"Racism and priveledge are alive and well, but are no longer spoken out openly."

[TheWraith]

I was reading through the firearms forum on TheFiringLine.com, and ran across a thread asking whether Americans could tell the difference between an actually tyrannical American government and the illusion of one carefully cultivated by astroturf groups. This was the second post in the thread, and in light of the common perception here on DU of all gun owners or firearms enthusiasts as right-wing whackos, I thought that it merited being reposted here.

The danger lies in what little it will take to really touch something off here. Fear is an effective tool, but it becomes most dangerous when we are no longer led to believe that the enemies of our "way of life" are on the opposite side of the globe, but are right here, next door, being elected democratically into "OUR" government. A very narrow definition is being drawn among some of our countrymen for what makes an American. We will likely find ourselves at violent odds with each other before this thing is over. I believe that the most under-stated aspect of this situation is that racism and priveledge are alive and well, but are no longer spoken out openly. Americans are not so stupid as to really believe most of the garbage, but need an excuse for their hatred. I left Baghdad hoping to never pick up a gun for that reason again, and I hope we find a good way to deal with this (prefferably one that involves allot less pannicked purchasing of bulk ammo and tactical weapons).

I encourage people to read through the thread--as of right now there's one kook/conspiracy theorist response, but many more reasonable responses like this:

When gun owners start spouting this kooky nonsense about being in a militia and overthrowing a constitutionally elected US political leader what others hear is: "I don't like this guy/gal and since I lost at the ballot box, I'll get what I want with a gun."

To fight against our government that has free elections, habeus corpus (nod to Ken) and trial by jury is nothing less than treason.

[spin]

1. There may be a time and a place for firearms to be used to fight an oppressive government...

in the United States.

Now is not the time nor the place.

We had an election. The Democrats won. They won because the Republicans had managed to let power go to their heads and had totally lost track of the principles they stood for. They spent like our tax dollars was play money. They refused to regulate greedy capitalists. Bush the Junior managed to get us in an expensive and useless war by lies and deceit for profit and ego. He favored his coporate friends like Halliburton Corp with lucrative contracts with little or no oversight. To top all that off, the Republicans nominated some old burned out character who managed to pick a totally unqualified and unprepared VP to run with. John McCain was not even truly popular with the Republican base and was totally outclassed by Obama and his campaign. He was like a star quarterback who has outlived his ability and needs to retire to sportscasting. He sounds good in the booth, but just can't compete on the field. (Of course, the team he was playing for was comprised of a bunch of pompous, useless losers who had grow fat from feeding at the trough for eight years.

Now the Democrats are in control. We have an excellent chance to correct the problems left behind by the Republicans. It shouldn't take a lot of effort to improve the situation.

But the Republicans are busy promoting themselves by attempting to foster fear and hatred. Amazingly, it appears to be having some success. I put the blame for this squarely on the educational system in this country. Citizens have little knowledge of government or history and are easily led by falsehoods, fabrications and media propaganda.

Very few Republicans are aware that the heathcare system Obama is proposing isn't that much different than the one Tricky Dick Nixon put forward in 1974.

Thirty-five year later, the single-payer dream of Democratic liberals still remains politically out of reach. But it should tell you how far the country has moved to the right that the various proposals put forward by a Democratic president and Congress bear an eerie resemblance to the deal cooked up between Kennedy and Nixon, while Nixon's political heirs vilify it as nothing less than a socialist plot."
http://www.everydaycitizen.com/2009/09/ted_kennedy_richard_nixon_and.html

And rest assured that if the Democrats can't find a way to work together as a party or work with the Republicans to solve or make some real headway against our problems, the voters will speak at the midterm election and take away the power that the Democrats have today. Also, if corruption and political paybacks are the foundation of our party, we will also pay the price.

My biggest fear when I voted for Obama was that he would be true to his roots and be a corrupt Chicago politician in the Daley tradition. I felt and still do believe that he will rise above that background and become one of the truly great Presidents in our history. He is, after all, our first African American President. He can set a very high standard for future minority Presidents. To betray the faith many Americans placed in him to play typical Chicago politics would be tragic. If he does so, he will be caught as he is the target of unusually intense scrutiny by the right wing.

The biggest problem our system faces is not Obama and the Democrats, but the corporate control of our government.

As voters, we can change this.

Basically, our system still works. Some corporate owned politicians just need to be replaced with people who will represent the voters that elected them.