"Simply an affirmation of naked power"

"[Goose-Stepping] is simply an affirmation of naked power," wrote George Orwell, "the vision of a boot crashing down on a face. Its ugliness is part of its essence, for what it is saying is 'Yes, I am ugly, and you daren't laugh at me,' like the bully who makes faces at his victim . . . Beyond a certain point, military display is only possible in countries where the common people dare not laugh at the army." (Goosestepping chorus line performing "Springtime for Hitler" from Mel Brooks's The Producers)

The totalitarian impulse runs deep and dark in our species. Curious how often it seems to ooze up through the cracks on the left side of the aisle. We've always distrusted the motives -- beyond maintenance of raw power -- of our own entrenched "progressive" Massachusetts Senator Edward Ted but never dreamed that he would pull a Carter, apparently using back channels to solicit the support of the enemy [via Ed Driscoll] -- in Teddy's case, General Secretary of the USSRs Communist Party, Yuri Andropov in 1983 -- to undermine the foreign policy of our elected leader, Ronald Reagan during an election year. The story, told in Paul Kengor's new The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism and based upon a previously unknown memo found in the Soviet archives, is all over the blogosphere today. Soon to appear at a MSM outlet near you? As Bryan at HotAir notes,

I think the next step here is to nail down the authenticity of the memo. If it’s real, then the story is obviously very significant. If it’s not real, there’s no story here at all.

Back to the totalitarian impulse that runs deep and dark on the left side of the aisle. As we blogged about that other power-crazed "progressive" Massachusetts Senator, John. F. Kerry, during his failed run for the presidency during 2004:

The intellectually vain imagine they know what's best for the "little people." Bubba's grating "What if you spend YOUR money WRONG?" and Hillary's equally condescending "We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good," blogged here, come to mind. They ought to stop talking and start listening to the voices of those they claim to speak for.  But whether or not they listen, those voices are speaking out and being heard, thanks to the new technologies.

Speaking of the intellectually vain -- as we were just the other day in our "Uncle Walter" post drawing parallels between defeatism then and now and the power of a biased media to lead the national interest over the cliff -- check out this excerpt from that Soviet memo detailing the Kennedy plan to undermine our elected leader's foreign policy:

If the proposal is recognized as worthy, then Kennedy and his friends will bring about suitable steps to have representatives of the largest television companies in the USA contact Y. V. Andropov for an invitation to Moscow for the interview. Specifically, the board of directors of ABC, Elton Raul and the television columnists Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters could visit Moscow. The senator underlined the importance that this initiative should be seen as coming from the American side.

"Who knew Reagan would win and then defeat the USSR, so this document could see the light of day?" notes Bryan at HotAir wryly. Not only that, who knew the little guy would find a voice and then defeat the monopoly of self-congratulatory totalitarianist opinion shapers like Walter Cronkite and his spawn -- yes, you, Dan "false-but-accurate" Rather -- through the blogosphere?

Update: "If you can still lose an election with all that going for you -- all that, and Soros, too -- your ideas are a tough sell, indeed," writes ahem of Protein Wisdom:

Has it ever occurred to you that it requires the entire weight of the mainstream media -- ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, PBS, Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, the AP, Reuters, Hollywood, and all the hundreds of other leftist legacy media and news organizations in the United States -- to relentlessly lie, misinform, disinform, omit facts, ignore facts, leak state secrets and even highlight our most bitter enemies’ propaganda to brainwash enough Americans to scrape together a respectable number of votes? And they still lose elections?

We totally agree but for one thing. Ideas? The Rats don't have any. Like the Islamofascists, they know only how to destroy. Here's the closest  thing to an idea their leadership has come up with in the last election cycle, as reported yesterday in the WaPo [via Ann Althouse]:

On election night 2004, Nancy Pelosi faced a painful reality: Her party was again a big loser, failing to win the presidency and losing three more House seats. Pundits were suggesting Pelosi should accept her fate as the leader of a permanent House minority.

But the California legislator had a different idea. Instead, she reached out to advertising executives, Internet moguls and language specialists to ask how Democrats could rise from the ashes and challenge President Bush and the Republicans. The advice that came back was unabashed: "You must take him down" and then hammer away at the differences between the two parties, Pelosi recalled.

Inspiring, isn't it? Even as our enemies observe the disloyal opposition's lack of seriousness, smile and wait.

Comments

[Tara]

Treason is the new patriotism.

[goomp]

Power thy name is corruption.

[goomp]

Are the Liberal Democrats the USA's most dangerous enemy?

[bird dog]

The Left has plenty of ideas, Sissy. They just can't say them outloud.