Claritas Moralis

I am sure Martin Niemöller would approve.

First They Came for the Muslims

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.
Then they came for the GLBT folks
and I did not speak out
because I was not GLBT.
Then they came for the liberals
and I did not speak out
because I was not a liberal.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Every time you see a woman's bra patted down in public as part of a "security check"; every time someone implies that it's not important to know which candidate got each vote; every time you see nonviolent dissenters hidden from the eyes of power; every time you see someone suffer for merely holding a belief or express an opinion or being part of a particular nonviolent group--especially if you *don't* agree with them--that is the time to speak. Look for swaggers and smirks in agents of the state: they are signs of enjoying one's power, symptoms of abusing it. Remember that their supposed power is really yours as a citizen of a democracy.

As I've said before, the neocons are playing from the Nazi playbook; read the "rising" parts of William Shirer's Rise and Fall of the Third Reich if you don't believe me. They've already started coming for people. That's what the whole "enemy combatant" nonsense is about.

The time is now, my fellow Americans. We still have the ability to speak out without it costing us our lives. If we don't do it now, we'll lose it, and then there will be nothing for it but to follow my advice about how to deal with a tyrant.

It's truly speak now or forever hold your peace.