In this country, we have a very real threat to our freedoms in the form of the Left wing of the Democratic Party. I know that sounds like hyperbole on my part, but it really is not. The two basic freedoms that our country is founded upon, that indeed undergird the idea of all other freedoms, are those of freedom of speech and of religion. These two rights are under withering fire from the Left. Let me begin by saying that I am not talking about your every day liberal neighbor, friend, or coworker. They could be in this group, to be sure, but to be fair, most are not. I am talking about the far-Left fringe in Hollywood, the media, and academia, among other places. There are plenty of good liberals not in this group, including a good friend of mine.

Many people have talked about the comments of the kooks on the Journolist server, who debated whether Fox News Channel should be shut down or not. The listserv has forever shattered the myth of the so-called “unbiased media”. Arguably, the myth was already shattered, and this merely finished the task for most people, other than confirmed ideologues. Also of note were the words of Shirley Sherrod, fired from the Department of Energy in the Breitbart tape release issue, and CNN anchors discussing whether blogs should have their speech controlled by the government.

Both of these incidents, and many others, including Arianna Huffington’s statement to legally restrict Glenn Beck’s freedom of speech are concerning. They are not, however, the important issue. The important story, which the press will not report, is the seeming love-affair of the Left with authoritarianism.

If this dalliance could be restricted to Marxist regimes overseas, it would be one thing. It cannot. The US and Europe have elements of the Left that have historically been very favorably disposed towards the ideas first promulgated by Marx himself to restrict the freedoms of the press and religion. Nothing is really new about this. The “new” part is that there is an Administration in power in DC who has a sympathy for this incredibly frightening perspective. The examples abound.

Former White House communications director Anita Dunn famously spoke of her admiration of Mao. Though the Fox News Channel, conservative blogs, and talk radio all reported this with incredulity, the so-called mainstream media completely ignored it. The idea that an official in the White House admires one of the worst mass murderers in history seemed of little import to the press.

More recently, the FCC chairman  Julius Genachowski, and Obama “diversity czar” Mark Lloyd have expressed their admiration for Hugo Chavez of Venezuela. The two men argue that by restricting freedom of speech, the government guarantees the downtrodden can be better heard. Of course, it’s the government’s definition of “downtrodden” that controls who can speak or not, but no problem, we can always trust them, right?

This is where the crisis comes into play. The Administration is trying to misuse the regulatory powers granted by Congress to regulate the internet. I am not saying this lightly just because I disagree with them, but because it is true. They are attempting to reclassify the understanding of the definition of the internet and the idea of a utility, as well as stretching the powers of the agency to areas the Congress never envisioned for it to have.

Some will say that I am becoming a conspiracy-driven black helicopter guy. Perhaps. Perhaps not. I do know one thing, however. That is that I fought for my country so NONE of our freedoms would ever be lost. Yet lose them we have in terms of medical care and choice, financial privacy and autonomy and in terms of much of our individuality as people. Despite all of this, I am not ready to throw my hands up in frustration. I still believe that good will win out in the end. If we lose the rights to speech, press, and religion, however; it really will be over. Without these fundamental cornerstones of our Republic, we can no longer control our government and have a say in how it functions.

The Left has a crazy and evil love affair with authoritarianism, and for all of our sakes, we must realize this, and stop them, before it is too late.