Nowhere is it more evident than among the political left that "there is nothing new under the sun."  Having long ago lost the debate over which political system best serves humanity, leftists have resorted to a toxic combination of lies, mischaracterizations, and smears of their opponents as a substitute for relevant policy.

These advocates of thuggery as political speech are presently ascendant among the intellectually bankrupt left, and they are able propagandists, using the homogeneous ideology of the major media to their advantage, as they chant their narratives of hate into existence, as if summoning demons around a boiling cauldron.

We have seen this before.  Those of us old enough to have lived through the late '60s and early '70s remember the shine on the grinning teeth of those who formed violent cells of bombers and arsonists dedicated to attacking government offices and personnel.

We remember the haughty superiority they displayed as they pedantically lectured us on our ignorance – an ignorance that must be forcibly expelled from the body politic if not willingly abandoned at their demand.  Among the worst of these self-appointed supremacists were Barack Obama's political mentors, Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, founding members of the Weathermen.

Of course, the "ignorance" of which they spoke was our belief in the Constitution, the single greatest bulwark of freedom yet devised by mankind and a perennial stumbling block to collectivists.

The clashing ideologies are the same now as then, as are the stakes.  The left cannot abide individual liberty, and the Constitution cannot permit the left's assault upon it to succeed.

There is a singular distressing difference between the battle lines of a half-century ago and today: the steady growth of government, led from within by many who grew up steeped in the misguided ethos of collectivist groupthink.  As we have already seen, this Deep State is willing – eager, actually – to wade into the fray, abusing the power of its members' positions to achieve its goals.

The violence of the streets will be threatening to our people, but it will pale in comparison to the subversive abuse of power by their allies and paymasters in government, who will pull out all the stops to protect their useful idiots from meaningful prosecution or even arrest.

Fifty years ago, our form of government was never really threatened by the subversives among us, but today is different.  When a large enough portion of the government decides that it is no longer going to be bound by the founding documents of our nation, or the laws that govern it, then the rest of that government has no choice but to defend the Constitution by removing and prosecuting the rebels.

The left is counting on our side not having the stomach to do that, preferring instead to permit government to do away with some of our rights in return for "peace," both on the streets and within the government, a response that would almost certainly be urged by the RINOs and NeverTrump caucuses in Congress and eagerly adjudicated by an activist judiciary striving to tie Trump's hands at every opportunity.

Our enemy is within the gates, and this time, our Republic is in grave danger.  In my opinion, the battle is already underway.

The author writes from Omaha, Neb. and welcomes visitors to his website www.dailyherring.com.