One of my favorite blogs is The Anchoress, whom I’ve been following for years. She’s a tough bird, and not one prone to excess and hyperbole, so when I read a post like hers today, not only do I think things are even worse than they seem out there, but that talk once thought of as totally extreme has gone mainstream:
In the past few weeks I’ve heard some surprising people admit they’ve been arming themselves and purchasing ammunition — one such discussion happened all around me at the hairdresser’s while I sat and listened. The stylist and his boss, they’re storing food and arming themselves. The chiropractor who popped in to say hello while taking his afternoon stroll said he is armed, too: “never in my life thought I’d have a gun in the house, now we have two.”
They’re arming, they say, because they “see it all going bad.” These same folks who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 were now asserting an idea the far-left had floated around before that election, but instead of “Bush is going to install martial law and suspend elections.” they’re saying it of Obama. “He paid off his friends and did nothing to create jobs and he wants it all to go bad, because then he can stay in power and dictate.”
…
There is an absolute collapse of faith in our systems and in the guy they helped put into office. These folks who were so quick to believe the press in ’08 and to believe in “hope and change” are now willfully believing the absolute worst. While I was getting my grey washed away I heard about local goings-on that I won’t write about here until I check it out for myself, because I don’t know what is real and what is paranoid fantasy or conspiracy theory. But the thing is, the anxiety is real, the doubt is real, as is the willingness to believe the absolute worst of all of our institutions — the press, the churches, the government. These folks are utterly convinced that the only thing that is going to be installed come next January is chaos and oppression. They’ll vote for Romney (“assuming there is an election and we’re allowed to vote and the vote is actually counted…”) simply because he’s not Obama, but they’re convinced that America’s best days are over.
“Soon, it’s going to be every man for himself, mark my words” said the salon owner. “I’m telling you, get a gun. Get a generator, now, because in six months you won’t be able to. Stock up.”
I’ve said before there’s a real climate of fear out there – people who fear that if their employer gets wind of their political leanings that they’ll lose their jobs or have violence committed against them. And it’s real. So when someone like The Anchoress starts writing about this kind of stuff you know it’s not just the rantings of some paranoid, conservative, racist loon. The fear has gone mainstream. Just food for thought…
I already own two shotguns, but I’m not ashamed to admit that for the first time in my life I’m considering buying a pistol. Tough to keep a shotgun in the nightstand. I think fears about Obama cancelling the election or some such are overblown, but fears that overall our leaders and institutions are failing us are not.
Comment by Dave E. — August 28, 2012 @ 5:49 pm
Those people should be called out as the loonies they are. The notion that the party in power is going to destroy “everything”? Really? Everything? Go out and get a gun and stock up your bunker because an election doesn’t go your way? Sorry, guys. That’s crazy talk.
Comment by Rob — August 29, 2012 @ 10:49 am
Crazy talk, maybe, but people feel the way they feel. Could be because the nation is so polarized (thank you, Barack Obama), could be because they see the power grab happening from Washington every day – first they come after Catholics, next they’ll come after your health care, what’s next? People are legitimately frightened, and I don’t blame them.
If Barack Obama is reelected I guarantee I’m getting myself a gun permit and a gun, because in an entitlement society all bets are off.
Comment by The Great Whire Shank — August 29, 2012 @ 10:34 pm
My whole family is Catholic or was raised Catholic. I don’t think any of us feel like anyone is coming after us. What does that mean anyway? Health care has been a mess for a long time. I have my doubts about the current state of it but the previous state was at least as bad. Ideas are for fixing it are so stigmatized that we can’t even have a reasonable, healthy debate about it.
I’m not worried about the loonies. They’re always out there. I’m much more concerned about otherwise rational people being so consumed by fear. It’s not healthy. Not for them and not for any of us.
Comment by Rob — August 30, 2012 @ 10:07 am
The problem is, Rob, that once you start chiseling away at a people’s freedom to believe and practice what their religion teaches them (without the boundaries of common law and decency, of course) then the next thing you have is government-imposed “non-religion”. The Department of Health and Human Services is at war with catholics over their fundamental beliefs, that’s a dangerous and slippery slope if allowed to stand.
Comment by The Great Whire Shank — September 2, 2012 @ 5:46 pm
That may be how some frame that debate but I don’t. First, I don’t think it’s beneficial to call a disagreement “war”. If you take Federal money, you play by Federal rules. It is that simple. Flood victims, welfare recipients, and university students have to jump through Federal hoops to get their funding, why should health care providers be any different? For what it’s worth, a substantial percentage of the taxpayers that the Catholic Church wants to deny services to … are Catholics. I, personally, don’t think Catholic Church members are as united in their beliefs as other denominations.
Bottom line: The Church placed themselves on that slippery slope you mention the instant they accepted taxpayer money but it’s really not all that slippery, is it? They can get off of it at any time.
Comment by Rob — September 3, 2012 @ 8:10 am
That’s not how it works, Rob – the right to practice one’s religion is a constitutional right, it is not dependent upon what the government sees fit to protect to push a certain progressive social agenda. Worse than that is the simple lack of respect the Obama administration has for Catholic belief; it’s obvious they’d much rather put morality in the hands of unelected bureaucrats like Kathleen Sebelius to push their aggressive pro-abortion agenda. It’s pretty sad.
Comment by The Great Whire Shank — September 6, 2012 @ 8:33 pm
“That’s not how it works, Rob – the right to practice one’s religion is a constitutional right”
That’s exactly how it works. No one is denying their right to practice their religion. Government is simply denying them government funding to do so. That’s the way it should be. If a facility accepts Federal funding, they must accept Federal rules.
Geez, I thought conservatives were opposed to no-strings handouts. 🙂
Comment by Rob — September 8, 2012 @ 7:47 am