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The most effective weapon at the disposal of any established power does not rely on triggers or gunpowder, it has nothing to do with rods or reactors, and no arsenal or stockpile will impede its influence. This mightiest of all weapons is language and can be more manipulative than any nuclear bomb.

Most Republicans have mastered the art of fear. Convincing the majority of people the real threat is from an irrational, power hungry minority produces an ideal bogeyman for mobilizing the public. The story told is liberals, after years of political defeat, have installed a phantom power structure that circumvents traditional jurisdictional protocol. What are those alleged phantom liberal power structures you ask: the colleges, the media and the courts.

As for the colleges, I'm not surprised many world-is-flat conservatives experience an aversion to ideas that challenge their beliefs. The appointments of Judge Roberts and Judge Alito - who has been the deciding vote in restricting Whistleblower protection and expanding the control of the police state by not requiring officers with search warrants to knock before entering private residences - prove this characterization of our courts to be inaccurate. And as for the liberal stranglehold on the media consider this - Fox News and talk radio are granted an around-the-clock platform for off-the-cuff and outside-the-facts pontification. Where is the liberal response? Plenty of sobering progressive voices exist - Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Gore Vidal - but their messages never break into the zeitgeist, leaving us with a one-sided conversation.

At this point, it is important to remember with November mid-terms approaching and with conservative rhetoric becoming more cunning their position of power is not their birthright. With the right amount of planning and organization liberals can achieve the same end. We must speak the truth louder and combat their bullying, be on the ready to neurtalize their talking points (which shouldn't be hard, they parrot each other enough). I do recognize that Democrats are not all that different from Republicans, but I would be hard-pressed to find a Republican counterpart to Murtha or Feingold.