only to be read by real Americans....conservative of course

[RHTFISH]

Is U.S. Now On Slippery Slope To Tyranny?
By THOMAS SOWELL
Posted 06/21/2010 06:13 PM ET

When Adolf Hitler was building up the Nazi movement in the 1920s, leading up to his taking power in the 1930s, he deliberately sought to activate people who did not normally pay much attention to politics.

Such people were a valuable addition to his political base, since they were particularly susceptible to Hitler's rhetoric and had far less basis for questioning his assumptions or his conclusions.

"Useful idiots" was the term supposedly coined by V.I. Lenin to describe similarly unthinking supporters of his dictatorship in the Soviet Union.

Put differently, a democracy needs informed citizens if it is to thrive, or ultimately even survive.

In our times, American democracy is being dismantled, piece by piece, before our very eyes by the current administration in Washington, and few people seem to be concerned about it.

The president's poll numbers are going down because increasing numbers of people disagree with particular policies of his, but the damage being done to the fundamental structure of this nation goes far beyond particular counterproductive policies.

Just where in the Constitution of the United States does it say that a president has the authority to extract vast sums of money from a private enterprise and distribute it as he sees fit to whomever he deems worthy of compensation? Nowhere.

And yet that is precisely what is happening with a $20 billion fund to be provided by BP to compensate people harmed by their oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Many among the public and in the media may think that the issue is simply whether BP's oil spill has damaged many people, who ought to be compensated.

But our government is supposed to be "a government of laws and not of men."

If our laws and our institutions determine that BP ought to pay $20 billion — or $50 billion or $100 billion — then so be it.

But the Constitution says that private property is not to be confiscated by the government without "due process of law."

Technically, it has not been confiscated by Barack Obama, but that is a distinction without a difference.

With vastly expanded powers of government available at the discretion of politicians and bureaucrats, private individuals and organizations can be forced into accepting the imposition of powers that were never granted to the government by the Constitution.

If you believe that the end justifies the means, then you don't believe in constitutional government.

[MudDucker]

Amen! I was proud of the Republican congressman who apologized for the shakedown and I sent Bohnmer a nasty gram for his response.

Obama got his ego flowing when he fired the CEO of GM and he has not slowed down since!

[DwayneFisherman]

I'll bet Thomas Sowell's very livelyhood was not destroyed by this spill. These kind of articles really bother me. There are a lot of working class, downhome, redblooded, republicans whose lives will never be the same. It's easy for him to sit behind his computer and bang out these little opinion pieces.

[big bend gyrene]

He's a brilliant man and one a thousand times more well-rounded than our current President. Great political writer who has written on topics as diverse as late-speaking children (and how they are often quite intelligent), and a good photographer to boot.

Not always a fan of wikipedia as relates to accuracy, but the entry on Sowell is worth a read...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Sowell

Here's his own site:
http://www.tsowell.com/
The column link on his site leads to a plethora of great articles.

[Charles]

I'm no fan of Obama, but Sowell is full of it. This stuff started under Dubya's administration with the passage of the civil liberty crippling hogwash know as the Patriot Act.

[Jumptrout51]

Charles,your comment caused me to read the Patriot Act.
Wish I had done it sooner.
That thing is scary for us normal(sic) people.
Anybody with a grudge can have you hauled off to Guantanamo or worse.
Just hate it for my kids and grandkids to have to live under the restrictions my generation never knew.
What has happened to the USA that I knew and loved?

[robbankston]

Charles,your comment caused me to read the Patriot Act.
Wish I had done it sooner.
That thing is scary for us normal(sic) people.
Anybody with a grudge can have you hauled off to Guantanamo or worse.
Just hate it for my kids and grandkids to have to live under the restrictions my generation never knew.
What has happened to the USA that I knew and loved?

Amen

[Dubble Trubble]

All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.

Nothing explains our country's problems any simpler.


Dubble

[Jumptrout51]

November 2,2010.
Remember to set your clocks for "Time to Change".

[RHTFISH]

November 2,2010.
Remember to set your clocks for "Time to Change".

AMEN BROTHER!