I was surprised to see that, rather than get deleted, a comment of mine actually received a thoughtful response. I thought that, to be fair and balanced, I would offer my own honest retort.
First, as to Judge Napolitano, I will let readers, ignorant (like me) or informed concerning who this person is and what his views are be based upon the two links. I really can't say whether I would grant him any benefit of the doubt, if for no other reason than the platform he serves, FOXNews.
Second, while I appreciate the kind words in your update - I really do! - I cannot, really, offer any back. The reality is this. The person who posted the original, Eric Ashley, has, for all intents and purposes, retreated behind a flaming wall of ignorance, paranoia, and fear-mongering that is wholly out of proportion to anything currently going on in America. The President's politics are far closer to Carl Levin's than Karl Marx, to be honest. The Affordable Care Act does no "take over" health care; on the contrary, it regulates the health insurance market, allowing access to quality health care for more Americans without disrupting the current insurance industry, except perhaps in terms of their profits. Our system is far closer to that of Switzerland than Great Britain; the Swiss have health care for all with individual mandates and private doctors and insurers. The British have health care for all with doctors as state employees and no private insurance industry.
I was addressing, specifically, the issue of "Obama's Army" (and had the Elvis Costello song, "Oliver's Army" going through my head the whole time), and so I went to the text of the Affordable Care Act and found an uncontroversial, sensible provision for the mobilization of health care workers in times of national emergency. From this modest proposal, Eric spun fantasies of a six thousand person Army doing the bidding of our fearless leader. I cannot, for the life of me, understand this. It is, quite literally, senseless. Listening to Judge Napolitano, by the by, on this particular issue, was of little help precisely because his own fantasies are unrelated to the letter, let alone spirit, of the Affordable Care Act provision in question.
Finally, while it would be wonderful for me to grant a certain benefit of the doubt to you, Eric, I cannot. I have been reading the things you've been writing, both at American Descent and your own site, since the 2008 election, and I have been saddened by what I've read. It is possible to disagree on politics, to think a particular official's positions on issues are wrong-headed, without that person being evil. If you read carefully through all I've written, you would notice, I think, I have been critical of the Obama Administration on all sorts of matters. I was also critical of the Bush Administration. When evidence of crimes - defined for our purposes here as public evidence that a law has been violated, whether or not that determination has been made judicially - arose, I called them that. Since I have yet to read of the Obama Administration wiretapping citizens here at home; having many of their acts overturned by the Supreme Court and declared illegal; or any other controversy, I shall await evidence of actual acts - in other words, facts - before saying anything.
You, and the rest of your cohorts, are not so circumspect. Your fantasies of a Marxist Obama destroying Americas capitalism and religious life are, without putting any subtlety to it, insane. Indeed, much of the Republican opposition to Obama and the Democrats in Congress, while understandable as a political strategy, veers in to territory best suited for fringe characters. I cannot, with any honesty or integrity, be either as polite or circumspect as you, even as you make an honest effort at doing so in this post. You, Eric, and Marshall, and Mark, and Bubba, begin with false premises - that you know with certainty that Obama is an anticonstitutional Marxist; that his protestations to the contrary are lies; that those of us who voted for him and continue to support him (mostly) are either participants in these lies or dupes - and from there wander away from anything resembling reality.
My real problem with all this is simple: during the Bush years, while it is true there were many voices on the left that went quite a bit too far, I do not recall anyone on the left calling for the death of Denny Hastert. At most, many, including myself, thought that both the President and Vice President should be extradited to the Netherlands for trial before the World Court. I still think that, and am quite upset with the Obama folks for not pursuing a serious investigation of the Bush/Cheney years. Since there is ample evidence in the public sphere that crimes were indeed committed, I hardly consider this a controversial position to take.
With Obama, however, there is no resort to facts; no argument based in anything other than some kind of rancid paranoia that is fed by a continual stream of nonsense from sources both known - FOXNews, AM talk radio - and unknown. I would be lying if I discussed the creation of a private army for the current President as if it were something real. It isn't. I cannot treat this as anything other than the warped fantasies of people who have no grasp of what is really going on. In order to keep our public discourse from slipping even further off the rails, I can only say that I refuse to treat the delusions of the ignorant as a serious topic for discussion. Like the "beliefs" of creationists, or the global-warming-deniers, I will not now, nor ever, respond to any comment that seriously offers a view of the Obama Administration as stripping our country of the Constitution.
Virtual Tin Cup
