Yesterday, I posted a diary that suggested a much more nefarious agenda could be at work in McCain-Palin's Obama turn to negative campaigning and in particular their subtle and no subtle propagation of the meme that Obama (and perhaps the Democratic party) are terrorist sympathizers, and anti-American.
Today, similar concerns are being raised on the Kos (even making rec list) and now Jeff Feldman on Huffington Post raises the question explicitly.
Is Palin tryin to Incite violence against Obama
From my standpoint, the answer to Feldman's question is an obvious "YES!"
However, in this post, I am most interested in the responses on the Kos and also HP, which deem such concerns to be hysterical, nothing too worry about, a distraction, concern trolling, the province of tin foil hat wearing paranoids, etc, etc., etc.
To consider the alternative that major concern is warranted, let's revisit Naomi Wolf's 10 steps that lead to a police state.
My source is a summary of Wolf's larger argument that she published in The Guardian.
Wolf- Fascist America in Ten Easy Steps
I have included some of Wolf's elaboration for those steps that are completely self-evident from the title alone.
1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
Once you have got everyone scared, the next step is to create a prison system outside the rule of law (as Bush put it, he wanted the American detention centre at Guantánamo Bay to be situated in legal "outer space") - where torture takes place. At first, the people who are sent there are seen by citizens as outsiders: troublemakers, spies, "enemies of the people" or "criminals". Initially, citizens tend to support the secret prison system; it makes them feel safer and they do not identify with the prisoners. But soon enough, civil society leaders - opposition members, labour activists, clergy and journalists - are arrested and sent there as well.
3. Develop a thug caste
When leaders who seek what I call a "fascist shift" want to close down an open society, they send paramilitary groups of scary young men out to terrorise citizens. The Blackshirts roamed the Italian countryside beating up communists; the Brownshirts staged violent rallies throughout Germany. This paramilitary force is especially important in a democracy: you need citizens to fear thug violence and so you need thugs who are free from prosecution.
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens' groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
Threaten civil servants, artists and academics with job loss if they don't toe the line. Mussolini went after the rectors of state universities who did not conform to the fascist line; so did Joseph Goebbels, who purged academics who were not pro-Nazi; so did Chile's Augusto Pinochet; so does the Chinese communist Politburo in punishing pro-democracy students and professors.
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
Cast dissent as "treason" and criticism as "espionage'. Every closing society does this, just as it elaborates laws that increasingly criminalise certain kinds of speech and expand the definition of "spy" and "traitor".
10. Suspend the rule of law
The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 gave the president new powers over the national guard. This means that in a national emergency - which the president now has enhanced powers to declare - he can send Michigan's militia to enforce a state of emergency that he has declared in Oregon, over the objections of the state's governor and its citizens.
In light of these steps, let's first consider Step 7 (target key individuals), that McCain-Palin are obviously targeting Obama while simultaneously demonizing any journalists or media outlet who has the temerity to report on their checkered records. This tactic clearly maps onto Step 7 particularly when you consider the chain of associations they are creating: Obama is a terrorists- his supporters are un-American-the press is in the "tank for Obama" and seeking to destroy arch angel Palin - thus, the press is engaging in treasonous activities.
Now lets consider Step 4 (develop a thug caste). In her writings, Wolf uses Blackwater as her prima facie evidence for this step. However, Palin-McCain seem to be taking this approach directly to their people.
At Republican rallies (featuring their Presidential and and VP candidates), we now have people calling Obama "a terrorist" and yelling "kill him, (and the Republican candidates condone and encourage these actions through their silence).
Do these circumstances warrant concern about unleashing a fascist thug caste?
In my post yesterday, a number of Kossacks helpfully told me to calm down and insisted that the "kill em" comment was obviously directed at Bill Ayers or else the fine police officers at the rally would have arrested the perpetrator (as though the Police are mind readers or protectors of Democracy).
But, who will now say that the statement was not directed at Obama? Also, the rally which was introduced by the town's Police chief, was policed by a very Republican dominated force. They had no inclination to harass these fine Republican citizens. Imagine what would have happened at an Obama rally if someone started in with anti-McCain chants.
Indeed, these events are isolated one but a series of isolated events in close temporal proximity forms a pattern. It is a pattern that points to violence and threat of fascism.
I think "not to worry" posters are putting way too much faith in the kind of protection that the secret service can provide. Even if the agents are completely committed to their duties, a candidate is very vulnerable at rallies and campaign stops.
But, lets assume (hope and pray) that nothing like that comes to pass. We still have the enduring consequences that will result from establishing the belief that a terrorist and his treasonous Democratic brethren have won a major election. Palin-McCain are creating a new level of culture war that may make the right wing backlash against the Clinton administration look very, very tame.
Once the fascist genie is released, it is not easy to stuff back into the bottle.
At this point, these Palinazis need to be to be shouted down, just like many concerned citizens do at Klan rallies and the Press needs to in no uncertain terms denounce this strategy and McCain for countenancing it. Importantly, more reasonable conservative commentators, like Brooks, Will, and Noonan, need to also sound warning alarms (and be pressed to do so). Palin-McCain are also seeking to brandish the press as being treasonous for reporting unflattering facts about their campaign. Everyone in the media, who does not work for Fox, has a vested interested in pushing back against this anti-press fascist meme).
You turn back a mob by showing that there is a much larger freedom respecting population that is not going to be intimidated. However, the more widely and firmly the collective we allows Wolf's ten steps to be established, the more difficult and dangerous it becomes to mount a successful and peaceful counter response through the rule of law.
As it becomes clearer and clearer that Obama is going to win the election, does the combination of desperation, terrorist bating, emboldened fascist sympathizers seem like a good combination?
Do you recall the so-called Republican riots at the Florida recount sites and how scared and intimidated the recounters were and how the Florida police authorities stood idly by? So,IT has happened HERE. Palin-McCain could energize fascist forces that could implement this Florida usurpation of Democracy on a national scale.
To conclude, Palin-McCain is threatening Obama; Palin-McCain is threatening freedom of the press; Palin-McCain is threatening democracy. Their moves toward fascism have to be challenged and countered.