AIG executives are not the Communists of Liberal Fascism

I realize it would be unreasonable to expect a Protein Wisdom contributor to appreciate the subtlety of what I’m about to say here, but comparing the taxation of publicly-funded corporate bonuses to the evolution of Nazism makes you sound like an historically illiterate jagoff. That Martin Niemoller is usually quoted by people who know utterly nothing about his life does not make his poem any less poignant or instructive; one supposes, however, that the pastor would not have wished to see his words used to buttress half-baked slippery-slope arguments drawn up by aspiring pantloaders who define tyranny as the reintroduction of slightly higher marginal tax rates on the wealthiest percentage of earners.

These are people who believe Ayn Rand provided a blueprint for a decent society, and they’re quoting someone who mourned the destruction of trades unions. And that’s the least offensive part of the analogy — it’s worth noting, for example, that this particular meme seems to have begun with someone with an extensive history of arguing that the mass evacuation and detention of racial minorities isn’t such a bad idea.

But at least they aren’t making jokes about the Special Olympics, because that would be a million times worse!