Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Now the brilliant Brad Hicks, (who is once again writing about things we should all read and take seriously,) has written a post about how the same people are planning events to set this domestic war in motion by killing cops, based upon this Associated Press article.
As if this country doesn't have enough problems without groups of insane people, with lots of guns and explosives, planning to throw us into a violent domestic war, which might cause our government to declare Martial Law, therefore making their paranoid fantasies an ugly reality.
It's called a self-fulfilling prophecy.
If you think these people are not serious, or that they wouldn't do what they say, the AP article I linked to above, (as did Brad Hicks,) tells us a different story. It may be comforting to deny the reality of the situation, but sticking your head in the sand does not make you or your family safe.
If these groups start carrying out their plans, as it looks increasingly clear that they will, they will embolden other groups that may decide to shoot up the Castro, (San Francisco's gay area,) or plant bombs in public areas.
9-11 was not the start of terrorist attacks on American soil. The U.N. was bombed when Clinton was in office, and let us not forget the bombing of the federal building in Salt Lake City, killing over 300 men, women and children. Domestic terrorism is not new, but it is growing. I give our local, state and federal law enforcement agencies a lot of credit for breaking up a lot of these plans before they happened, as evidenced by recent arrests made by the FBI.
But as helpful as citizens have been in helping these agencies do their jobs, they cannot catch everyone and they will miss some of these plots. Like many other countries, America needs to learn to start living with terrorism on our soil.
These people are driven by hatred, an extreme hatred of President Obama and the Democrats in Washington. They know that elections will not change the balance of power, or really change the culture of D.C. in any appreciable way. Like many people, they believe the dangerous illusion that their vote does not count. The election of a Black man to the nation's highest office, and the reaction to it, shows that our vote does count - but only if we use it. Kids who are apathetic, or who believe their vote doesn't count, are seeing the results of that apathy/inaction. It's getting harder and more expensive to get a college education, and when they graduate, there are no jobs out there.
The fact that California spends more on prisons than on education shows us what happens when Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh fans are the only people who vote. Say what you will about Radical Right Christians and other extremists, but at least they vote. People you (mistakenly) laugh at are better participants in our Democracy than you are. There's nothing "progressive" about not voting.
When I hear someone complaining about our government there are two questions I ask them, (if I can.) The first is; "Do you vote in every election?" and the second is; "Do you write or call your elected representatives?" if they say no to both, I tell them they should shut the fuck up because they have no right to complain about a government they choose to ignore.
Regardless of what happens, I will always believe that our vote and our participation in our Representative Democracy is essential. And I will always tell those who complain without participating that they have no right to complain as they're too lazy and arrogant to be a good citizen.
My point is that we not only have to vote, call and write our elected representatives - we have to keep our eyes and ears open. If we hear and/or see people planning to engage in domestic terrorist attacks we have to inform the authorities. We have to look out for our neighbors and fellow citizens.
I'm not encouraging people to get paranoid and call the cops because someone is expressing their opinions. Free speech is one of our most treasured rights, (even when it's being used by ignorant and angry racists and idiots.) People have a right to their opinion.
But planning the violent overthrow of our elected government is a serious federal crime for a reason. Threatening the life of the President is a serious federal crime for a reason.
Yesterday two women "suicide bombers" detonated themselves in a Russian subway. Those people arrested in the AP story mentioned above planned a major terrorist attack on our police.
I wonder how much more it's going to take for people to wake up, turn off the TV, and start participating in our Democracy. We can (peacefully) take back our government from the corporations and religious fanatics - but only if we act and encourage our fellows to act.
If you "don't have time" to participate in one of the few Representative Democracies in the world, you will lose what rights you have left. Voter participation was at an all-time low in 2000 and 2004. With just a little less apathy, we could have avoided the election of Bush and Cheney, and avoided the destruction of Iraq and killing of tens of thousands of innocent people.
Bush won by a tiny margin, and we are all paying the price for the apathy of a few.
Think about that.
