The death of freedom of speech.

Since the ascendancy of the neo-conservatives to power in North America, there's been quite the erosion of freedom of speech. To some extent this seems to be due to the thin skin of many of the neo-con leadership and elite. The means that the neo-cons in North America do this seems to be two pronged. One is to use intimidation to prevent opposing viewpoints, claiming that those who don't support neo-conservative policies such as war are unpatriotic and so forth or that talk of a different path will demoralize the troops. There's also the passive aggressive way of not talking to reporters that don't ask softball questions or write flattering articles. The neo-cons are nothing if not bullies. However these pale in comparison to the second prong, the use of the state.

There's a report of a man in the US being arrested for criticizing Vice President Cheney to Cheney's face and being charged with assault. We have the fisheries minister here in Canada working to keep protesters away from the seal hunt for their "safety" (no doubt they'd like to have the protesters locked up for "safety" reasons). By using the state to silence opposition, the neo-cons are moving into dangerous territory. How much longer until they're using the police to raid media outlets that don't toe the party line in the name of "national security"? Will there be a time when blogs like this are "regulated" in order to ensure compliance with "community standards"?

Dissent is vital to the functioning of democracy. Neo-cons seem to need conformity however, and forcing that conformity is intrinsically anti-democratic. It's bad enough that the neo-cons using bullying tactics to get their need for conformity met, it's worse when they use the state to do it for them. They need to be stopped before they do more damage.