This morning a fellow on Twitter told me that the solution would be to put a bullet in the Presidents' head. I forwarded his tweet over to the FBI and blocked him, but this is where a lot of Tea Party, movement righties, have their heads right now. They are trying to bully the whole country. As Robert Reich notes in his own essay today:
http://robertreich.org/post/62690696498
"The bullies are a faction inside the Republican Party – extremists who are threatening more reasonable Republicans with primary challenges if they don’t go along."
And Robert Reich lays it out, as to what is driving the extremism:
"And where are the Tea Party extremists getting their dough? From even bigger bullies – a handful of hugely wealthy Americans who are sinking hundreds of millions of dollars into this extortion racket."
And Reich names names:
"They include David and Charles Koch (and their front group, “Americans for Prosperity’); Peter Thiel, leverage-buyout specialist John Childs, investor Howie Rich, Stephen Jackson of the Stevens Group, and executives of JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, (all behind the “Club for Growth”); and Crow Holdings’ Harlan Crow, shipping magnate Richard Uihlein, and investment banker Foster Friess; executives of MetLife and Philip Morris, and foundations controlled by the Scaife family (all bankrolling “FreedomWorks.”)"
Now Sedition is defined under the Smith act [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedition] as "to advocate or to teach the desirability of overthrowing the United States Government, or to be a member of any organization which does the same." The Smith Act was used frequently against the Communist party for years, so while people may have the right to free speech, and they certainly have the right to an "abstract" formulation about the subject, there is a lot of sedition in what they are doing now. Reich continues:
"Their game plan is to not just to take over the Republican Party. It’s to take over America. The showdown over the budget and the debt ceiling is a prelude to 2016, when they plan to run Texas Senator Ted Cruz for President. (Cruz, if you haven’t noticed, is busily establishing his creds as the biggest flamer in Washington – orchestrating not only the current extortion but also the purge of reasonable Republicans from the GOP.)"
Now taking over the United States government peacefully is itself not sedition, but overthrowing it is. And the current Republicans with their violence and personal attacks on Obama, and efforts to use minority power to block efforts to make the USA a functional commonwealth and not merely a guardhouse for the wealthy, are a seditious organization in my opinion. Whether it amounts to illegal sedition. Well you choose.
"The President began negotiations with the Republican bullies in 2011 when they first threatened to default on the nation’s debt if they didn’t get the spending cuts they wanted. He negotiated again at the end of 2012 when they threatened to go over the fiscal cliff and take the rest of the nation with them if they didn’t get the budget they wanted. Now they want to repeal a law they detest. If we give in again, what’s next? A coup d’etat?"
http://robertreich.org/post/62690696498
Mussolini started his activities up in Milan, where he'd once been a Socialist Agitator, by attacking verbally and literally his former colleagues in the Socialist movement. He later built up to a "March on Rome" which was undertaken by his Fascist Black shirts, and formed the pretext for a coup against the established government. He claimed the current government was weak, ineffectual, that "socialism" would weaken the country further and that Italy had a glorious future. He had the support of police, courts, military and King; and by the time he got to Rome his march was a triumphal march and the country had brought him to power in a coup.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Rome]
Think it can't happen here? Back in September Larry Klayman called for a coup:
"The day of reckoning has come. Obama, having failed to plead in response to the indictment that was served upon him, waived his right to a jury trial. Thumbing his nose at We the People, as the citizens’ prosecutor, I appeared before a citizens’ court judge and presented evidence from Cold Case Posse investigator Michael Zullo showing that Obama tricked voters into electing him in 2008 and 2012. As a result, the citizens’ judge found him guilty on two counts of falsifying information to federal and state election officials. He was thus sentenced to the maximum prison term for these offenses of 10 years, and ordered to immediately surrender himself into the custody of the citizens of the United States and Florida."
Now this is sedition. Despite the obvious legitimacy of Obama's birth, his birth certificate, and his mother being a citizen, Larry Klayman claims he is an illegitimate President, and wants his arrest.
"Of course, Obama will not willingly obey the law of the people. He will attempt to hide behind the iron fences of the White House, perhaps cowering under his desk for fear that the people will rise up and demand his ouster."[http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/09/26/tea-party-supporter-has-set-a-date-for-the-armed-overthrow-of-the-government/"]"
And he continues with the diatribe concluding:
"On November 19, 2013, a day that will hopefully live on in the history of our once great republic, I call upon millions of Americans who have been appalled and disgusted by Obama’s criminality – his Muslim, socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda – among other outrages, to descend on Washington, D.C., en masse, and demand that he leave town and resign from office if he does not want to face prison time."
Now I heard about this several weeks ago and thought it was ludicrous, and certainly the addicting information article here details how insane this is; [http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/09/26/tea-party-supporter-has-set-a-date-for-the-armed-overthrow-of-the-government/] until the Republicans shut down the government this week.
Now we have Faux News and friends advocating the overthrow of the United States through shutting down the government. Including Sean Hannity demanding a 2 month shutdown:
"encouraged conservatives to leave the government inoperable for up to two months if that's what it takes for Democrats to acquiesce to GOP demands -- advice that would carry devastating effects for the American people."
http://cloudfront.mediamatters.org/static/uploader/image/2013/10/01/hannity-shutdown1.jpg"
["http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/10/01/hannity-encourages-gop-to-shutter-government-fo/196213"]
And you have wingnut sites:http://www.renewamerica.com/ which includes Klayman highlighted and other rants, and focuses on impeaching the President in 2014. whooooo boy.
"Impeachment must be the centerpiece of the 2014 elections – and candidates for both houses must sign a pledge to impeach!
And they would impeach Biden too I suppose because the next line is:
Boehner must be dumped as Speaker and replaced with the next president of the United States, whoever that may be, chosen by the House – the 'people's chamber'!"
So this is the opening bell in a long hot season.
Update: Crooks and Liars reported on October 1st (same day I published this) that a Minister is calling for a military takeover of the country:
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/christian-tv-host-asks-god-military-takeover
He claimed that:
"there should be a "military takeover" as "the only way to save the country from tyranny".
This is sedition. If Rick Joyner were right that "democracy" is "doomed" "unless the Lord" imposes martial law. Then Democracy is doomed because perverse charlatans like Joyner are preaching sedition. Incidentally when I looked up Joyner what came up was his exegesis on the rebellion of Korah against Moses. Korah was also convinced that Moses was bringing down Israel, so what can you say?
Subversion:
"refers to an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, and hierarchy. Subversion (Latin subvertere: overthrow) refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place, are contradicted or reversed." [https://www.google.com/search?q=Subversion+definition]
Subversion is when that transformation is designed to undermine democracy and oppress people. Subverting principles like democracy, rule of law, equal justice, and fairplay are what our current battles are all about.
Sedition refers to:
"the crime of saying, writing, or doing something that encourages people to disobey their government." [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sedition]
I don't think the Con artists even deny this!