By now we’re all familiar with the shit show of unidentified federal agents terrorizing protestors in Portland. We’ve seen the footage of the storm troopers baton-chopping a Navy vet and teargassing a wall of moms. We’ve heard the Administration’s paper thin justifications. And now we know for sure that the fascist horror fest is going on a nationwide tour, coming to city near you, including but limited to Chicago, Albuquerque, and Kansas City. It is beyond worrisome. It’s frightening.
But if there’s solace amidst our country’s lurch towards authoritarianism, it’s that thought leaders on the conservative side of the spectrum are truly rallying to the side of liberty. There is nothing more unprincipled than using principle only when its convenient. Fortunately these folks are definitely people of principle. Praise Jesus for the constitutionalists, amirite!?!
Take Rand Paul, the big government hating Senator from Kentucky who addressed the dangers of the politicians using the guise of safety as a gateway to tyranny in a recent Op-Ed on Foxnews.com:
“There is little government cannot – and has not tried – to justify with the words ‘for our own good’ or ‘to keep us all safe.’ And once that justification – even if genuinely offered – is allowed to automatically stifle debate, actions build ‘without end.’”
Paul goes on:
“You don’t have to look far back into our own history to see where such roads can lead, as the federal government’s response to 9/11 morphed into surveilling innocent Americans. Yet I and others cannot even bring the issue up in Congress without being accused of not taking our national security and safety seriously.”
Very thought provoking, Senator. I guess my only issue is that you wrote these words back on May 7 as an assault on governors who mandated businesses closures and enforced social distancing policies. As it turns out, Paul’s actual critique of the Portland atrocities is a bit more, shall we say, layered.
In another Op-Ed, this time on Reason.com, Paul writes that while he respects “the determination to preserve law and order” he also thinks that sending in federal troops “further distorts the boundaries” between the military and law enforcement.
The title of the piece itself clues you in on the goal of the author: It’s Time To Demilitarize the Police. On its head, it makes a valid argument about taking military-style weapons away from civil servants. Your local PD doesn’t need tanks or grenade launchers. Agreed.
The problem is his screed is just a way to speak about the Portland events without directly addressing any of the underlying human rights or constitutional violations. It’s an end around. And while he laments what happened to Navy veteran Christopher David and makes reference to “federal officials, dressed in camouflage, snatching protesters away in unmarked vehicles,” he is careful to chastise the “actions of those who have destroyed lives and property in a mockery of peaceful protest.”
In essence, he equates feds in camouflage kidnapping citizens to the acts of protest by those same citizens. And he rationalizes it by painting Portland as a city under siege, despite all evidence to the contrary, and despite the fact that local and state officials have emphatically said they don’t want the feds there. Honestly, it’s just a bunch of bullshit.
If you want to know how Rand really feels about the whole thing, just check his Twitter:
Basically, the dude would be totally down with the troops going in if the optics were better. It’s bad politics, that’s the problem here. Thanks for clarifying that!
Ok, forget Rand. Let’s look for another example of an anti-government stalwart standing up to Federal overreach.
How about the National Rifle Association? They love their freedom, right? And they’re never afraid to tell you about it. Haven’t been for a long time. From my cold, dead hands and all that.
Think back to a 1995 letter NRA president Wayne LaPierre sent to his members where he referred to federal agents as “jack-booted thugs.” It seems almost prescient. He wrote in part:
“Not too long ago, it was unthinkable for federal agents wearing Nazi bucket helmets and black storm trooper uniforms to attack law-abiding citizens… if you have a badge, you have the government’s go-ahead to harass, intimidate, even murder law-abiding citizens.”
Cool fundraising tactic, bro. So has Wayne stepped up to condemn the actions in Portland? I assume attacks by storm troopers against law abiding citizens would be sufficient to draw ire.
No? No comment? Crickets? Cool, cool… just checking.
Ok, let’s put aside NRA for a sec. How about future presidential hopeful Tucker Carlson. Old Tuck Face has a big anti-tyranny game, or at least he did when Obama was on office. Has he said anything helpful lately (or ever)?
Well, there was a recent broadcast where he warned of an elected official who has “…calculated that there’s no penalty for petty authoritarianism. In fact, petty authoritarianism might make even mediocre politicians look strong and decisive.”
Spot on, Tucker! A devastating critique of the current Administration!
Unfortunately, you know where this is going by now.
Carlson’s attack came in an April segment directed at Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. At the time Whitmer was trying to enact further stay-at-home restrictions that every sane elected politician outside the United States was also advocating at the time. Not that it matters, but Michigan’s 7-day moving daily average of deaths hasn’t gone about 20 for the past month. Still too many, but no doubt drastically lower than if Whitmer hadn’t acted the way she did.
You know what? I’m actually going to pause on the quest to find a paragon to hold up my argument. Let’s just take it on face value that somewhere in the world there is a conservative person of principle willing to take the brave leap to condemn unidentified federal agents who are literally blindfolding protestors and tossing them into rented minivans.
In fact, I bet that in some midwestern basement there is an army of libertarian bros holed up who, in between posting marijuana legalization rants and re-reading their hardbound editions of The Fountainhead, are taking the time to speak out against a president fomenting war on his own people. I’m sure they are writing passionate letters to their congresspeople as I type this, and definitely including lots of C.S. Lewis quotes and references to the Founding Fathers. I’m sure their checks to the ACLU will clear any day now. I’m very sure. Totally sure.
Of course if those people did exist, you’d think they’d be easier to find.
Top photo by Gage Skidmore via Wikipedia commons
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