It is two days from the anniversary of the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in America - the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City - April 19th, 1995 by (at least) two men who decided that they could and should play judge jury and executioner in avenging what they saw as terror visited upon innocents by the government in Waco, Texas and at Ruby Ridge. 168 died and over 800 injured. And it led directly to many of the invasive blots on our civil liberties in the shape of new counter terrorism laws and surveillance techniques.
It is timely to remember this, as a new inflamed boil is growing on the body politic - prodded and poked by men and women who have enormous power across the crackling airwaves of AM radio. A report, apparently issued by the Department of Homeland Security as one of a series on 'extremist' threats provides a broad (way too broad if you ask me) definition of a rightwing extremist:
'Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.'
I think this is worrying - the concept of a mixture of federal and state authority is the very basis for American liberty. The founders were entirely divided on the issue, some urging a national government republic without state divisions and others more in favor of a Confederation - an alliance of separate states. The 10th Amendement enshrines the principle of states rights in some matters and federal authority in others.
Interestingly the right wing talkers who scream that the Constitution is somehow set in stone forget that 12 amendments were made - including the Bill Of Rights - in the early years after the creation of the country. It is, whether they like it or not, a living breathing document. It must reflect changing times and altered circumstances. It was written by men who liked and then disliked each other, by men (and only men) who owned slaves, whose wives could not vote, who had slaughtered native Americans, who killed each other in duels and by men who ranged from sophisticated thinkers like Jefferson and Hamilton to the military mind, Mason-belonging George Washington, men who could not agree easily on the power of the judiciary, or even the form which this great nation should take.
I believe most firmly in the First Amendment - in anyone's right to voice opinion, dissenting opinion, even hateful opinion. But the right wing talkers who have been enormously effective in generating - in others - the kind of hatred we have not seen since McCarthy, who have used the words 'communist, marxist, fascist, appeasers, anti-semites, vermin, slime, nutjobs, islamo fascists, rats, traitors, homosexual (to name but a few) interchangeably when discussing Obama and his administration or policies, have notched the temperature up towards boiling point. And dumping some tea or waving tea bags (I hope they didn't waste any good British tea) isn't going to be enough for the rising tide of simmering anger.
Now is a good time to remember the one hundred and sixty eight who went to work that day on April 19th 1995, who took their children to the daycare center in the building, or those who were visiting the building on business and who did not leave alive.
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