A Tyrant's Tactics

If you have the unmitigated gall as a private citizen to donate to the Mitt Romney campaign, beware, the Obama campaign will attack you.  The Wall Street Journal reports that Obama campaign websites have accused Romney campaign donors of being "less than reputable" and specifically of accusing businessman Frank VanderSloot of being "litigious, combative and a bitter foe of the gay rights movement".  This is about as disturbing as a campaign tactic can be in a free society.  This is a tactic to suppress dissent, to quiet the opposition through fear.  Mr. VanderSloot has suffered a loss of business.  Private investigators are reportedly investigating his divorce.  At least Russian President Vladimir Putin has the courage to arrest and kill those who dissent against his reign.  The Obama campaign has an enemies list and will seek to discredit large donors who oppose President Obama's run for another term.

This is one of the most disgusting things I have ever heard of from a campaign.  The idea that private citizens who are not public figures should face contempt like this discouraging them from participating in the political process is the same as having the New Black Panther Party standing outside of a Philadelphia polling place with weapons threatening potential voters without reprisal.  Oh, wait.  There is a difference between a donor like Bill Maher, Karl Rove, or George Soros, who routinely inject themselves into the public forum and are fair game for criticism.  This is a man who did not seek attention.  All he did was give a donation.  It was a large one mind you, but what difference should that make?  If you send $45.00 to a political campaign, are you fair game?  Worse yet, we've all made mistakes in our lives and some of them are public record.  Would you think twice about donating to a political campaign if you knew someone might bring up your decades old DWI, an offhand remark you made on a paper when you were in high school, the allegations of an ex-girlfriend from years ago that is still bitter over how things ended?

The only purpose of this tact is to keep people from donating to those opposing President Obama through fear of being smeared.  That is about as disgusting an act as I've ever seen.  In truth, it's only a step short of rounding up the dissidents the way a dictator would.  This is not a tolerable act in a free society, and I encourage the reader to share this so that people know.  We should all be watching out for this kind of censorship, no matter the source.