The Associated Press reports that Oklahoma tea party leaders, “frustrated by recent political setbacks,” are working with right-wing Republicans in the Oklahoma legislature to create a new “volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.” State Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-OK) and State Rep. Charles Key (R-OK) have met with tea party leaders, like J.W. Berry of the Tulsa-based OKforTea group, to plan legislation for a state-authorized militia.
And to form that Militia they've turned to a Turner Diaries Fanboy Tea Bagger? IMO there's nothing in this picture that doesn't stink.
Keith's Report on this:
From Hardball:
Brogdon on the Ed Show:
What Brogdon says when he's not on the Tee Vee Machine.
The founding fathers “were not referring to a turkey shoot or a quail hunt. They really weren’t even talking about us having the ability to protect ourselves against each other,” Brogdon said. “The Second Amendment deals directly with the right of an individual to keep and bear arms to protect themselves from an overreaching federal government.”
Frankly speaking Bogdon is absolutely correct here. In Federalist #46 Madison described exactly what the 2nd Amendment was truly about:
The only refuge left for those who prophesy the downfall of the State governments is the visionary supposition that the federal government may previously accumulate a military force for the projects of ambition. The reasonings contained in these papers must have been employed to little purpose indeed, if it could be necessary now to disprove the reality of this danger. That the people and the States should, for a sufficient period of time, elect an uninterupted succession of men ready to betray both; that the traitors should, throughout this period, uniformly and systematically pursue some fixed plan for the extension of the military establishment; that the governments and the people of the States should silently and patiently behold the gathering storm, and continue to supply the materials, until it should be prepared to burst on their own heads, must appear to every one more like the incoherent dreams of a delirious jealousy, or the misjudged exaggerations of a counterfeit zeal, than like the sober apprehensions of genuine patriotism. Extravagant as the supposition is, let it however be made.
Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Those who are best acquainted with the last successful resistance of this country against the British arms, will be most inclined to deny the possibility of it. Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.
The 2nd Amendment is about Revolution, not Duck Hunting.
I happen to believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment and it's need to stand as the Ultimate Deterrent against an out of control government, but the problem is determining when exactly we have reached the neccessary threshold where States must take up violent arms against the agents of the Federal Government due to it's broad "overreach"?
When have we reached the Succession/Revolution point?
Where exactly is that line in the sand?
Did we consider this when it was revealed that the Bush Administration was very clearly warned, including the likely method and potential targets, about the impending 9-11 attacks but did NOTHING to prevent them?
Did we consider this when the Bush Administration illegally bypassed the FISA Court and instigated warrantless wiretaps of every U.S. Soldier and Journalist abroad, as well as any communication to and from the U.S.?
Did we consider this when the Bush Administration Willfully Lied to the American People and the World about Saddam's WMD and connection with Al Qeada in order to fraudulently initiate an unneccessary war in Iraq?
Did we consider this when the Bush Administration admitted to a campaign of worldwide kidnapping and torture targeting persons, many of whom eventually turned out to be completely innocent of any connection to terrorism or wrongdoing?
No, it seems to me we didn't. And the reason we didn't is because our Democratic process hadn't yet completely collapsed - and it still hasn't - so extreme measures such as these simply weren't needed.
But now that the Obama Administration has passed Health Care Reform in order to bring affordable coverage to 35 Million Americans - some people are literally up in arms about it. But then again maybe it's not about what this Administration has done or hasn't done, maybe it's simply about WHO is at the head of this Administration... via Thinkprogress.
Berry, the tea party leader who first solicited support for the militia, has posted rants against President Obama: the “Muslim President” — a “reincarnation of Pol Pot” who is trying to imprison Americans for resisting health reform. One ominous posting from Berry says that his militia should "launch a thousand guerrilla attacks on the plans that these people have to ruin us and our country.”
Both Berry and Brogdon lean heavily on far right propaganda and media outlets to fuel their conspiracy theories. Berry frequently cites conservative news outlets like CNS and notes that he draws inspiration from the white supremacist thriller The Turner Diaries. Despite his extremism, Berry has met with Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) and other members of the Oklahoma Republican delegation, and counts them as “rock solid.” Brogdon, whose states’ rights resolution was drafted by corporate lobbyists opposed to health reform, has been endorsed by the lobbyist-run Tea Party Express and has appeared on on Fox News, Alex Jones’ radio show, and at a Glenn Beck rally.
So here we have a Turner Diaries reading Tim McVeigh Wannabe Beckified Conspiracy Theorist Nutball who has compared Obama to a Mass Murderer and openly suggested guerrilla attacks against the government - wanting to get the State of Oklahoma to support his own private little Army of Nutballs in opposition to the Duly Elected President, and the duly passed laws of Congress.
And he's Getting that Support.
Like I said, nothing about this doesn't stink.
Vyan
Join the Democratic Non-Violence Project to Lobby our Lawmakers to Reject and Renounce All Forms of Political Violence.
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