Are you part of the American family?

I had to replay this a couple of times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. But it's real -- Rahm Emanuel implied gun owners are automatically suspect, and then he made this astounding assertion at 1:15 in:

"If you're on that No Fly list, your access to the right to bear arms is cancelled, because you're not part of the American family. There is no right for you if you're on that terrorist list."

Review it a couple of times yourself so his message sinks in: You can be denied basic rights by a secret government process to which there is no appeal.

Emanuel's argument that the government can determine whether you have rights reminds me of what happened to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn when he was arrested for criticizing Stalin. When Solzhenitsyn protested that the Soviet Constitution guaranteed freedom of speech and right to a trial, he was informed that those rights only applied to "loyal" Soviet citizens. He was no longer part of the Soviet family.

Emanuel's proposal is a direct assault on our traditional rights. It is an unconstitutional power grab done in the name of "protecting" us that has already been abused. The Washington Post has reported how non-violent protestors have been branded as terrorists simply because of their political views. Even Ted Kennedy was once detained because a "T. Kennedy" appeared on the No Fly list. Kennedy had enough pull to have his name removed. What chance would a common citizen have? Especially one who's been deemed "disloyal" because he's disagreed with his government.