In a little over two weeks the political conventions will be over. Labor Day will be behind us and the ‘real’ presidential campaign will have begun. In past years, bumper stickers and yard signs appeared in mass; citizens proud and anxious to publicly support the candidates of their choice.
But, this year, will conservatives be inclined to camouflage support of their preferred candidates? What have we observed during the past few weeks that might cause pause?
In Sarasota County Florida, an anti-Obama billboard was virtually destroyed. The authorities concluded the damage was not the random work of teenage vandals.
According to Sarasota GOP Chairman Joe Gruters, whose organization erected the billboard, “This job could not have been done by kids. You had to have a box truck or a ladder. For them to have dissected the sign as they did, it was pretty obvious it was a planned attack.”
Against the GOP convention attendees, the Black Panthers made vile and un-quotable threats similar to those during the Zimmerman investigation in Florida. And, of course, there was the Panthers’ non-prosecuted voter intimidation in Philadelphia during the 2008 election.
Last week, the Family Research Council (FRC) was attacked, and, except for a FRC employee’s heroics, could have turned disastrous. That after the FRC was officially designated as a ‘hate group’ by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
And, as always, individual incidents such as these are ignored, rationalized, perversely spun or condoned by the mainstream media.
However, much more troubling is a political environment created and nurtured by Obama’s administration and campaign.
Sadly for our nation, Obama’s lies and lawlessness are setting a deplorable example for many of his supporters.
His campaign accuses Romney of felonious conduct; Obama says it didn’t happen. The death of a human being is deliberately linked to Romney, and the Obama campaign, though undeniable evidence proves otherwise, denies any knowledge of or involvement in the attack.
Obama’s campaign fills the airways with messages intended to pit one group of Americans against another. Envy, jealously and animosity, the core elements of potential violence, are the mainstay of Obama’s campaign.
The president intentionally ignores the rule of law. By way of executive orders, he bypasses the Constitution, unilaterally bestowing amnesty on millions; he overrides Congress’s mandate that able welfare recipients work for their government dole.
Obama’s ‘Chicago-style’ campaign rewards its friends and punishes its enemies. Contributors and favored voting constituencies receive billions. Supporters of the opposition are brutalized by the mainstream media and have their tax returns audited.
The president’s Attorney General, the nation’s chief law enforcement officer, selectively launches investigations and issues indictments; again, the politically favored are ignored, the opposition scrutinized. And, the Attorney General, himself, stonewalls congressional investigations into his personal misdeeds.
Uninformed and misguided followers emulate the actions of a corrupt leader. The leader sets the tone, the limits of behavior. With no constraints and little civility exhibited, followers do what followers do…follow their leader. If the leader chooses not to obey the law, why should we expect the followers to do so?
I will put a Romney sticker on my car; it might be more prudent may be not to do so. However, prudency is not a factor in my decision.
If, as citizens, we allow ourselves to be intimidated by the lawless, the Republic is lost.
