Saturday, August 26, 2006

Mrs. Robinson at Dave Neiwert's blog

White Neiwert is otherwise occupied his guest blog-host is putting out a tour de force that could become the next essential handbook on the care and feeding of authoritarians. Heavy-duty stuff here. Not for the feint of heart, but bracing as a stiff drink. Thinking progressives only. None others need apply. LINK here.

Unfortunately, the ease and confidence of living in a prosperous society under a strong Constitution makes kicking back and doing nothing a very easy, attractive option. You can be blithely oblivious to these guys for years -- until the day comes when you've got a fundamentalist school board trying to teach your kids young-earth creationism; or militia guys jackbooting up Main Street at noon and performing blitz redecorating on the local synagogue at midnight; or a born-again president trying to bring on Armageddon for the profit of the oil companies and the acclaim of his Rapture-minded followers. On that day, we're jolted out of our reverie. Where did all these wackadoodles come from? Of course, they came from us -- because we didn't take seriously the threat they pose to the continued existence of our democracy, or our constant obligation to keep an eye out for the authoritarians in our midst, and take steps to prevent them from amassing followers and power in the first place.
And she says she's just getting started! This is where I go when the angst of my last post starts to build up to much. Good place to recharge my batteries.

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