Nine members of a "Christian" militia have been charged with sedition and conspiracy to murder police officers in the hopes of sparking an armed insurrection against the United States. As I have noted on many threads going back years, the rhetoric of our politics in this country has been drifting into dangerous territory. Extremism and extremist beliefs are going mainstream. Just glancing at the comments on a thread dealing with this topic over at Free Republic one can note more than a few people who are clearly in sympathy with these lunatics.
When you deny the legitimacy of the President of the United States, and call members of one of the two main political parties "traitors" this is what is going to happen. At some point people will start to believe you and someone will reach for a gun.
This is not just about inflammatory rhetoric. Revolution is a predictable and just response from citizens to a government that exceeds its charter.
ReplyDeleteThe federal government in particular imposes confiscatory levels of taxation, debases the currency, refuses to defend the nation's cultural and territorial integrity, subjects its citizens to bureaucratic whim by passing laws that nobody on earth can understand, and rains down bombs on foreign peoples who never did us any harm. I could go on, because it's a long list. The American colonists revolted over far less. I'm not ready to man the street barricades (yet), but I can understand this response by marginal individuals who are being ground to bits by the policies of an East Coast urban elite.
You seem to believe that government will at some point voluntarily restrain itself; it will not.
Reactionary (an extremely appropriate SN),
ReplyDeleteYour comment pretty much confirms my point. If you think this country has confiscatory taxation I can only conclude you have never set foot outside it. Our taxes are insanely (and irresponsibly) low. They are by far the lowest in the developed world. Our forefathers revolted mostly because we had no representation in government decisions. That is not true here. I have no idea who is being ground to bits. I haven't noticed anyhting like that.
What we have here is a group of malcontents who only want to live in a constitutional republic as long as their views trump all else including elections. It reminds me very much of the mentality of ante-bellum southerners. Give me what I want or I will tear the country apart and popular elections be damned. That's not strict consructionism and it's not patriotism. That's sedition.
Seriously.
You need to get a grip.
Our taxes are insanely (and irresponsibly) low.
ReplyDeleteThey amount to about half a middle-class person's income. What would you consider 'confiscatory?' If you really think you don't pay enough taxes, there is nothing stopping you from paying more. Perhaps your status as a government employee is coloring your thinking.
An ineffective dodge on the federal government's ultra vires actions, as well.
Hi, John;
ReplyDeleteMy own view of this matter is well expressed by a libertarian commentator on LewRockwell.com, C. J. Maloney:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/maloney/maloney20.1.html
"Today, give me liberty or give me death no longer rings true, the typical American is content to put up with any outrage because he’s so ideologically stripped as to no longer have any idea he should be outraged. Harboring a completely materialistic view of politics that equates material comfort with freedom, he’ll bear any assault on liberty with timid submission so long as the hi-def cable stays on. The intellectuals fare no better in this regard, as they are the very ones who spread the ideas that made hi-def cable more important to us than trial by jury.
"In the event of rebellion, the American people would lack any leadership with the ability, or even the urge, to guide them back to liberty. Even if the occasional outrage morphs into a tea party, the vast majority of Americans, lead by the intellectuals, take most assaults with quiet approval, and for now I thank God for it. To go to war is something even the most ignorant savage does with relish; but to start a revolution requires the ability for calm, rational thought and a manly courage to risk it all that does not currently exist in this country. Where once our forefathers shot at government troops marching through the Massachusetts countryside towards Lexington and Concord, today we are a frightened little flock that goes to pieces at the thought of Goldman Sachs suffering a well-deserved bankruptcy. 2010 America does not possess what successful revolutions are made of. .....
"As of right now this country is simply not prepared for secession, civic disobedience, or rebellion; and under the current regime they all would be considered the same in the eyes of the ruling elite. Any move in that direction would be setting you up for a hopeless task; to free a people that neither wish for liberty or could handle it if won.
"Read the op-ed pages and editorials of any newspaper, glance at the comments section to any Internet news site, and listen to the interviewed "man on the street," read our intellectuals’ monthly journals and agree; modern America is too uncivilized and savage for freedom.
"If you wish for a change back to liberty, forget your rifle – grab your pen."
I agree. At this point, any rebellion would not be a regeneration of a free people, but simply the sedition of slaves, which would lead to even worse slavery and tyranny.
The conclusion from the Laffer Curve was that marginal tax rates above 25% were counter-productive.
ReplyDeleteThe revolution will begin when the militia, the fundamentalist Christians, the mom and pop who just lost their home, the liberals, and union types come together in the common purpose. I think it will be more of a regional corporation rather than a succession. Maybe you have Cascadia in the West, Atlantia in the North East, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso when the EBT cards stop working at the store, when the SSI checks for the disabled stop, then we will see actual violence and riots that make the Watts riots look like nothing.
I am a Union man, I prefer the Union but if there is going to be a dissolution of the Union I hope it is through regional Corporation rather than violence.
May faith is no longer in government and politics, it is in Christ alone.