Gun nuts think Obama is like Hitler because they don’t like America

It’s a common theme among repugicans, but especially among their radical base – be it the religious base or the gun-nut base (or both).  Namely, that America is heading towards dictatorship, and only their guns (and their god) will stop a Democratic Hitler from turning our country into another Soviet Union or Nazi Germany.Now I’m for “eternal vigilance” and all that.  And I get the concept of being aware of creeping infringements on our freedom, lest they end up being rather large infringements over time.  But I have to say, anyone who thinks America is in danger of becoming the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany has a really fucked up view of what this country is, and is all about.
It’s one thing to object to actual legislation that actually impinges on our rights.  I don’t agree with the anti-health-reform types, but I can understand why someone who is principled might find the principle of the government telling you what to buy distasteful.  I don’t agree that they’re correct, in the construct of health care reform, but I get the objection in principle.
What I don’t get is people who then say that Obamacare is how the Jews got gassed.  Because it’s really not.  The Jews in Europe didn’t die because Hitler wanted to give them more affordable health care.  (They also didn’t die because of gun control.)

 

And I think this is what bothers me most about the “Obama is a socialist” crowd (and Mitt Romney, Reince Priebus, Sarah Palin and a lot more of their ilk who run the repugican cabal ran with this message), and the “gun control is like Hitler“ loons.  These are people who simply don’t think very highly of America.
The repugicans’ attitudes towards Obama in general, and gun control in particular, remind me of a pre-nuptial agreement gone seriously wrong.  They’re dealing with a partner they seriously do not trust.  We must stop Obama because he’s going to turn the country into a communist state and/or Nazi Germany, they keep telling us.  Which begs an important question: Why did 51% of America vote for a guy who wants to turn us into the USSR and Hitler’s Germany?  Unless of course we’re in cahoots with him.  And thus is born the 47% argument, though Romney was off by 4%.  By their accounts, more than half the county is un-American (which by definition can’t be true).
This is, at its core, the gun nuts’ central tenet.  Not that governments generically shouldn’t be trusted.  But that our government in particular is evil and must be stopped at all costs.  It’s philosophical terrorism that far too often leads to the real thing, whether it’s a shot-up movie theater by a guy dressed like Rambo, or a blown up federal building.  It far too often comes down to the individual in question thinking they are the last defense against tyranny.
The problem we face as a nation is that the men who control today’s Republican party neither trust, nor particularly like, most of America, or Americans.  If you truly see a commie and a Nazi around every corner, then you’re obviously not very thrilled with where you live.

The repugicans don’t have a problem with Obama, they have a problem with America.