How Bad Can It Get?

"Politics is made up largely of irrelevancies." ~ Dalton Camp

While motoring to the market to pick up a couple of things to eat, I heard the following incredible dissertation from Naomi Wolfe on the Rush Limbaugh show. Before Rush was finished reading it, we had arrived at our destination and turned the car off, so I didn't get to hear Rush's critique--Just for the information of you who think I get my opinions directly from talk radio. (you know who you are) This is Ms. Wolfe's commentary as posted at the Huffington Post:

"Please understand what you are looking at when you look at Sarah 'Evita' Palin. You are looking at the designated muse of the coming American police state. ... I realized early on with horror what I was seeing in Governor Palin: the continuation of the Rove-Cheney cabal, but this time without restraints. ... I saw that she was even styled by the same skillful stylist (neutral lipstick, matte makeup, dark colors) who turned Katharine Harris from a mall rat into a stateswoman and who styles all the women in the Bush orbit -- but who does not bother to style Cindy McCain. ... She uses mafia tactics against critics.

The riot police wore the black S&M gear of the Rovian fantasy life and carried the four foot batons cops carry in North Korea. All this is not John McCain's imagery or strategy: it is Karl Rove's. In McCain-Palin's America, citizens who are protesting are being charged as terrorists. This means that a violent war had been declared on American citizens. A well known reporter leaked to me on background that St Paul police had dressed as protesters and, dressed in Black -- shades of the Blackshirts of 1920.

Under the coming Palin-Rove police state, you will witness the plans now underway to bring Iraqi troops to patrol the streets of our nation. ... Under the Palin-Rove police state, there will be no further true elections. Mark Crispin Miller has done sensational and under-reported investigating to establish that -- as I warned -- indeed the GOP staffers on the US Senate Judiciary Committee have been. Under the Palin-Rove police state, citizens will be targeted with state cyberterrorism. Bruce Fein of the American Freedom Agenda, a former Reagan official, warned me three years ago that the Bush team went after a Republican who had crossed them through cyberstalking: they messed with his email.

Am I trying to scare you? I am. I am trying to scare you to death and ask you to scare your Republican and independent friends most of all. How do you know when it is war on citizens? When there are mass arrests, journalists are jailed, the opposition is infiltrated, rights are stripped and leaders start to ignore the rule of law. ... People's bank accounts are being tampered with: wire transfers to banks vanish in midair. I personally keep opening bank accounts that are quickly corrupted by fraud. Money vanishes. Coworkers of mine have to keep opening new email accounts as old ones become infected. And most disturbingly to me personally is the mail tampering I have both heard of and experienced firsthand. My tax returns vanished from my mailbox. All my larger envelopes arrive ripped straight open apparently by hand. When I show the postman, he says 'That's impossible.' Horrifyingly to me is the impact on my family. My childrens' report cards are returned again and again though perfectly addressed; their invitations are turned back; and my daughters many letters from camp? Vanished. All of them. ... I am not telling you this because it's about my life. I am telling you this because it is about your life -- whoever you are, Conservative or Liberal, independent or evangelical. Your politics will not protect you in a police state. History shows that nothing protects you in a police state. This is not about my fear and anxiety: it is about what awaits you and everyone you love unless you see this for what it is."

Here is my first thought after hearing this tripe:

I fear Ms. Wolfe is overstating the possibilities (duh). This apocalyptic scenario will not happen, of course. Nor will an equally doomsday scenario happen under an Obama Presidency.

There is really only about three ways America will change depending on who wins the November Presidential election, and the nation won't very perceptibly change in any combination of events.

If McCain wins, there is little that will change in America, either for the better or for the worse. The degree of change brought about by the election of McCain will be determined more by which party controls the House of Representatives and the Senate.

It goes without saying that if the Democrats control the Congress, we won't be seeing major changes in the way the President presides over this country. Whatever policies McCain attempts to implement will no doubt be met with strong opposition, and if the Congress holds a veto-proof majority, we can expect the government to be as effective as it is currently--accomplishing nothing of significance.

If McCain wins and the Republicans re-take the majority of seats in Congress, I am optimistic that he will maintain our aggressive stance on defeating terrorism. I have hopes that he will open the off-shore (and hopefully, even ANWR) oil fields to exploration and developing. I feel fairly confident that when pressed, he will even change his perspective on illegal immigration.

Yes, I know it is little more than optimistic wishful thinking, but he has changed his position according to the country's will before.

Most importantly, I believe he is much more likely to do what he says he will do than Obama. He has an extensive record in the Senate which proves his reliability, in comparison to Obama's lack of credibility and experience.

If Obama wins, (and I am not so confident as others that he won't) unless the Congress has an overwhelming Democratic majority, he will not be able to accomplish much more than McCain with a Democratic majority, if anything.

Now, I realize that I myself have been the author of some pretty wild theories concerning Barry Hussein. I have implied that he is a closet Muslim bent on destroying America from the inside. Understand, I don't say I believe that to be absolute fact. I just don't rule out the possibility, and I don't think anyone should discount the theory out-of-hand.

I know I (and a few lunatic fringe Conspiracy theorists) am in the minority of people who advance this theory. Even my blog hero, Lone Ranger, once rejected a comment I made that suggested it. Nevertheless, it isn't entirely without some, if somewhat tenuous, evidence.

I have also said Obama wants to turn America into a Marxist state. I believe this is much closer to the actual truth, and his many nefarious associations and policy statements, both public and private, bear me out.

I have no doubt, that were it within his power, he would do just that.

The most disturbing scenario, if Obama wins, is one in which he has the backing of a Congress that is over sixty percent Democrat. But even that isn't nearly as frightening a picture as Ms. Naomi Wolfe paints about a possible McCain/Palin administration.

I said before that Obama wants to turn America into a Marxist state but I didn't say he would succeed, even if all the possible combinations of Republican/Democrat ratios are factored in. He would still have the people of The United States to hold him in check, and I have no doubt that we, as a people, would prevent him from accomplishing many of even the most subtle attempts at Marxizing America.

(Marxising? Is that a word?)

The reason I am so adamant in my opposition to Obama is this:

He has some extremely disturbing ideas about what I consider to be the most real and dangerous threat to the safety and security of the United States. Terrorism. He has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the threat, and that is something one absolutely cannot take lightly. There are many (just about all of them, in fact)issues with which I believe he is wrong or misguided, but at the end of the day, most of those issues can be fixed, no matter how badly he messes them up.

But one cannot take our nations security lightly. Not even a little bit. Terrorists are watching us as I write, waiting for an opening, a chance to bring death and destruction down upon us, and we must be ever vigilant.

I don't believe Obama will be vigilant. Nothing he has said or done would indicate otherwise. He has stated his desire to dismantle our military and dispose of our nuclear capabilities, a prospect at which the Terrorists bent on America's destruction are probably salivating.

Finally, I have no confidence that Obama will follow through with any of the more positive changes he has promised, such as giving tax breaks to the middle and lower classes. His elitist attitude towards those very same people belies his rhetoric. His forever changing positions on various issues (except his unwavering belief that the surge hasn't worked, despite all evidence to the contrary) leaves one wondering if his policies are not simply policies of Floccinaucinihilipilification. (That is a word)

Yeah, run to Mr. Webster for consultation on that one, Geoffrey!

My point is, Naomi's imaginative discourse notwithstanding, no matter who wins this November, America will survive. For better or worse. We will not become a Marxist state and we will not become a fascist state, and we will not become a Nazi state.

We are Americans, and we will not let anyone subjugate us and we will not be defeated, regardless of who becomes our next President.

Whoever the next President will be, things will not change drastically.