Monday, September 13, 2010
Crushing of dissent watch
In a column by Michael Barone worth reading in its entirety (for its discussion of the administration's "zero tolerance" policy toward business dissent), there is this:
According to Politico, not a single Democratic candidate for Congress has run an ad since last April that makes any positive reference to Obamacare. The First Amendment gives candidates the right to talk -- or not talk -- about any issue they want.
But that is not enough for Sebelius and the Obama administration. They want to stamp out negative speech about Obamacare. "Zero tolerance" means they are ready to use the powers of government to threaten economic harm on those who dissent.
If you're Barack Obama, that's gotta hurt.
As for the threats from the administration, the only thing that differentiates this latest is that it was written down and out in the open. It is well known among health care industry executives that the administration directly and indirectly threatened recalcitrant companies and industry sub-sectors to drop their opposition to the passage of Obamacare in the first place. If you are a cynic you say that politics ain't bean bag and we should all grow up. If you are a romantic, or maybe just an ingenuous American, you believe that the government should not threaten to coerce people who speak out in opposition to its agenda, whether or not those people happen also to be executives.
CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Tue Sep 14, 11:48:00 AM:
Crushing dissent takes many forms, and the administration now is working to crush dissent in the Congressional Democrat caucus. Opponents of the abominable big-brother 1099 filing rules in ObamaCare have mounted a repeal movement in the Senate, after the House gimmicked a way around the issue. The administration tried to come up with a non-starter "solution" in the Senate too, but to no avail-- the real thing is still alive and kicking, with a vote scheduled for today.
What will the Democrats do? Crush or be crushed?
By 
MTF, at
Tue Sep 14, 01:36:00 PM:
Keeping score in the Dissent Crushing Watch?
It's now 3-0 just this week, as administration stooge Richard Trumpka (the same man who has countenanced the killing of nonunion workers in West Virginia) now says that companies and individuals acting in their own best economic interest are actually committing "economic treason". Those lousy kulaks!
How long before the left starts parroting Mao and decides that elections are the problem not the solution and that real power comes only from the barrel of a gun? Or Stalin? Is the bizarre really out of the question, when political leaders start encouraging talk like this?
Calling these people mere "thugs" might seem like understatement pretty soon.
By , at
Wed Sep 15, 09:09:00 PM:
Michelle Malkin is on this same theme.
