Last night, Governor Palin posted a link to a Thomas Sowell article called, "Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?" In which Mr. Sowell said the following:
I think the point Mr. Sowell was trying to make is clear. Throughout history, despots have used "useful idiots" to grow their regime's power and influence. He provided TWO examples of historical reference to back up his claim, by listing both Adolf Hitler and V.I. Lenin in the beginning of his post.When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.
Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.
"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.
Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.
In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.
Yet somehow, the media missed this obvious point as the following article written by Andy Barr in Politico today proves, called "Sarah Palin praises column linking Obama, Hitler" (please note that the original title of this article was "Sarah Palin praises Hitler column" but I guess that meme wasn't working for them) It says:
Former Alaska GOP Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday encouraged her supporters to read an article comparing the BP escrow fund to Nazism.Wait a second... Where did Lenin go? Why didn't I see 1,000 tweets directed at Governor Palin from left-wing drones on Twitter (known as #p2) saying she compared Obama to Lenin? Where is the article form Politico or any other media outlet with the reference to Lenin? Perhaps it's because they have a little soft spot for the former Communist dictator, and although Lenin is responsible for millions of deaths, it just doesn't have the same punch as a reference to Hitler in their minds. I don't know...
[...]
The article Palin points to was published on Monday and was widely criticized for writing that, like Adolph Hitler, President Barack Obama is stripping away the freedom of his citizens without mass protest.
If the mental midgets on the left and in the media (sorry for the repetition) weren't playing politics here and bothered to read the rest of Mr. Sowell's piece, they would be able to see what his point was. Such as this:
With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.
If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.
And, without constitutional government, freedom cannot endure. There will always be a "crisis" — which, as the president's chief of staff has said, cannot be allowed to "go to waste" as an opportunity to expand the government's power.
That power will of course not be confined to BP or to the particular period of crisis that gave rise to the use of that power, much less to the particular issues.
When Franklin D. Roosevelt arbitrarily took the United States off the gold standard, he cited a law passed during the First World War to prevent trading with the country's wartime enemies. But there was no war when FDR ended the gold standard's restrictions on the printing of money.
Franklin D. Roosevelt! Now that's THREE historical references that Mr. Sowell makes in his article talking about governmental power grabs. Yet, there where no "lamestream" articles with headlines that read "Sarah Palin praises column linking Obama, FDR."
Well, we know that would never happen because FDR is a hero to the American left. Time magazine even mocked up a cover superimposing Barack Obama's face on an old FDR photo, back in November of 2008.
Mr. Sowell's piece ends this way:
Useful idiots, indeed... They give away their identity by calling out Governor Palin for merely linking to this well written, well thought out article by my own favorite intellectual, Thomas Sowell. To try and pass a perceived notion of what she was linking to, rather than actually discussing the points made in the piece, the left proves themselves incapable on any honest debate.At about the same time, during the worldwide Great Depression, the German Reichstag passed a law "for the relief of the German people."
That law gave Hitler dictatorial powers that were used for things going far beyond the relief of the German people — indeed, powers that ultimately brought a rain of destruction down on the German people and on others.
If the agreement with BP was an isolated event, perhaps we might hope that it would not be a precedent. But there is nothing isolated about it.
The man appointed by President Obama to dispense BP's money as the administration sees fit, to whomever it sees fit, is only the latest in a long line of presidentially appointed "czars" controlling different parts of the economy, without even having to be confirmed by the Senate, as Cabinet members are.
Those who cannot see beyond the immediate events to the issues of arbitrary power — vs. the rule of law and the preservation of freedom — are the "useful idiots" of our time. But useful to whom?
For the record, Governor Palin replied tonight to all of this on her Twitter page. She said:
"Lamestream media: I never compared Obama to Hitler. Quit making things up"
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