The article’s premise was that an Obama victory is a foregone conclusion: “Anyone who saw Barack Obama at Berlin’s Siegessäule on Thursday could recognize that this man will become the 44th president of the United States.”
Obama could win it. Because the voters do not understand the issues, they don't analyze what was said, they only enjoy the drum beat of the music. And Obama's speech is like music to the electorate's ears. As someone pointed out last week, once the election is over, the lyrics are what matters.
McCain has been counted out a couple times before and managed to come back, so it is still probably about a 50/50 shot (the bounce in the polls was to be expected, but will likely settle back to a near-tie before the convention gets here).
But then it occurred to me that one man’s “deadlock-proof” Democratic majority is another’s unchecked Democratic majority.
This is what is frightening. The power sharing arrangement envisioned by our Constitution has a glitch. What happens when the checks and balances aren't there? In discussing the liberal roots of fascism last week I said, "It can't happen here."
Could it? If Congress were controlled by Pelosi and Reid, Obama was in the White House, and he gets to appoint a couple of people to the Court, could we end up without an effective safety net to prevent a liberal fascist regime from taking hold?
There is precedent.
During the second term of Woodrow Wilson, the leading Progressive American (aka, a liberal) of the time, with the help of a liberal Congress, was moving pretty quickly toward fascism. More than 100,000 Americans were arrested, many locked up, for failing to express their patriotism. German publications were purged. Newspapers and magazines that didn't support the war effort were shut down, mailing privileges revoked, and other measures were taken. Persons who criticized war bonds as an investment were subject to arrest. Young children were indoctrinated with custom poetry designed to elicit harshly pro-American sentiment. It was a test for America. The leading liberal attorney of the day, Clarence Darrow, declared that once Congress approved going to war, there could be no protest. Once Congress approved, the citizenry had a "duty to acquiesce".
The idea that a powerful liberal could take us to fascism isn't outside the realm of possibility. If the system of "checks and balances" becomes "unbalanced".
Obama is a very dangerous man. |
