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Obama's sinister attempt to criminalize 'extremism'

They don't get to decide whose views are too extreme.

Just about everyone seems to have noticed that the Obama Administration refuses to say that radical Islamic terrorism is, in fact, Islamic. We’ve talked about that a lot. But I think we also need to pay some attention to the name they’ve chosen to use instead:

Extremism.

Rob wrote on Friday about the administration's bizarre claim that right-wing domestic groups are just as big a threat as ISIS. Your first instinct will be the same as mine – which was to roll your eyes in utter amazement that they would be so brazen as to turn something like the fight against ISIS into an attack on their political foes.

But notice something: The common thread they try to assert between ISIS and domestic “right-wing” groups is the claim that they are both “extremists.” Now what exactly does that mean? I suppose they would make the case that they’re not talking about mainstream conservatives, but only those “extremists” who have “anti-government” beliefs, which was another term that got tossed around quite a bit at their recent “summit” on “violent extremism.”

Now when it comes to fanatics who blow people up for some sort of cause, I’ll be the first guy who wants to stop them, arrest them, prosecute them, etc. But I don’t think I want the U.S. government examining people’s political beliefs and deciding where the line should be drawn between mainstream and extreme, nor do I want them taking the liberty of deciding who is excessively “anti-government.”

If you think we should eliminate the Departments of Agriculture, Education and Health & Human Services, does that make you an anti-government extremist? If you think Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be privatized, how about then? Or is the mantle of extremist only reserved for those guys in Montana who stockpile guns and Spaghetti-Os? And however extreme you may think that to be, is it not constitutionally protected? And if that’s the case, how exactly does the government justify taking any sort of special measure to single them out or keep a special eye on them?

By making the problem with ISIS the group’s so-called extremism, Obama seems to be setting up a rationale by which the government can decide who and what qualifies as extreme, and can apply that to his own political opponents in the United States as well. If extremism is a danger unto itself, then you can be treated as a danger if politicians think you’re extreme.

The problem with ISIS is not that they’re “extreme.” It’s that they’re sadistic, homicidal monsters. There is no “moderate” version of what they do.

And Americans need to send Obama a clear message that he has no business setting up “extremism” domestically as an excuse to harass certain Americans. If a person wants to espouse a philosophy that’s “anti-government,” that is their right under the Constitution. They do not have the right to use violence in an attempt to advance that philosophy, and if they do, then the federal government absolutely can and should stop them.

But do you think that’s really Obama’s priority? If so, you might want to consider this fact: Of all the people invited to this vaunted summit on combatting “violent extremism,” one person who was not invited as the man whose job it would be to stop such crimes – FBI Director James Comey. Now why do you supposed Comey was not invited? I’ll tell you why: Because this was a political conference, not one designed to actually prevent any real terrorist acts or any real crimes. The FBI has serious work to do, and sitting through a charade like this is not part of it.

You are only an extremist to the extent that someone else’s opinions are extremely different from yours. Perhaps that bothers them, or you, or both of you . . . but it doesn’t make you a criminal and Americans cannot tolerate Barack Obama trying to use it as an excuse to say you are one.

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