Among those things that make me fear for the republic has been the rhetoric from many on the right which at times seems to call for violent insurrection.
This threat of violence (or, in the case of Texan politicians, secession) is rooted in a belief the federal government exists to trample individual rights through excessive taxation (for some that means any taxation which is believed to be theft, pure and simple), onerous regulation and restriction of personal behavior (smoking, seat belts, but apparently not gay rights or abortion rights which apparently are perfectly reasonably restricted by government), and socialism (or fascism, both meaning government intervention into business.)
Hints of revolution have peppered the right wing for years, and with the election of Barack Obama has upped amazingly in these last months.
Now the Department of Homeland Security has written a report (full text available here) that details exactly what the threat is and where it is coming from.
What is particularly scary to me is how the right wing blogosphere and Fox News have so quickly closed ranks, denying the facts on the ground and trying to refocus (look here and here for examples) people’s attention back to their issues: taxation, regulation and socialism (or, fascism)…
Almost as scary is how representatives of the administration appear to be buckling…
A repudiation of the report may well be in the works.
I hope people actually read it. It is closely reasoned. And it lays the deal out all too clearly…
Not liking the facts is one thing. Pretending they aren’t facts is quite another…
Almost everyone has heard how the Chinese curse is “may you live in interesting times…”
Damn, these are interesting times…
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