By Greg Salsbury
Increasing numbers of worried Americans have been wondering over the last few years whether progressive Democrats have succeeded in creating a police state in America. From the Russia Hoax to the revelations of the Twitter Files release, to the coordinated attempts to quash scandalous and true Biden family stories, to the blatant display of dual justice, they’ve seen that the cabal of one political party, with its power bases in the government and the sycophant media, has succeeded in limiting or destroying political opponents while eliminating individual rights. Just how bad is it? Has that cabal suspended our American Constitution and Bill of Rights and created an authoritarian alternative? Are we there yet?
In his piece “Shock and Awe on the Campaign Trail,” Roger Kimball outlines the numerous and egregious illegalities and irregularities taking place in the legal assault on candidate Trump and asks, “Why are people not up in arms over these revelations?” Similarly, in his interview with Mike Davis, who founded the “Article III Project,” Steve Bannon says, “I don’t know why people are not more on fire with the ridiculousness, the obvious lawfare, which is working, because Trump is not on the campaign trail.”
These are important questions as we look at the nearly countless unprecedented actions involved in some 91 counts of alleged wrongdoing in federal and local indictments filed against the leading presidential candidate. From the eye-popping civil suit verdicts overseen by judges with serious conflicts of interest to attempts to keep Trump off the ballot in several states, to charges related to classified document handling, to the most recent gag order, these efforts have flown in the face of precedent, due process, and equal protection at nearly every turn. They have already achieved much of what they were intended to do: Greatly hamstring (draining time and financial resources) the leading threat to Democrat party/government power.
But why haven’t we seen more overt objection to this travesty, such as more poster-carrying, angry citizens outside of the Trump trial courtrooms, on campuses, at congressional hearings, and in the streets? Part of the answer to this question has to do with the intended target for the shock and awe. It isn’t Donald Trump. As Trump has correctly observed, he is just in the way. No, the primary targets of the shock and awe are people like you and me. And the left may well have hit their mark.
Could it be that the average non-leftist citizen now feels both powerless and terrified to object to any of these injustices? They see the brutal treatment meted out to President Trump, his associates, and his legal team, on the one hand, versus the reverence for a president whose family has inexplicably received millions of dollars from foreign sources and for violent protesters who have magically escaped jail time, or of crack-using, tax-dodging Biden family members.
Consider the brazenness and audacity of this administration, including its DOJ, over the last several years. Their targeted victims have purposely included some of the most credentialed, accomplished, prominent, well-connected, and well-heeled Americans, people such as cabinet members, generals, journalists, and even attorneys of those same victims. Other victims have been ordinary folk, such as people’s friends, family members, parents opposing sexualized curricula at their kids’ schools, or peaceful men and women holding up signs near an abortion clinic.
All of these people, both the prominent and the ordinary, have been subjected to SWAT raids, shackles and frog marches, subpoenas, lawsuits, IRS visits, prison, solitary confinement, and other humiliations. They have seen that anyone whose views or behavior are not to the liking of the Democrat/government/media cabal is a potential victim of the authoritarian state through censorship or lawfare, or both. The message to Joe Citizen is clear: “If we can take down these people, including a U.S. president and billionaire and anyone who supports him, just imagine what we can do to you.”
But that citizen doesn’t have to imagine that message. It is on clear display with the plight of those who wandered around the Capitol on January 6, with some who committed no violence, including seemingly being convicted for wearing a funny horned hat, sentenced to years of prison.
Many of these people have been incarcerated for years, some in solitary confinement, without even being charged, let alone tried, and without access either to medical care or the evidence that would likely exonerate them. Of course, the mainstream media does its part to justify such treatment with the mantra that January 6th represented a massive threat to American democracy.
We are. Every single taxpaying, patriotic citizen IS outraged. We just don’t have a very large media voice. We don’t have network outlets promoting our opinions as they do leftist tropes. Sadly, conservatives behave like adults and don’t march with signs and recite carefully rehearsed clever rhymes, simple and short so the simple minded can repeat them. But, one thing the January 6th riot showed is that when conservatives ARE marching and protesting, if they are attacked for no reason, they do not run; the FIGHT BACK.
Of course, there is a drawback. Conservatives are not the protected class, like violent leftist rioters and looters. Conservatives can and have been arrested for the most minor offenses, even speech, and the harshest penalties meted out. But, I feel the time is coming where that won’t be the deterrent the left counts on it being.