When I first saw this article this morning, I didn’t pay a lot of attention and didn’t read all the way to the end.
Seriously now, what comes to mind when you hear that somebody sent letters to state governors telling them to resign in three days or “be removed”? Idiotic, moronic, and blindingly stupid are words that spring into the brain, yes? Along with the clever concept of “painting a target on your own back.” Ho hum.
But I should have read on. It turns out that people like me — and very likely, people like you — are the new “extremist” threat.
“Radical civil libertarians”? Huh? And here all this time I thought that people who used armed thuggery to violate liberties were the real extremist threat.
See? This is why you can’t write good political satire these days. The government itself always outdoes you in making up goofy, weird stuff.
—–
ADDED: Ah. Yes. Morons. Or moron, as the case may be, since the site of the “Guardians of the free Republics” looks likely to be the work of one person.
Pernicious moron(s), in fact. “Guardian Elders” who, with the help of “high-ranking members of the military” plan to restore the legitimate government of these united States. Uh huh …. suuuuuure. Anonymous, self-appointed “Guardian Elders” and a gang of colonels is exactly what this country needs to restore freedom …
Still, there’s nothing on that page that indicates they’d target state governors.
The fact that you linked to that article on extremism could be used to enhance your sentence.
Ah, but linking to your blog, Jim — now that’s the thing that’s really going to cause trouble. 😉
Speaking of those “enhanced” sentences … shouldn’t something that’s “enhanced” be … better than the un-enhanced version?
Enhanced sentence. Enhanced revenue. Sounds really good.
Cynic Alert: How do we know these letters weren’t written by FBI infiltrates in this organization? It’s a good way to set up another emergency situation. Watch for the next law to be passed re: “threats”.
Pat, my guess is that the letters probably weren’t sent by FBI infiltrators because it’s the FBI infiltrator’s job to talk other people into doing stupid things. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if that turned out to be the case. (Sigh.)
And while I won’t be at all surprised if our terrified congressthings or state legislators do pass more laws covering “threats” (even non-threatening threats like advocating the 10th amendment) … well, it’ll be redundant. There are already plenty of laws in that regard. (Sigh.)
I have always thought that calling up politicians and “threatening” them will only make you look stupid. Why bother?
Besides, it’s a lot more enjoyable to call them and bring their ancestry into question. You know, in a vulgar way. Not a threat, but it gives them something to think about.
why threaten something akin to matter stepped in you’d scrape from beneath your shoes
I recently read a good little book by Daniel Quinn called Beyond Civilization. It can be found online here
http://www.scribd.com/doc/7829537/Daniel-Quinn-Beyond-Civilization . It’s not really on topic, but the topic of radicals and extremists brought to mind a quote from the book.
” Revolution without upheaval
Because revolution in our culture has always represented an attack on hierarchy, it has always meant upheaval—literally a heaving up from below. But upheaval has no role to play in moving beyond civilization. If the plane is in trouble, you don’t shoot the pilot, you grab a parachute and jump. To overthrow the hierarchy is pointless; we just want to leave it behind. As everyone knows (especially revolutionaries), hierarchy maintains formidable defenses against attack from the lower orders. It has none, however, against abandonment. This is in part because it can imagine revolution, but it can’t imagine abandonment. But even if it could imagine abandonment, it couldn’t defend against it, because abandonment isn’t an attack, it’s just a discontinuance of support.
It’s almost impossible to prevent people from doing nothing (which is what discontinuing support amounts to). But won’t the powers that be
try to prevent people from doing nothing? I can imagine them
trying (but I honestly need help imagining them succeeding).
Revolution without overthrow The object of ordinary revolution is to effect global change across the board with a single, sweepingblow. Ideally, former rulers must disappear overnight—en masse, along with all supporters and minions—with a complete cast of successors ready to step into their shoes the following morning to proclaim the new regime. Scenarios like this one are meaningless to those who would move beyond civilization.”
I don’t think that’s at all off-topic, Karen. I think it’s &^%ing brilliant. 🙂
Abandonment was the thesis of John Galt … excellent link Karen, truly excellent
Lots of media coverage on this story today — not all of it accurate. This is RBN talk show host Sam Kennedy’s baby.
Mother Jones got it wrong:
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/04/guardians-free-republics-astroturf-clive-boustred-militia-government-patriot-threat-exposed
Christian Science Monitor got it right:
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2010/0402/Guardians-of-the-free-Republics-tied-to-Texas-radio-station
Great, now if anyone connected with those governors is involved in so much as a car accident, it will be treated as an assassination attempt.
Dana, it’s good to see you here. 🙂 And thanks for the links.
The Christian Science Monitor has followed up with a respectful article that says that maybe both it and Mother Jones were right the other day.
Amazing to see the most mainstream of mainstream media giving respectable consideration to ideas that have been traditionally dismissed only as “right-wing” nuttery.
I still think the Guardians are/were wildly off-base. But thank heaven the MSM is finally realizing that maybe people have real reasons for being “anti-government.”
It seems the media is processing a steady supply of philandering celebrity husbands and militant non-conformists. Local bloggers seem to also be repeating the militant stories, youtubes and cartoons. Jungian group think or brilliant propaganda work?
The absurdities never stop. First of all, it was not 1933, it was 1913 when everything was stuffed into the porcelain and vanished with a great sucking sound.
Second, the high school class on US government announces loudly that we live in a constitutional republic, and that essentially means we ARE SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW THE RULE OF LAW, and the law is the CONSTITUTION. Not only is it absurd to assert that those who demand our leaders follow this law are extremists, but it pretty much admits that the current governance has wandered so far away from legitimacy that the rule of law is perceived as extreme.
Third, no one can escape taxes, they are hidden in almost every purchase, almost every service, almost every commodity. Just try buying tires without paying that old WW2 tax, for instance. The notion that some people wish to escape taxes is as naive as it is disingenuous.
Finally, the so-called christian militia had their bomb built by their FBI master. Unfortunately for them, they were too stupid to realize that they were being set up to be taken down for political advantage by an administration that is hell bent on moving fascism forward as fast as possible.
What exactly is the middle of the road position in a society that refuses to follow its own charter? In a culture that finds advantage in victimizing its citizens? With a political process so corrupt that massive, sweeping legislation is passed behind closed doors by legislators who don’t even know what they voted for?
In many ways the only sanity is to do exactly what Karen says-opt out, quit feeding the nightmare.
“What exactly is the middle of the road position in a society that refuses to follow its own charter? In a culture that finds advantage in victimizing its citizens? With a political process so corrupt that massive, sweeping legislation is passed behind closed doors by legislators who don’t even know what they voted for?”
I’d say that opting out IS the middle of the road. Unable to change the system back (to what the Founders originally had in mind, i.e. Articles of Confederation)…and too moral to involve innocents by aggressive or violent overthrow, the only respectable alternative is to opt out. And laugh http://theultimateanswertokings.blogspot.com/ while you’re doing it.
Opting out — physically and financially in the underground, verbally in protests, and in actual attacks on individuals and institutions — is exactly what’s causing the tyrants at every level to become more aggressive themselves; they’ve lost control and know only one way to get it back. Their voices, in Congress and at State and local levels, are becoming more threatening, more strident, and more openly challenging as they watch their empires fall apart.
May they Rest In Fear forever!
And, BTW: Addressing the business of leaving the country (which was brought up on another blog): wouldn’t that be the counterpart to Opting Out INSIDE the country?
I see no reason one way is better choice than another. It depends on how close you want to stay to family, friends or familiarity; if you plan to fight later, or support those who do fight; if you might wish to return but feel you may never be allowed; if you don’t trust any other country well enough to go there; etc. All sorts of reasons to go or stay — but I don’t believe it’s cowardice or abandonment to leave as some think, or “patriotism” to stay as others think.
Pat,
I would never choose to dictate to anyone else which direction to take in resisting the madness. I have heard of any number of people who have chosen to find new turf, and who are happy with their choices.
For myself I can honestly say that I cannot leave my beloved place. I can go to the graves of those I held dear, and see today the brilliant eyes of the children who are our future. I can look upon the same vistas I have beheld for so long, and I still find them feeding my spirit. I can honestly state that any fighting that need be done will be done by me right here. For those whose roots are shallow, or severed, it may be to their advantage to blow like the tumbleweed, and find new soil. However, for those whose blood and spirit echo with the music of place, it is best for them to resist much from their own soil.
Personally, I believe the only strategy left to those of us who refuse to participate in the decadent, corrupt, and spiritually damaging poison dished out by today’s ruling class is non-compliance.
“For those whose roots are shallow, or severed, it may be to their advantage to blow like the tumbleweed, and find new soil. However, for those whose blood and spirit echo with the music of place, it is best for them to resist much from their own soil.”
That borders on poetry, Rural Mike.
And I agree with you; I’ll stay also — and remain non-compliant.
But leaving or staying doesn’t tell us WHY a person acts, and we individuals have too much at stake to worry about others’ choices. Whether Activist, Ghost, Mole, or Retreatist, we each play a part in what America will become. The main job, as I see it, is to reverse the action of Sheeple who have brought us to this point. In that, the fedgov is helping bring itself down by its own actions; people are waking up by the handsful. The more government pushes, the more people are starting to push back.
The point is that “opting out” is no longer just turning your back on the Good Life, it is becoming an attitude, a resistance that denies the influence that government exerts on one’s life. No longer just a cabin in the Rockies or living it up in Paris, opting out is now part of a consciousness-raising, so to speak, which challenges the very “institutions” (as Butler Shaffer says http://www.amazon.com/Calculated-Chaos-Butler-D-Shaffer/dp/1595263497 ) that have brought us here in the past 150 years. We are beginning to “opt out” of the RHETORIC that politicians, corporatists, educators, and socialistic manipulators have fed us for so long. THAT is a very good sign.
Amen!