The American Gestapo

The old saying is that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then it is a duck. But the opposite is also true. If you see a duck, you expect it to behave like a duck in that it will waddle and quack like a duck does. If a gestapo should set up shop in America, we would recognize it by what gestapos do, namely shout down anyone who disagrees with their point of view. Of course, they could not get away with secret police methods right out in the open in America. They could not just kill such dissenters or throw them in jail without filing charges, at least not at first anyway. But they could get away with suppressing dissent through the time tested method of intimidation. They let everyone opposing the gestapo know what will happen to them if they refuse to agree by making an example of anyone who questions what the gestapo has decided is best for everyone.

If you ever had any doubt that we have a budding gestapo in our midst, the case of Joe Wurzelbacher, known popularly as Joe the Plumber, should have removed that doubt. So how is that Joe got squashed like a bug? Did he organize some protest movement? Did he attend a McCain-Palin rally? No, it turns out that Joe was minding his own business, playing football with his son in his own front yard. That was when he had the misfortune to be approached by Senator Obama, who while he is the one who has been chosen for us by our supposed masters, he has not been anointed quite yet. Poor Joe had the temerity to question the four year economic plan of Senator Obama. He wanted to know why Senator Obama planned to raise taxes on small business owners so that they would have no incentive to expand their businesses and hire more employees. Joe did not put it exactly that way, but that was the gist of the question.

That was when the "chosen one" made a slip of the tongue and explained that it would be better for everyone if the wealth was spread around more evenly. Joe may not have known that this is a socialist idea, but he knew a bad idea when he heard it and he said so. Other people, who heard this answer were quick to point out that this idea is just plain out and out socialism. Now socialism has a negative connotation in America if for no other reason than Communists invariably call their countries socialist republics. The most powerful of these countries, the USSR, as Russia was formerly called, crashed and burned because socialism is an inherently unworkable system. That is because there is no reward for incentive and hence growth is strangled. To adopt a policy of increasing taxes on business owners and investors when there is a recession in progress is a disaster. Since Senator Obama is also proposing to do away with free trade agreements under the guise of protecting American jobs, combining increased taxes with increased tariffs on imported goods is a sure fire way to turn a recession into a depression.

This sudden unmasking of the true motives of the "chosen one" was a disaster. Up to that point, all those who supported Senator McCain had been dismissed as a bunch of losers who were just plain stupid and racists to boot. The message had been sent loud and clear to all those disagreeing with the "chosen one" that they would be called racists because Senator Obama happens to have a skin color different from the majority of the people in America. It was hard to characterize a question on tax policy as racist so another time honored tactic was called for. The only solution was to discredit Joe and make him the object of derision so as to cover up the answer Senator Obama had inadvertently given. Thus the gestapo immediately began digging into Joe's background. What was desperately needed was all the dirt that they could find.

They were delighted when they found some. It turns out that Joe is behind on his taxes and that he could not really be a plumber because he is not licensed as one. Better yet was the possibility that he might be related to a relative of a disgraced banker from the savings and loan debacle, Charles H. Keating, Jr.. Best of all, John McCain, the leader of the opposition to the "chosen one", had been linked to that same banker. Now Joe has been thrown to the wolves and the American people have been shown what happens to anyone who dares question Senator Obama and refuses to rubber stamp his being officially anointed as our leader. The gestapo can now rest easy knowing that their "chosen one" is once again assured of becoming the leader.

Any argument that John McCain makes in favor of Joe and the question he asked is being ridiculed by pointing out what a fraud poor Joe is. Lost in all of this is that it is not a matter of who asked the question, but rather the answer that was important. If a felon just released from prison had asked the question, what difference would that make? It was the answer that gave away the deep dark secret. Of course, the point of all of this was to make the story all about the questioner so as to distract attention from the answer given. One only has to look at the blogs to see how well the gestapo's fellow travelers have implemented this strategy. It is now all about Joe, and no longer about socialism.

How is it that one of the guardians protecting our freedoms and democracy has been subverted and turned into a gestapo? That is a very good question. Once upon a time, the mainstream news media reported the news. Slowly they turned into an organ for propaganda instead of news. The people who actually own the media in America would be the very last people to allow their companies to be taken over by the government as the Communists have always done in their countries. Somehow they do not have a problem with hiring people who are perfectly willing to be propagandists for a politician clearly opposed to their owner's best interests. No doubt because these news media are owned by huge conglomerates, they only worry about profits and not about what their employees are up to. Now that the mainstream media has moved on to becoming the thought police and enforcers of lock step conformity to the leader chosen for us, one might think that alarm bells would be ringing in these huge conglomerates, but apparently not.

How has this come to pass? That is easily explained because the first American institutions that were subverted into becoming gestapos were the colleges and universities. In the now distant past, these institutions were bastions of free inquiry and forums for dissent as a necessary part of learning to think for one's self. They are now nothing but dispensers of political correctness and the administrators and professors are the ones who decide what is correct and what is not. You need a degree in journalism these days to get a job in the mainstream media. If you resist the brainwashing in journalism school, your grade point average goes into the toilet. A student wanting a well paying career in journalism soon learns to parrot the current group think according to their journalism professors. Since everyone in their class who dares question that thinking is ridiculed and dumped on, it is not too surprising that these so-called journalists soon become nothing but foot soldiers in the war against politically incorrect thinking. They become part of the movement to suppress all thought that does not measure up to what our self appointed elites consider to be the only possible truth.

The mainstream media behaves just like a gestapo would at the very beginning of when a country turns away from democracy. "By their fruits, ye shall know them." The mainstream media not only stifles dissent by labeling any protesters as racists, but also by viciously turning on those who dare disagree with them. Once this was limited to just the Sarah Palin's of this country. The media's defense is that these people are politicians so it is always open season on them. How then can they explain what they did to an ordinary American working person just like most of the rest of us? The message is loud and clear that you oppose the "chosen one" at great risk to yourself. It is equally clear that the mainstream media has turned into a gestapo in all but name.

That leaves the rest of us with only one remaining option. So far, the ballot is still secret so there is one last place where we can make our dissent known without fear of retribution. Of course Senator Obama is already supporting doing away with the secret ballot in elections to determine if workers will be represented by a union. That will allow union organizers to thoroughly intimidate the workers into joining the union or else. How soon will that be extended to all elections? How many of us are willing to exercise this last option before it is too late? It would appear that we are about to find out.