Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is no Vice

... and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.

Sen. Barry Goldwater

The first edition of "Embedded: Occupied America" comes to you from deep behind enemy lines from the least free state in these United, the occupied territory of Illinois.

A quote from Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention seems to be an appropriate way to begin this discussion. Though Senator Goldwater went on to suffer one of the most lop-sided defeats in Presidential election history, his words ring truer today than on the night they were first spoken. Liberty is in greater need of defense today than in 1964 and extremism increasingly the only tool available to the common man.

How would Barry Goldwater define extremism today? What qualifies as "extreme"? Fiery rhetoric from balaclava clad protesters in a third world capital? Bloggers advancing 9-11 conspiracy theories? The millions who tune into "alternative" media outlets each week? Television political pundits advancing the party line?

When the World Wide Web burst onto the scene in the late 1990's the web was heralded as ushering in a new era of human communication, a free and fettered marketplace of ideas outside the usual social control paradigms. Today both corporation and state all too readily recognize the threat posed by the Web; a threat to advertising revenue, ratings, relevance and above all credibility. Newspapers are bankrupt, network TV viewer ship is a shadow of its former self, weekly news magazines too stale to be of interest and all too often embarrassing scandals and fraud perpetrated by media outlets struggling with the former. And what of the State?

Approval ratings are at an all time low, discontent rules the land respecting no traditional boundary of geography, class, age or color. For the latter half of the twentieth century the State had at its disposal the auspices of the corporate mass media, a means to stay relevant to the deliberately undereducated populace. With the mass media floundering and the state sinking it stands to reason that a logical scapegoat would be the free market place of ideas.

Censorship, corporate controlled "Internet II", FISA, S1959 - The Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act of 2007, bloggers, truth groups and Ron Paul. If one were trading in the market place of ideas what would he buy? If one were trading in extremism?

And what of Liberty?

The marketplace of ideas has spoken and former monopolists in the trade don't appear to like it.