Today's "Reich Wing"

A favorite pejorative used by the progressive left is 'Reich Wing', designed to tar conservatives as Nazi-like extremists. Notwithstanding its nature as a premature violation of Godwin's Law, the term implies a certain set of characteristics presumably endemic to conservatives.

But let's examine those attributes to see if they have merit.

On the Constitution

While conservatives advocate for fidelity and loyalty to the nation's highest law -- the United States Constitution -- the progressive left tries to evade it. The term they use is "living and breathing", which simply means that the left can morph the law into whatever shape it wishes.

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan outlined the progressive's perspective in a 1993 tribute to Justice Thurgood Marshall. She quoted from a 1987 speech Marshall in which he said the Constitution as originally conceived and drafted was "defective" and that the mission of the Supreme Courtwas to “show a special solicitude for the despised and the disadvantaged.”

In other words, the Constitution could be "adjusted" to benefit certain parties at the expense of others -- certainly a far cry from the image of justice as a blindfolded seer weighing the merits of two arguments.

In 1933 Adolf Hitler subverted Germany's Weimar Constitution using subterfuge and pretext to eradicate civil rights.

Less than a month after Adolf Hitler’s appointment as chancellor in 1933, the Reichstag Fire Decree invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, suspending several constitutional protections on civil rights. The articles affected were 114 (habeas corpus), 115 (inviolability of residence), 117 (correspondence privacy), 118 (freedom of expression /censorship), 123 (assembly), 124 (associations), and 153 (expropriation).

On Free Speech

Conservatives believe in free political speech, in each and every situation. But that is not the case with today's leftists.

Put together the left's advocacy of "the Fairness Doctrine", its insistence on "Community Standards" for media, its hatred of the "Citizens United" decision, its efforts to "sabotage" certain news outlets, and one can come to no other conclusion but that it appears terrified of free speech.

No less an eminence grise than then-SCOTUS nominee Elena Kagan asserted that the United States government can ban political books and movies if necessary.

Elena Kagan argued on behalf of Citizens United essentially stating it would not be a violation of the First Amendment to have movies or even books banned. Of course, she only meant certain movies/books for specific times, but even so, I believe the point remains... all tyrants find a pretext for their tyranny. That tyranny may even begin with a humble, caring act, but one day we awake to find we have lost all freedom.

In Nazi Germany, officials banned at least 4,100 different publications. Censorship of media was a regular occurrence and all political messaging emanated from government bureaucrats.

On Intimidation by Uniformed Civilian Forces

Tea Party protests by conservative activists were uniformly civil and represented a true "rainbow coalition" of people with every background, race, religion, and culture.


In Wisconsin and other states, the Left used uniformed civilian enforcers -- including purple-clad SEIU thugs -- to threaten, intimidate and coerce lawmakers and taxpayers.

In Nazi Germany, the term Sturmabteilung (also known as 'Brown-shirts') was used to describe a para-military force deployed by Hitler prior to 1934. They were employed as street thugs and enforcers to attack the Nazis' political rivals in order to secure more power for Hitler's ring of leaders.

Leader Cult

From chants of 'Yes We Can' to a curious iconography that lives on even today, the rise of Barack Obama during the 2008 campaign was orchestrated using a marketing approach that could be considered the construction of a "cult of personality."

Obama was deified in the mainstream press, highlighted in scores of photos using a "halo effect", and lobbed softball questions during television appearances that seemed more like infomercials than serious journalistic affairs.

Such was the case with the rise of the Third Reich. Hitler's power "transcended his official title, reaching into the depths of Germans and German society [and] Hitler became a seemingly flawless revolutionary figure for the German people [and he took] specific measures [designed] to promote the view of himself as larger than life."

Who Is The Real 'Reich Wing'?

Who abuses the Constitution for crass partisan purposes? Who despises free speech and attempts to censor legitimate public opinion? Who rallies around a figure portrayed as some sort of messianic savior? Who uses uniformed thugs to intimidate lawmakers and taxpayers?

We all know who the "Reich Wing" is: it is today's far left Democrats that are now so radicalized even Communists are surprised.