Via The Rio Norte Line:

The “soft tyranny” of which I speak has and is being played out right before our eyes and has been for as long as we have had “progressives” in our government. Anyone who believes in a government over the people and not of the people is in this camp…and there are many of them. This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue; it is an issue of statists and statolatry (a combination sometimes referred to as “progressivism”, Marxism or communism) versus independence and individual freedom.

There are three steps common to this tyrannical process:

1. Pick an individual liberty to focus on, preferably one that can be sold as a “threat” to good societal order and demonize it
2. Offer a “common sense” solution – restrict that liberty through force of law, regulation or executive fiat
3. Selectively enforce that law along ideological or arbitrary guidelines

The “gun control” debate offers two examples of how this tyranny is created.