THE REAL EXTREMISTS

It is distressing that many bloggers on the right and the left consider the DHS Report on Rightwing Extremism a non-issue and think that conservatives are over-reacting to the content. I'm not going to get into with them, but I think that all reasonable persons should compare the "Left" version with the "Right" one--as Ed Morrissey and Clarice Feldman have done, and note the disparities:

The first report is based on long debunked stories and factless stereotypes of the Administration's political opponents. The report on the leftwing extremists seems to have been written on the basis of some real, demonstrable threats.

But don't take my--or anybody else's word--go read the reports for yourself.

It is also interesting to consider some of the specific language in the "Rightwing Extremism" report that Mark Steyn couldn't help noticing:

...here's the bit that raised my eyebrow in that Homeland Security report:

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration

.

Ah, right. So a predisposition toward the Tenth Amendment marks you down as a "rightwing extremist." Federalism is now a security threat. Likewise, being found in possession of subversive literature like that right-wing extremist Tocqueville's paean to the glories of American municipal self-government.

And, lastly, I thought this "DHS Report Shorthand" by Peter Kirasanow is spot on:

That DHS report warning about all manner of "right-wing extremists" could be considerably shortened if it simply alerted law-enforcement officials to be on the lookout for people from "small towns (who are) bitter (and) cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment."

However you look at it, the DHS Report, issued by a DHS that has reclassified terrorism as "man-caused disasters" and an Administration that probably considers homegrown terrorism as "National Contingency Operations" should be a significant concern for any American who still believes in those traditional values Chuck Schumer mocks.

I think Schumer's remarks are very telling. In a 'classical' postmodern maneuver "traditional American values" have now been redefined in Obama's Newspeak as "rightwing extremism".

No matter how you spin it, there're some very scary "changes" rapidly being introduced without much discussion or transparency into American Society right now that don't inspire me with a lot of "hope". And those changes are going to have some very profound, and possibly disastrous, consequences for many years to come.

And you thought 1984 was soooo last century...but then, so was Atlas Shrugged.