Liberty and Justice for All

 J. B. Shurk, over at the American Thinker today has a must read article entitled Freedom Lovers Aren't 'Fascists'. It sounds like Shurk is getting just a bit tired of being called what he manifestly is not. I am tired of it too. Those who want freedom for themselves also want it for everybody else. They are far from the dictatorial totalitarianism that characterizes fascist regimes. I don't think even the media folks calling us "fascist" believe it to be true. They just think it's a bad name they can throw out there. The money quote is here:

Those of us who identify as liberty lovers and defenders of freedom harbor profound distrust of government. It is therefore galling when Big Government leftists, socialists, globalists, Marxists, and even outright communists (especially those exercising power as so-called “journalists” working for multinational corporate news organizations) call us “right-wing.”

What is “right-wing” about wanting government bureaucrats to just leave us the hell alone? I try to put myself in the small wingtips of someone such as CNN’s Brian Stelter. When I say, “I want government out of my life,” how does he hear, “Right-wing fascism is overtaking America”? Is Brian obtuse? Maliciously dishonest? Both?

I find it perplexing to hear Stelter, Jake Tapper, and their fellow ideological clones on cable news describe those of us who most ardently defend the Bill of Rights as somehow being threats to American freedom. Look around the universe of political writers today, and you will find that almost all of the staunchest advocates for free speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and protections from warrantless government searches and mass surveillance are Americans whom Stelter, Tapper, and their cohorts would describe as “right-wing.”

Please go and read the whole article. Please also realize there is a difference between "liberty," in which people govern themselves, and "libertine," in which people indulge their baser instincts. Some will inevitably use their liberty for nefarious purposes, but that does not negate the idea of liberty for the vast majority who choose to govern themselves.