiny piece of information about one or two mentally deranged
lunatics somewhere in America who gripe about the government and supposedly
claim to be "patriots," and then insinuate in their
"report" that ALL individuals and groups who label themselves as
patriots are probably just as crazy – if not dangerous.
An earlier example of this sleazy and dishonest tactic is how the SPLC
issued an "intelligence report" on "radical right-wing
extremists" who were running for political office throughout America in
2008. This report included a picture and brief description of a man who
clearly sounded like a mentally deranged crackpot who was running for town
council in a small village of a couple hundred people in a Western state.
Then right next to that was a picture and similarly ominous warning about one
Rand Paul, who at the time was running for the U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Get
it: Crazy Mountain Man = Rand Paul = Ron Paul.
According to the SPLC the "patriot groups" are characterized by
"a proliferation of demonizing conspiracy theories." They are
"conspiracy-minded groups that see the federal government as their
primary enemy." That is, they are accused of spreading conspiracy
theories about governmental misbehavior, with the clear implication that
these people are crazy. But of course there are political
conspiracies. American antitrust laws contain the words "conspiracies in
restraint of trade." Nearly everything that goes on in Washington, D.C.
is in fact a conspiracy on the part of some special interest group and a
member or members of Congress who design legislation to benefit that group at
the expense of the general public. For example, when President George W. Bush
imposed 35 percent tariffs on steel imports, it was the result of a
conspiracy by domestic steel manufacturers and their unions, along with their
congressional supporters. The higher price of steel benefited them at the
expense of all purchasers of steel and products made of steel, which became
more expensive because of the tariff.
Political conspiracies are pervasive, but the SPLC wants people to believe
that the kind of conspiracies the "patriot groups" believe in are
of a different kind that they are of the "Martians have been living
among us for 50 years and the government has been covering it up"
variety. Anyone who is skeptical about the alleged "virtues" of
unlimited governmental growth is simply crazy or so the SPLC would have the
public believe.
An integral part of the Obama administrations strategy for remaining in
power is to recruit surrogate groups to suggest that any criticism of the
administrations policies are probably the work of racists who simply cannot
tolerate a (half) black president. Thus, the SPLC condemns the patriot groups
as being motivated primarily by "the prospect of four more years under a
black president." Presumably, a black conservative or libertarian
president would be just as alarming to the patriot groups according to the
SPLC.
Not only are patriot groups supposedly motivated by racism; some of them
are also probably conspiring to murder the president according to the
SPLC, which soberly announced in its "report" on patriot groups
that "an angry backlash developed that included several plots to murder
Obama." Such plots are said to be the work of unnamed "Patriot and
hate groups." The SPLC "report" cites as one of its main
sources of information on patriot groups a convicted felon described as
"a longtime neo-Nazi."
The SPLCs patriot group report is ridiculously sloppy in its methodology
in that it includes as "groups" such things as a single individual
with an internet radio show that bemoans the loss of constitutional liberty
in America, or a book about the decline of constitutional liberty. Two
"patriot groups" that are especially demonized are Oath Keepers, an
organization of current and former military and law enforcement and
firefighting personnel, whose members pledge to reaffirm their oath to defend
and protect the U.S. Constitution, and the Constitution Party.
Instead of relying on the fevered ramblings of a former neo-Nazi/convicted
felon, as the SPLC "researchers" do, if one wants to know what a
patriot group like Oath Keepers is about, a good place to start would be the
organizations own Web site. Reading what is on the Web site explains why the
SPLC is so alarmed about the spreading popularity of Oath Keepers.
Unlike Nazi war criminals who famously pleaded that they were "only
following orders," Oath Keepers clearly states that "we wont just
follow orders" if those orders involve violating the clear language of
the U.S. Constitution. These are men and women who all took an oath to
protect and defend the Constitution, not destroy it. The organization
publishes a "Declaration of Orders We Will NOT Obey" which is a
listing of ten things that are clear violations of the Constitution. In other
words, these are people who believe that the police and the military should
never become an armed goon squad for lawless, criminal, and tyrannical
politicians. The SPLC apparently disagrees with them quite vehemently.
What is it that Oath Keepers believes the police and the military should
not do? They should not assist in confiscating firearms from law-abiding
Americans for one thing. Nor would they conduct warrantless searches of the
American people, in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The military should
not be used to detain American citizens as "enemy combatants." If
they are accused of a crime by the government, then they should be treated
like anyone else who is so accused and be put on trial before a civilian
jury.
The Constitution only allows for the imposition of martial law in any
state if it is first requested by the governor and legislature of that state.
Oath Keepers pledges to enforce that part of the Constitution as well. Nor
will Oath Keepers use deadly force against the people of any state who
peacefully resist the federal government when it passes legislation that is
clearly unconstitutional. Oath Keepers believes the federal government has no
legitimate authority to murder dissenters, in other words. Or to blockade
American cities, force any Americans into detention camps, as was done to
Japanese-Americans during World War II and as neoconservative celebrity
pundit Michelle Malkin advocated for Muslim-Americans in her recent book, In
Defense of Internment.
Oath Keepers opposes the use of any foreign troops, under the auspices of
the United Nations or anyone else, on American soil; oppose the confiscation
of private property; and they pledge to defend the free speech rights of the
American people by refusing to follow orders to censor free political speech.
In light of all of this, it is easy to see why the SPLC is so alarmed that
it smears Oath Keepers with language about presidential assassination and
terrorism. Like the Obama administration, the SPLC favors the unlimited and
explosive growth of government so that America moves closer and closer to
totalitarian control. Oath Keepers favors constitutional freedom, the mortal
enemy of totalitarians everywhere.
It is equally easy to understand why the SPLC would also issue an
over-the-top, hate-filled attack on the Constitution Party and everyone
associated with it. On its Web site the Constitution Party publishes its
"preamble" which declares, in the language of the Declaration of
Independence, that all human beings have God-given rights to life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness. It then states that "freedom to own, use,
exchange, control, protect, and freely dispose of property is a natural,
necessary aid" in realizing our "inalienable rights" as human
beings. And, moreover, "that the legitimate function of government is to
secure these rights through the preservation of domestic tranquility, the
maintenance of a strong national defense [as opposed to offense], and the
promotion of equal justice for all."
Even more shocking to the communistic rabble-rousers at the SPLC must be
the next statement in the Constitution Partys preamble that "history
makes clear that left unchecked, it is the nature of the government to usurp
the liberty of its citizens . . . . therefore, it is essential to bind
government with the chains of the Constitution and carefully divide and limit
government powers to those assigned by the consent of the governed."
It should be obvious to anyone reading this article that if the SPLC had
its way, and Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Thomas Paine, and George
Washington were to come back to life, they would immediately be designated as
"enemy combatants" and sent to the Guantanamo Bay Gulag to rot. In
case anyone doubts this, it is useful to recall how, upon assuming office,
the Nazi-esque Secretary of Fatherland Security, Janet Napolitano, issued a
"report" about potential "terrorist" organizations that
included just about every conservative and libertarian think tank in America,
even the Heritage Foundation. The source of Napolitanos "report"
was the Southern Poverty Law Center. This was their wish list. It was a bold
attempt to censor, once and for all, all voices of dissent to the unlimited,
unconstitutional growth of government. A political firestorm forced
Napolitano to ditch the "report," even pulling it off the internet.
The incident was very revealing, however, in that it demonstrated how the
state would like to use the "war on terror" as an all-purpose
excuse to destroy freedom of political speech, and how the Southern Poverty
Law Center (which does not even practice poverty law, by the way) is one of
its primary tools of tyranny. What any of these political activities by the
SPLC has to do with "poverty law" the ostensible reason for the
organizations tax exemption – is anyones guess.
|
