Florida County Sheriff seeks names of area neighbors who say hostile things about the government. This is today's conservative.

It should come as no big surprise that the radically authoritarian Republican Party is hostile to the government (a representative government). Republican state majorities are now arrogant and hell bent on one party control forever.

But their odd behavior is morphing into something very ugly, and certainly not what the founding fathers envisioned. The following is something I thought I’d never see in the U.S. From Jonathan Turley:

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw has reached $1 million for a new violence prevention unit and has used it to call on neighbors to inform the police if any neighbors have been saying hostile things about the government.  “We want people to call us if the guy down the street says he hates the government, hates the mayor and he’s gonna shoot him . . . What does it hurt to have somebody knock on a door and ask, ‘Hey, is everything OK?’ ” 

The launching of the hotline suggested that neighbors should report anti-government neighbors. Expressing hate for the mayor or government is a core part of free speech and the visit by the police can be viewed as having an obvious chilling effect on speech. He wants $3 million to expand the program.

There are also millions of neighbors who have problems with other neighbors over local issues or political views or religious affiliation. The hotline is viewed by civil libertarians of encouraging neighborhood monitoring and databases identifying “problem” citizens.

We’ve seen this movement before. I’m hoping more conservatives will be just as horrified.