Or so it appears, anyway.

I previously blogged about the DHS hatchet job on conservatives and on the Military.  It was clear to me that the report was taking reasonable political and ideological positions and effective making them tantamount to criminal.

Positions like:

• Concern about illegal immigration
• Concern about increasing Federal Power
• Restrictions on firearms
• Concern about Abortion
• Loss of US sovereignty
• Support for 3rd party candidates (interesting that Ron Paul is considered a 3rd party…)

All along a lot of focus has been on the Military and how they are prime targets for recruitment, and on how conservative core issues are dangerous, but this has masked what I think is the real intention, which is an increase in Statism and an attack on Constitutional Federalism.

At least two of those warning signs above have less to do with shutting down conservatives as they do with increasing the role and power of the Federal Government, as it moves ever closer to a juxtaposition of socialist and fascist ideals.

The latest DHS report continues this.  As Hot Air notes, the definition of right-wing extremism is back:

(U) rightwing extremism: (U//FOUO) A movement of rightwing groups or individuals who can be broadly divided into those who are primarily hate-oriented, and those who are mainly antigovernment and reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority. This term also may refer to rightwing extremist movements that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Of all the right wing beliefs, smaller limited federal powers, as prescribed by our Constitution, is the key indicator.

This tells me that the report is more about securing Federal power above and beyond the scope of the Constitution and not about any sort of partisan debate.

The issue is not a partisan one as people on both sides are all for increasing the power of the Federal Government, and decreasing State’s autonomy.  This is a continuing attack on the 10th Amendment.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

And actually, to be more accurate, this is a war of the interpretation of the 10th Amendment.

Interpretations of the amendment can be divided into two camps.

1. The first interpretation…is that the Constitution does not grant the United States any power that it does not expressly mention.
2. The contrary opinion is that the Constitution grants Congress the authority to do more or less anything that is not explicitly prohibited by the first eight amendments.

The second version seems to be where we are heading, but I hold to the first as it makes more sense in context:

This has been used as the basis for such court cases as Gonzales v. Raich, and for arguments in favor of repealing a large number of Federal laws, abolishing the Federal Reserve, and slashing the Federal budget by 50% or more. It is also why amendments were necessary for the abolition of slavery and the prohibition of alcohol - without said amendments, Congress did not have the authority to do those things.

You can make your own decision on that issue, but you have to acknowledge that the second camp is much more convenient for congress as it increases their power.

I personally see a lot of value in States remaining autonomous and the Federal Government remaining as limited as feasibly possible, where the modern sentiment is to make the Federal Government as big and essential to peoples lives as it can.

And since I also oppose illegal immigration and other hot bed radical issues, that apparently makes me a possible right wing extremist.

It doesn’t matter how many Democrats I have supported, and does not matter that I will not align myself formally to the Republicans.  Being independent is also a trademark of my ilk.

The whole point of the reports, in my opinion, is to clearly define “the enemy” of the Obama administration, which is essentially anyone who won’t drink the Koolaid they are peddling, and who won’t offer Obama glowing gushing admiration and support.

You know, some days it is hard to sit down and write.  It feels like howling at the moon, crying in the rain and walking uphill backwards, all at the same time.

But then something as grossly idiotic as this comes out and it pisses me off enough to energize me, and renew my determination to exercise my 1st Amendment rights of dissent and comment.

And you add to this their open derision to free speech movements like the Tea Parties and it just makes you want to try harder to get in their faces.

Obama with his administration’s shameless tactics to suppress opposition (while patting themselves on their collective backs for their bipartisanship) is doing the opposite of what they intend it to.  It is galvanizing the opposition and energizing the conservatives.  Instead of being pissed and leaderless, they are growing louder and more vocal.

Dennis Miller on his show today noted (paraphrased) that Conservatives need to be patient and let the progressives engineer their own demise. 

This is how they will do it: by getting cocky and pushing too hard.

And I will continue to denounce them until they make blogging illegal.  And even then…

Trackposted to ST, STA, MM, Nuke’s, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, The Pink Flamingo, Rosemary’s Thoughts, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, and The World According to Carl, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.