Contempt for Democracy...

[Solon]

I usually peruse "Open" boards, and post occasionally, some political, some not. Anyways, since they are usually unmoderated, you get to see really astonishing stuff, but what I find most repugnant is most of the conservatives on these boards slam Democracies as weak or ineffective, etc. etc.

Usually they talk about how letting everyone vote is a bad idea, or that even dictatorships are much more stable and effective. Libertarians are particularly bad with the "Property rights=voting rights" argument, and yes I have talked to self identifying libertarians that argue that. Mostly it is the whole "U.S. is NOT a democracy!" argument all over again. I find this tiresome but symptomatic of the attitude of conservatives that totalitarian regimes are not ALL bad. This I find scary because of the fact that I believe that the sitting Resident is himself a believer in this ideology. "Authority needs to be asserted at all costs." is the most basic foundation of these people's beliefs. These are people who would actually have no problems with vote rigging elections in favor of a "Law and Order" president or congress.

Even scarier is that many of these same people are in lower, yet have a more direct influence over our lives. What I am talking about are some law enforcement officials, the AG obviously is one, who chafe at the idea that they have to treat suspects and "rabblerousers" as if they had rights. They literally do not like the Constitutional protections that are to protect ALL of us, not just a few. Police who abuse protesters are obvious perpetrators of this type of attitude. These are the type of people who, when push comes to shove, are the authoritarians that we would have to fight if it comes to that. They would support ANYONE in power as long as they view them as legitimate, and that is dangerous in the extreme.