While we're on the subject of famous quotes this month, here's one from Thomas Jefferson: "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." This is one that conservatives are found of quoting in support of their fantasies that masquerade as political philosophy. If, in fact, they had a consistent political philosophy, instead of nothing but a monstrous appetite for power, they would find a way to deal with Jefferson's views on corporations. They can't, of course, because in no small part because of the aforementioned monstrous appetite.
But I digress. Conservatives love that quote in no small part because, paradoxically, they agree with Mao Zedong that all power comes out of the barrel of a gun. Hence, their obsession with arming America (or their side of it) to the teeth. That view might have worked pretty well for Chairman Mao, and it may have worked tolerably well in frontier America. But this is not the People's Republic, and the frontier closed over a century ago. Which leaves us with voting booths as the machines by which the people can ensure that their government fears them.
Only, when it comes to spreading fear that way, conservatives tend to be not so hot on the idea. This nonsense emanating from Wisconsin is only the latest example of a trend that has asserted itself at all levels of government since the Tea Party triumph of 2010. Voting restrictions, combined with ruthless gerrymandering and off-the-record billionaire donations, offer the ultimate indictment of modern conservatism:
In a democracy, they fear the majority of voters, and have to go to any lengths necessary to stop them from voting.
They can't say this out loud, of course, or they would lose the last illusory veil that disguises them from being revealed as the criminal conspiracy that they essentially are. So they pretend that they are actually stopping non-existent "voter fraud," rather than systematically denying whole swaths of the American adult population the most basic right that exists in a democracy--the right to choose your government. If they had programs, policies or even a philosophy that they could actually discuss with voters, and attempt to gain their support by doing so, they would do so. But they don't have programs, policies or even a philosophy at this point. They have the aforesaid appetite--and no means to feed other than by spreading hatred and fear, and keeping the object of that hatred and fear home on Election Day. That object, of course, would be you and me.
This brazen, shameless willingness to subvert the rights of all the people is perhaps the greatest evidence of the slenderness of the thread by which the fate of a free society currently hangs. Now, more than ever, this is way not voting is simply not an option this year. If you don't cast a vote, you have no way of being sure that you will ever have an opportunity to vote again.
They're scared to death of you. Give them good reason to be that way. Organize, contribute and vote in 2014. Only by doing so can you assure yourself of a government that will not deprive you of your liberty.
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