In his book, "The Art of Political War," 1960s leftist-radical-turned-conservative David Horowitz wrote that politics is war by other means. He was right.
Just as America has failed to acknowledge that we are at war with radical Islam, too many conservatives have failed to come to grips with the fact that we are at war here at home with the Marxism of Barack Obama, the Congressional Black Caucus and labor unions. It has nothing to do with race — at least not for conservatives — and everything to do with ideology and power.
Obama has declared war on the traditions of the United States of America. In his most revealing, unguarded moments he tells us who he really is. Moments such as his encounter with Joe the Plumber, when he let slip that he believes in the redistribution of other people's wealth.
Or moments like his speech on race, when he threw his grandmother under the bus, calling her just a "typical white person."
Or his radio interview from a few years ago, when he said that the Earl Warren Supreme Court of the 1950's and 1960's was not all that radical because it did not go beyond the interpretation of the Constitution as a document of restrictions on the power of what government could do to its citizens and redefine it as a document of what government must do for its citizens. (As Reagan was fond of quoting Jefferson, A government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take everything you have.)
This Labor Day weekend, Obama revealed himself again, twice, once in an understated, almost subliminal way and once in a way that should remind all of us that he and his minions view this as a war, even if we fail to do so.
The subtle reference was a slip of the presidential tongue. Obama was speaking to a pro-union crowd in Detroit over the weekend when he said this: "I think putting money back in the pockets of working families is the best way to get demand rising because that means business is hiring. That means the government — that means that the economy is growing." Oops. Another Joe the Plumber moment.
Then there were the remarks of Jimmy Hoffa, Jr., head of the Teamsters Union, who told the same crowd in his introduction of Obama, "We got to keep an eye on the battle that we face: The war on workers. And you see it everywhere, it is the Tea Party. And you know, there is only one way to beat and win that war. The one thing about working people is we like a good fight. And you know what? They've got a war with us, and there's only going to be one winner. It's going to be the workers of Michigan and America. We're going to win that war!"
Hoffa went on: "President Obama, this is your army. We are ready to march. Let's take these son-of-a-bitches out and give America back to America where we belong!"
Don't hold your breath waiting for Obama to call for civility like he did after Gabriel Gifford was shot last January. Obama and his thousands of press secretaries in the media blamed everyone from Rush Limbaugh to Sarah Palin for that one. But after Hoffa made these disgusting remarks — in an introduction of the President of the United States, mind you — Obama actually got up and said he was proud of him and the other union thugs who were there. So much for civility.
But you really didn't expect civility from these people, did you? U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-CA, says the Tea Party can "go straight to hell!" U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-IN, says the Tea Party wants to see blacks "hanging on a tree."
Ronald Reagan once said that his policy for dealing with the Soviet Union was a simple one: "We win, they lose."
If politics is war by other means, and they know it's a war, and we know it's a war, the only question remaining is whether Republicans will nominate a presidential candidate who knows it's a war.
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© 2011 by Doug Patton
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Doug Patton describes himself as a recovering political speechwriter who agrees with himself much more often than not. Now working as a freelance writer, his weekly columns of sage political analysis are published the world over by legions of discerning bloggers, courageous webmasters and open-minded newspaper editors.
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