I’m watching news coverage of these tax day protests in America, and I am appalled.
First, I find it curious that when the Bush government built up what was, up to that date, the biggest U.S. budget deficit in history, these protesters were silent. Of course, those taxes were needed to wage an unnecessary war. But now, that the Obama administration is piling up unprecedented amounts of debt to save the national economy, suddenly they’re protesting? Isn’t that a little hypocritical?
Another point, however, concerns the nature of the protests. The signs they’re holding up, accusing Obama of socialism or Marxism. Now pray tell me, exactly how’s that different from when left-wing extremists held up images of Bush with a swastika on his forehead?
The difference is that on the left, such extremism is not the mainstream. On the (American, though not only the American) right, it is part of the mainstream now.
I used to consider myself a conservative and I used to root for the right. Maybe one day I’ll do that again. But first, the right will have to redefine itself in terms of something other than what they hate.