Totally get where you are coming from Monica and no offense taken. As background: I am generally a pacifist by nature and typically vote Green Party which as you know espouses very strong gun control and a reversal of the military build up and militarization of the police and believes in social justice. I revere Dr. King and non-violent protest and think that is the most effective tool for protest. So I think I hew closer to you.
No where did I say anything about infringing the rights of free speech of anyone - conservative, fascist, liberal, progressive or otherwise. What I do see is an environment where violent rhetoric abounds. Current leaders have been using the rhetoric of fear to gain power democratically. Their followers are more armed than any other civilian population in history and, in general, appear to take things literally. So here we are.
I have a friend whose mother escaped the holocaust. Germany had democratically elected leaders. Homosexuals (I'm quite sure trans people were part of this), Jews and others were rounded up with the consent of the voting public and murdered. Could it happen here? I really don't want to find out.
One of the reasons that conservatives have supported their second amendment rights was and is the fear of a government that can operate above the constitution, like Nazi Germany for instance, and create conditions and/or actually perpetrate offenses against it's own citizens when it feels certain opposition groups are a threat to the government's power. Now I feel the tables have been turned.
We saw a federal judge this weekend overturn an executive order to discriminate legal visa holders from coming into our country because of the places they originate from. Places that, it's no secret, have dominant religions other than the dominant ones here. The basis for overturning it was strictly because it violates the constitution.
Need I say more?
