As if the insult of free speech zones wasn’t bad enough, anti-war protesters in Los Angeles recently found themselves being watched over…by tanks.

At 7:50 PM two armored tanks showed up at an anti-war protest in front of the federal building in Westwood. The tanks circled the block twice, the second time parking themselves in the street and directly in front of the area where most of the protesters were gathered. Enraged, some of the people attempted to block the tanks, but police quickly cleared the street. The people continued to protest the presence of the tanks, but about ten minutes the tanks drove off. It is unclear as to why the tanks were deployed to this location.

(Click here to see the video)

In the past four years, it’s become commonplace to see free speech crumble before the altar of High Partisanship. In addition to the free speech zones, we’ve had people arrested at political rallies for wearing the wrong t-shirts, people being forced to sign loyalty oaths in order to hear the President speak, and news personalities calling for protesters to be beaten. In a short time, it’s progressed to protesters being intimidated by tanks. What’s next?

THis is the sort of thing which starts people talking of fascism. And lest you think that it couldn’t happen here, I would highly recommend that you read this post from the unfortunately retired Billmon—he lays out the historical groundwork and analysis in a way that I won’t even bother to attempt.

Frightening stuff. But when you consider that some far-Right wingnuts are actually fantasizing about kicking the “blue states” out of the Union, it becomes apparent that the old rules of conduct are quickly becoming obsolete.

Welcome to America. Land of the free, etc.