Did you see this story? When an ardent leftist like Andrew Sullivan expresses his concern you know that the progressive left has started to over-play its hand. I mean, a CEO of a company donates some money to an anti-gay marriage effort and he’s bullied out of the company as a result? I didn’t realize there was a litmus test for gay marriage as part of Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution? The Supreme Court has ruled many times that money is free speech politically. I mean, where does this kind of thing end? If I don’t support legalization of gay marriage (which, in fact, I do – I just don’t support same-sex couples entering into the sacrament of Holy Matrimony), does that mean Dreamhost drops my blog for me not being sufficiently tolerant? Of course, that would be their right, but….

And why stop at gay marriage? Why not extend the whole concept of intolerance to support for Obamacare, or the lawless and incompetent Obama administration? Or the continually globetrotting-on-the-taxpayer-dime First Lady? Or immigration reform? Or unabortion?men? Or, like Paul Ryan recently took all kinds of fire for, current-day black culture and its impact on African Americans? Or immigration reform. Or abortion?

Of course, a private company can hire or fire whom they see fit (although in Eich’s case I’d be considering a lawsuit if my firing was a result of anything but fully-documented poor job performance), but I think there’s a bigger issue here, and it is something Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey wrote about in a column a few weeks ago. As he put it succinctly:

Tolerance does not mean acceptance or participation. It means allowing people to make their own choices about what they choose to do, and to respect the ability of their fellow citizens to do the same as long as it does no injury to them.

As I’ve said before in this space, for all of its over-hyped bluster and blather about tolerance, acceptance, and diversity, the progressive Left in this country is anything but. Democrats in Washington from Barack Obama on down, the NAACP and shakedown artists like Al Sharption and Jesse Jackson, the labor unions (particularly in the public sector), the majority of our colleges and universities, and major media outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, L.A. Times, and those who bring you the so-called “news” on the broadcast networks and cable channels like CNN and MSNBC are, in fact, amongst the most intolerant.

There’s nothing wrong with being passionate about the issues you care the most about and doing what you can legally to change people’s minds. But the progressive Left knows no bounds – whether you’re Harry Reid attacking the Koch brothers almost daily, or Planned Parenthood or Sandra Fluke shrieking about conservatives wanting to harm women and take away their contraceptive rights, this idea of sexists, racists, and homophobes lurking around every corner simply because someone happens to disgree with their precious concepts of tolerance, acceptance, and diversity, if left unchecked will only lead to greater bullying on their part and very dangerous place for this country to be.

But that’s what facism is all about. And the progressive Left wears it like a cheap suit.

You know what I say? I say you punch back twice as hard. Because that’s the only thing bullies understand.