Well, part of it, anyway.

On the Open Democracy website, Gara LaMarche has a smart piece looking at how the right wing is attacking the foundations of a free society: broadmindedness, the culture of law, a free media, and independent science and academia.

The radical right, LaMarche warns, “is doing steady damage to key elements of open society, the very elements that can monitor and check the abuses of a power-hungry political majority. We ignore it at our peril.”

He continues: “The current American political and social scene has not in memory seen so systematic an effort by a controlling party and ideology control to hobble all significant and potential sources of opposition.”

Sound alarmist? Yeah, actually, it does. But when you read all the evidence that he compiles, it really does suggest that the American right-wing, that bastion of patriotism, doesn’t have much love for the great institutions and traditions (courts, universities, the press, freedom of religion) that make this the world’s greatest democracy. And really does want to put all of these things under theocratic control.

The section on how the right tries to bully and threaten universities was of particular interest to me, and LaMarche smartly makes this observation:

“The problems of Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, following his January 2005 address, offer an interesting contrast [to right-wing attacks on academic freedom]. There are ample grounds for criticism of his observations about women and science, though the vote of no-confidence in him by his faculty probably has more to do with an attitude and a series of imperious actions and comments. But in the right-wing press, Summers – despite his generally progressive views and service in the Clinton administration – is portrayed as a hero for taking on a politically-correct elite.”

Just so….

Particularly as we head into the 4th of July weekend, this is a must-read.