Let’s take a moment to close our eyes and think of a cigar smoke-filled room in a local Georgetown bar. The time is early November in the year 2008. Inside this room are some of the most powerful members of the Republican party with many of their deep pocketed supporters. Then comes the historic proclamation for the first time in the history of these United States: a person of color by the name of Barack Obama is declared the winner of the ?presidential election. What happens next has been widely reported and from the perfect vision of hindsight, the only word that was spoken was short and sweet and to the point, “Obstructionism”.
Regardless of its harmful effects, the Republicans, led by the radicalized Tea Party faction began what was a full-scale attempt to block every legislative initiative put forth by this President, even if it were polices that were at some time prior supported by the same Republican party. In short, if Obama was for it they were against it. ?Within this struggle, the main push back from the GOP was over the purposed Affordable Care Act, which at some point was coined Obamacare. To many,this was an offensive racial slur itself.
With the election of Barack Obama, we saw the emergence of a so-called grassroots movement known as the Tea Party. This group attack President Obama from claiming he was not born in the USA to being a Muslim to being Hitler reincarnated ?to being the Antichrist.
Fast forward, the time is early November 2012. The Affordable Care Act is the law of the land, and after much compromise and litigation to the highest court of the land, and, more importantly put to the people of this nation, Barack Obama was re-elected President of these United States. With the Republican party now being called the “party of ‘no,'” drastic action was in order. This point has not been widely reported, but many have suggested that these same aforementioned Republican adherents gathered once again, and the order of the day from this gathering has become very evident: get rid of Obamacare or shut the government down.
Recently, Bill Moyers on his show Moyers & Company, said:
“Tea Party Republicans and their rich supporters have sucked the last bit of soul from the Grand Old Party of Abraham Lincoln,? turning them first delusional, then rabid, with the aid of conservative mouthpieces like Fox News and ?’ulti-millionaire fabulous’ Rush Limbaugh.
“At least let’s name this for what it is ? sabotage of the democratic process. Secession by another means. And let’s be clear about where such reckless ambition leads. As surely as night must follow day, the alternative to democracy is worse.? ??When the president refused to buckle to their extortion, they threw their tantrum. Like the die-hards of the racist South a century and a half ago, who would destroy the Union before giving up their slaves, so would these people burn the place down, sink the ship of state, and sow economic chaos to get their way.”
We have been hearing all kinds of terms during this shut down sabotage,hostage,terrorism, ransom, “gun held to head,” and yes, finally, sedition. However, there is one term that comes to this writers mind radicalization. First, what is radicalization? Radicalization simply means to make radical. To say that the measures that the radical right have taken to defund Obamacare to the point of government shutdown is the very essence of radicalization. To call what has transpired sedition may fall a bit short, in that the keyword for there to be sedition is force. With that said, however, there has been a force not of violent radicalization least not yet but one of ideologically based violence. Ideologically Based Violence is the?use, planned use, or threatened use of force or violence by a group or individual to promote the group or individual’s political, religious, or social beliefs. With many News outlets spewing misinformation and the onslaught of social media one of the chief concerns is that this type of ideology can bring one to violence and give birth to homegrown terrorist organizations which many have labeled the current Tea Party.
In keeping with Mr. Moyers’ sentiments that the Tea Party has “sucked the soul from the GOP,” everything I have written here and then some should give us pause to ask just what does that mean over and beyond shutting down the government. Many are concerned that this radicalization that we see that has mostly for now been more of the ideological??nature evolve to a more violent radicalization which would empower homegrown terrorist groups who would in fact use violence and threat of violence, which does involve force which would then constitute sedition. Let’s all give energy of thought that cooler heads will prevail and that we don’t see the type of behavior from our citizens.
Watch Moyers speak here:
Edited/Published by: SB
