Thursday, February 18, 2010

The Threat From The Extreme Right

I received the following letter from my good friend, Tony, not long ago. He gave me permission to post it here:

I have become increasingly concerned with the growing political polarization of the United States and the dramatic shift to the extreme-right. When I was in Boston in October, the political divisions in the country were amazingly palpable. I am concerned with the growing extremist and fascist groups in the United States that are becoming accepted by the mainstream population and condoned by political pundits, governmental leaders, political candidates and media outlets. In many ways the politically empowered are pandering to these new groups in order to retain their positions of power, control and influence. I do not know what the future holds, but I am worried that the extreme-right has the capacity of causing serious damage to the political infrastructure of the United States in a misguided effort of renewing the “Republic”.

The Doctrine and Covenants section 134 states, “We believe that all men are bound to sustain and uphold the respective governments in which they reside, while protected in their inherent and inalienable rights by the laws of such government; and that sedition and rebellion are unbecoming every citizen thus protected.” The inherent and inalienable rights are defined in section 134 to include “the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.” I challenge any individual to provide a legitimate illustration of infringements of these inalienable and inherent freedoms under President Obama’s administration. Thus, in the absence of any reasonable violation, LDS people should sustain and uphold the government of the United States.

We, as LDS people, have a responsibility to sustain and uphold our government. Thus, it is imperative that we resist the urge to affiliate with, espouse the beliefs of, or provide support to any extreme-right group that suggests subversive behavior. I recognize the key distinction between opposing a particular political position and sedition. I take no issue with a person’s opposition to the Healthcare Reform Bill. However, when that person’s opposition engenders statements or acts of government overthrow (generally cloaked in the word “renewal”) then he crosses the line between rigorous political debate and sedition.

I am including a few articles that validate my anxiety about the United States political landscape. I hope my concern proves to be unfounded.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/us/politics/16teaparty.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123783904&ps=cprs

All the best,
Tony

8 comments:

GreatWhiteHope said...

Do you really feel that threatened by the folks at the Spirit of the law to post your own written letter under a pseudonym such as Tony? (pseudonym is similar to alias or fake name, of course you're intellectual so you would already know that...my bad) Also, where's your response to my post last night? Also, you do realize that were the things you outlined in your letter strictly adhered to there would be no United States of America. The Revolution would not have taken place and the Boston Tea Party would not have taken place because the people would have subjected themselves to the British Government. There is no difference. No I'm not openly advocating a revolution take place in the U.S. but you need to wake up to the hijacking of America by thugs from both parties.

Kengo Biddles said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jacob S. said...

I want you to know, GreatWhiteHope, that I have calibrated my entire life around you and your fellow bloggers at spirit of the law. I want nothing more than to please you, and I would hate nothing more than to make you upset, or to say something that would go against your own opinions.

As a token of my devotion to you and your blog, I have dedicated the last seven posts of your blog to memory, and my hope is to always have at least ten memorized at all times.

I've even printed out a copy of your avatar and put it in my wallet. Every night before I go to bed I pull it out and kiss it and caress and pray that I haven't in some way made you angry that day. Then I pray that the following day I will find some way to make your lives better and find a way to win your hearts.

Please don't be angry at me for making up the fact that I have friends who share a similar political outlook to mine, who all don't necessarily want to be permanent bloggers at my site, but who might nonetheless have interesting things to say.

So, yes, I feel threatened by you and your anonymous group of bloggers. But more than that, I love you and just want to make you happy. DON'T YOU TURN AWAY FROM ME, SPIRIT OF THE LAW! LOVE ME! LOVE ME!

Jacob S. said...

As for you openly advocating the overthrow of the American government for political reasons, I would remind you that being a traitor carries the punishment of death. So look lively.

If you think that the oppression and abuses and environment that precipitated the American Revolution bears any similarity to the current environment in this country, then you either 1) haven't studied history at all or 2) just like the liberation of having traitorous thoughts.

Daniel H said...

http://guanabee.com/2010/02/joseph-stack-suicide-note/ - this man seems to be right in line with some of the extremists Tony pointed out in his letter.

GreatWhiteHope said...

I can't quite tell, but I sense a tinge of sarcasm in your reply.....?

Mitch said...

Anyone who posts with the name GreatWhiteHope has to be scary. Who in the world would capitalized three times in one word?

Dallin said...

I agree that overthrow of the government is an extreme measure, just as GWH's comparison of the current U.S. government with the British monarchy of 1776 (or anyone following the popular trend of comparing elected U.S. presidents to Hitler, Stalin, etc.) is ignorant. But this isn't a one-sided coin. To say that America is drifting to the extreme right is to ignore the fact that we have currently elected the most liberal president ever to take office, the left has, until recently, controlled congress of late with a super-majority, and it is extreme leftist bills such as universal health care currently occupying the Congress' time. The danger of extremes is coming at us from both sides: socialism on one side and anarchy on the other. Neither is logical, healthy or wise.

As your post said, we would do well to sustain the government we have. Remembering that most answers are found in the middle, we would do well to steer clear of either extreme.