The Obama Administration’s decision to muscle FOX News, and recruit other news organizations into an active conspiracy to isolate the conservative network, is obviously disturbing. It should be understood as a gross abuse of presidential power. After all, the president took an oath to use the public’s power to defend the First Amendment – not undermine it.

But to truly appreciate the dynamic, the threat to our inherited liberty, one must put the FOX News campaign into the context of Obama’s broader assault on the free exchange of ideas contrary to his own. It is but the latest in a very ominous list of policies and actions designed to greatly reduce organized opposition to the American Left’s agenda.

Let’s review just the easy-to-remember pieces of a fascist pattern being assembled by the current national regime:

Remember the order by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to a private insurance company, demanding that it stop informing its customers of concerns with ObamaCare? On what authority did the federal government dare to interfere with private communication between citizens and a private company? No constitutional inhibition seemed to occur to the present team running Washington, D.C.

Or what of Speaker Pelosi’s order that her staff would review all large constituent mailings by Members of Congress to ensure that they were not “misinforming” voters about the implications of ObamaCare? And her iron rule that mailings which failed to pass her censorship would not be approved for franking?

Leader Reid has made his contribution to the building oppression as well. It was his inspiration to add “hate crimes” legislation to the defense authorization bill in order to ensure that homosexuals are graduated to a “protected” class – because he knew full well that such legislation could not pass on its own merits in the light of day. But we add this item to the laundry list, not because of process abuse, but because of the substance of the new law. It will greatly undermine the free speech and free exercise protections of the First Amendment in the hopes of normalizing homosexuality by intimidating those guided by religious or traditional values.

But what is a little constitutional abuse in a nation so rich in tolerance?

As we review the growing list – after just nine months in power – we must not forget the Obama Administration’s campaign to regulate the Internet through legislation blandly referred to as “Net Neutrality”. Nor can we overlook the Left’s zealous efforts to impose a newly-packaged “Fairness Doctrine” on commercial radio stations in the hope of somehow ending the penetrating critique of personalities like Rush Limbaugh.

And then we learn that the Obama Administration, partnering with the totalitarian regime in Egypt, has introduced a resolution in the United Nations to create international law protecting Islam from public criticism. Just to a add another brace of insult to the scene of an American president proposing to criminalize free speech under international law – Obama & Co. have packaged this disgrace as a measure designed to protect “freedom of opinion and expression” around the world. By any standard, this list represents an intimidating and energetic attack on political and religious liberty. And it is probably incomplete.

So what are we to make of this seeming anti-constitutional orientation of America’s most liberal president?

The concerned citizen may consider arming himself with a keen analysis of the American Left’s fascination with fascist doctrine and tactics. Jonah Goldberg wrote a book entitled, “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left from Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning”.
For those who can’t easily square the notion of liberals being ensnared by fascist tactics and policies, here is a provocative excerpt:

“Contrary to what most people think, the Nazis were ardent socialists (hence the term ‘National Socialism’). They believed in free health care and guaranteed jobs. They confiscated inherited wealth and spent vast sums on public education. They purged the church from public policy, promoted new forms of pagan spirituality, and inserted the authority of the state into every nook and cranny of daily life. The Nazis declared war on smoking, supported abortion, euthanasia and gun control. They loathed the free market, provided generous pensions for the elderly…. The Nazis led the world in organic farming and alternative medicine. Hitler was a strict vegetarian and Himmler was an animal rights activist.”

Does this mean that President Obama is some kind of Nazi? No. Those people were in a world of insanity created by, and for, themselves alone.

But Goldberg’s analysis does document Liberalism’s fascist impulse; the impulse now on display in Washington. Obama’s lack of respect for freedom and liberty, his contempt for, and fear of, those who disagree with him suggests a grand arrogance that could lead to a much weakened Constitution.