May Gabbard Keep Fighting Left’s ‘Empire of Lies’
“Psst . . . Would You Like to Buy Some of America’s Uranium” (www.cagle.com/The Cagle Post/Syndicate/Cartoons)
By George J. MarlinFriday, 25 March 2022
Democrat Tulsi Gabbard has served her country with distinction.
She was the first female combat soldier; the first woman to graduate number one in her class at Fort McClellan Officer Candidate School; and is a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves.
She was also the first woman to serve in the Hawaii state Legislature.
In 2012, Gabbard was elected to the first of four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. During her tenure she was often critical of President Obama’s foreign policy and opposed cuts to the defense budget. And she was a founder of the bi-partisan House caucus dedicated to helping veterans adjust to civilian life.
A supporter of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016, Gabbard resigned as vice-chair of the National Democratic Committee, citing its bias toward Hilary Clinton.
While unsuccessful in her quest for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, Gabbard was impressive in the debates and struck the knock-out blow to Kamala Harris’s hapless candidacy.
Despite her resume, establishment Democrats have given Gabbard a hard time because she refuses to march in lock-step with their agenda.
Hilary Clinton falsely accused Gabbard of being a Russian asset in 2020.
Gabbard, Clinton declared, was being “groomed” by the Russians to be a third-party presidential candidate to re-elect Trump.
Since leaving Congress, Gabbard has continued to criticize members of her party including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who she has called a “domestic terrorist.”
Earlier this month, inside-the-beltway progressives went ballistic after Gabbard made a statement concerning revelations of U.S. supported bio labs in Ukraine.
Gabbard stated the fact “that there are over 25 U.S.-funded bio labs in Ukraine, which if breached, would release and spread deadly pathogens across the United States and the world.”
Reacting, progressives accused Gabbard of telling “traitorous lies,” promoting “Russian Propaganda,” “shilling for Putin” and Instagram is “shadow banning” her.
The leftist commentator, Keith Olbermann, demanded that Gabbard be arrested for being a “Russian asset” in time of war.
The left’s favorite tool, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, also jumped into the fray.
He declared, “Tulsi Gabbard is parroting false Russian propaganda. Her treasonous lies may well cost lives.” CNN contributor Alyssa Farah agreed: “I think Mitt Romney is absolutely right … this is … the Russians are spreading propaganda … it’s helping them get away with acts against Ukrainian civilians.”
Huh?
To accuse Gabbard of treason — of betraying her country — for commenting on a matter in Ukraine is not only ludicrous but scary.
Frankly, the only leftie who got it right was ABC’s “The View” co-host Whoopie Goldberg, who said “They used to arrest people for doing stuff like this…”
Progressives arresting perceived dissenters is not new.
During World War I, the first Progressive president, Woodrow Wilson, created a Joseph Goebbels-like “Committee on Public Information” to censor news to suppress speech and to spread propaganda to the media and general public.
Wilson also signed into law the Espionage Act ( 1917), and the Sedition Act (1918) curtailing the liberties of every American.
Historian Ronald Steel has written that those Acts were “so sweeping that people were prosecuted for obstructing the sale of government bonds, discouraging recruitment, or uttering abusive words about the government or military uniforms.”
After hundreds were sent to prison, including Eugene Debs, the socialist candidate for president in 1916, for opposing the war, journalist Max Eastman quipped, “You can’t even collect your thoughts without getting arrested for unlawful assemblage.
“They give you ninety days for quoting the Declaration of Independence, six months for quoting the Bible, and pretty soon somebody is going to get a life sentence for quoting Woodrow Wilson in the wrong connection.”
While Wilson was preaching that making the world “safe for Democracy was a moral imperative,” he was trampling on our democratic freedoms.
Today’s progressives are no different.
They don’t believe all voices should be heard equally. They subscribe to radical philosopher Herbert Marcuse’s call for intolerance in the name of tolerance.
The left’s continued insistence on politically-correct speech has even frightened the editorial board of The New York Times.
In an editorial of March 20, 2022, the Times conceded that “Americans are losing hold of a fundamental right as citizens of a free country: the right to speak their minds and voice their opinions in public without fear of being shamed or shunned.”
So true.
If the 1918 Sedition Act were in force today — the progressives would throw Tulsi Gabbard into the darkest dungeon for daring to speak the truth.
Yes, the left confirms Ron Paul’s maxim, “Truth is treason in the empire of lies.”
Gabbard and I are on opposite sides of the political fence.
She’s on the left and I’m on the right.
Nevertheless, I applaud her for standing up to the progressives and their “empire of lies.”
I hope she continues to speak out and heeds Patrick Henry’s 1776 declaration, “If this be treason, make the most of it.”
