Galt: An Act of Sedition

From Shenandoah:

02.27.09
An Act of Sedition
by John Galt

February 27, 2009

I am a racist.

That is the apparent message that we are receiving now from the mainstream media, the so-called independent news organizations and supporters of the new administration from the left of center in America because I oppose many of the policies proposed and enacted by the Obama administration. Please note that I did not reference the man’s skin color, heritage, parents or affiliations, just his policies yet that makes me, a man who does not judge anyone, a biased poorly educated Klansman in the eyes of the new era. That is a terrifying prospect, but America has sadly been here before.

In my editorial from last month titled Here Come the Squadrists, I outlined the dangers of the independent groups who support powerful administrations that act at random and at will to stifle public dissent. The words that the opposition to the party in power uses though have usually been ignored, diminished or just mocked as the utterances of the poorly educated fool and left to twist in the wind regardless of their Constitutional validity and truth. This dangerous precedent was first tried under Abraham Lincoln who’s actions against those who did not support the Union activities in the Civil War from residents in Northern states often would result in arrest and detainment along with a fair bit of public mockery. This lesson did not escape future administrations and Woodrow Wilson perfected the techniques before and during America’s entry into World War I.

On April 13, 1917 President Wilson created the Committee on Public Information (CPI) a Federal agency which was responsible for whipping up public support for World War I. Unfortunately the propaganda arm had such creative phrases as “I am public opinion, all men fear me” on the Liberty Bond posters which stirred up public sentiment against those who questioned the reasons and motives for this war but worse, gave Wilson a blank check to commit far more egregious acts that forever stirred the imaginations of the socialist progressives in our country and might well be returning to our era in a different format soon. The difference between then and now is the mainstream media and ’squadrist’ type private organizations now serve the purpose of the CPI, spreading their version of truth across the nation in an attempt to tilt public opinion and give the current administration a blank check to do whatever they desire to correct the “wrongs” of the past eight years and many decades before.

The American Protective League was a private organization with over 250,000 members at its peak that formed during the World War I period which worked hand in hand with the US Department of Justice to enforce support for the President’s policies; and not just those related to the War. Without any doubt they were the American version of Hitler’s Brown Shirts. They could search your papers and place fo business without a warrant, spy on you and your family and in some cases physically harm people they deemed in opposition to America’s interests or the edicts of the Wilson administration. It was not unusual for individuals to be harassed or spied on in secret by the APL then suddenly find the US Department of Justice at their doorstep with warrants to seize personal belongings or papers and in over 180,000 cases detain individuals under the guise of Anti-American activities. Newspapers were silenced in rapid fashion if their editorial pages ventured into territory that offered any sense of opposition to Wilson’s policies be they about the war or even economic and domestic issues unrelated to the conflict with Germany. This frightening concept and the ideas of the APL have not escaped the current crop of socialists as illustrated by the vile protests of the “Reverend” Sharpton against various News Corp. offices nationwide yesterday. They want an APL type organization and a further intensification of the economic crisis or an act of terror is the only excuse these groups who support the current administration is all the excuse they need. Just as an aside, all of the political prisoners who were arrested under Wilson’s administration were not released after the war, for your information; it took the subsequent Republican administration to release these poor souls from America’s jails.

So do not tell me it can not happen here. The process of engaging in the silencing of conservative talk radio by introducing mandatory diversification of ownership which will be followed by subsidies to insure the survival of these “new” voices is well on the way. As the economy flounders up and down due to the misguided socialist policies of the Obama administration and the capitalists offer their finally utterances of “but we did not want it to go this far” just months after they begged for taxpayer dollars and government help the restrictions on saying what you wish will be increased, day by day, week by week. The internet will have a political police force designed to root out the opposition and restrict access to their content forcing the creation of an underground network quite possibly piggybacking on the current internet but bypassing government and non-government censorship efforts.

Does this sound dramatic and drastic? Yes, but is it outlandish and beyond any possibility of occurring? No. We are on a road that I feared with either McCain or Obama but the winner of the last election is displaying an arrogance even I did not think was possible. Look for your freedoms in the next few years to be contracted and rationed based on the beliefs of the majority, be that majority real or not. You can protest, you can have tea parties, heck you can have radio talk shows which are vociferously opposed to the status quo. Just expect the consequences of what you say, who you associate with and the actions taken against you to be harsh, sudden and surprising.

Because in the future, every word I have ever typed on this blog will be determined as one thing:

An act of sedition.