{"id":1089,"date":"2009-09-29T22:35:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-30T02:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2009\/09\/29\/extremism-on-the-right\/"},"modified":"2009-09-29T22:35:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-30T02:35:00","slug":"extremism-on-the-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2009\/09\/29\/extremism-on-the-right\/","title":{"rendered":"Extremism on the Right"},"content":{"rendered":"

A number of people have commented at the In Box that they think I’m exaggerating concerns that the Right in America is flirting with dangerous extremism.<\/p>\n

To further this discussion, I want to urge you to read a prominent essay<\/a> published today by Newsmax.com.<\/p>\n

This is one of the most influential news and information sites read by movement conservatives.<\/p>\n

The article, by regular commentator John Perry, suggests that a time is fast approaching when the U.S. military should stage a coup to displace our democratically elected president.<\/p>\n

There is a remote, although gaining, possibility America\u2019s military will intervene as a last resort to resolve the \u201cObama problem.\u201d Don\u2019t dismiss it as unrealistic.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Perry argues that Barack Obama, who has filled his cabinet with former Wall Street executives, and placed Republicans in charge of the Defense Department and the Army, is a Marxist.<\/p>\n

(Our own former Republican congressman, John McHugh, accepted Mr. Obama’s appointment to serve as Army Secretary earlier this month.)<\/p>\n

Mr. Perry then goes on to fantasize about a fast-approaching future in which our elected Commander In Chief — chosen less than a year ago — will be made into a figurehead by a military junta.<\/p>\n

Skilled, military-trained, nation-builders would replace accountability-challenged, radical-left commissars…the president would be detailed for ceremonial speech-making.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Perry argues that this kind of event — literally, the destruction by force of our most sacred democratic and legal principles — is not only desirable but necessary.<\/p>\n

Unthinkable? Then think up an alternative, non-violent solution to the Obama problem. Just don\u2019t shrug and say, \u201cWe can always worry about that later.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Mr. Perry is not writing parody or humor. He is articulating a real and present sentiment among some on the Right.<\/p>\n

Every decent American knows that we don’t need an alternative, non-violent way to change leadership.<\/p>\n

This is a nation of laws. We have elections. Mr. Obama won the last election by a sizable margin just ten months ago.<\/p>\n

People who oppose his agenda should organize and attempt to defeat the Democrats peacefully at the ballot box.<\/p>\n

Two important points:<\/p>\n

1. Yes, there have been times in the past when Democrats and progressives were called upon to repudiate extremism in their own ranks, and on the margins of their movement.<\/p>\n

2. And yes, only a very small percentage of conservatives are purveying this sort of bile.<\/p>\n

But this is the time when every decent conservative should repudiate fully and unreservedly this kind of unpatriotic, dangerous, and malignant language.<\/p>\n

Comments? Post below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A number of people have commented at the In Box that they think I’m exaggerating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1089\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}