We must not remain silent.Conservatives will not speak out.
They will blame the lone, solitary, shooter...
They will blame liberal society...
They will blame anything and everything but modern-day conservatism, which preaches that liberals and democrats are the bona fide enemies of America and a threat to the nation's very existence.
And as long as that is the case, the bodies will continue to pile up.
Only the most naive of political observers could ever fail to see the obvious consequences of proclaiming that any group of Americans was a "threat" to their existence or the existence of the nation and not realize that different people would deal with that "threat" in different ways.
And that leaves it up to us to speak out.
We need not mince words - it is vital that we speak clearly and succinctly but most importantly, firmly.
Conservatism must change.
It
must evolve.
To believe otherwise is to help pass around the nails for the next coffin in which the next liberal democrat will be buried in.
No one was out there speaking about the radical right-wing elements that threaten our civil society until Janet Napolitano issued a DHS report warning about extremists that might resort to violence - a report which conservatives across the country demanded to be immediately rescinded. Now that we have seen a series of right-wing assassinations take place, the original DHS report looks, in hindsight, to have been very timely and prescient.
We have seen Jim David Adkisson open fire upon the congregation of the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church with a sawed-off shotgun, killing two, simply because he opposed the all-inclusive nature of the church, and of the church's liberal teachings. Adkisson wrote in a letter which he assumed would be his last, "I thought I’d do something good for this country — kill Democrats ‘til (sic) the cops kill me.” His hatred for his fellow Americans could not be contained: “Liberals are a pest like termites, millions of them … the only way we can rid ourselves of this evil is kill them in the streets, kill them where they gather.”
James von Brunn, a radical right-winger from Maryland sought to turn the nation's Holocaust Museum into a symbol for his particular brand of racism, when he went there with the intent to kill blacks and Jews, as an example to the rest of white America to emulate. Luckily for those visitors inside of the museum, the first man von Brunn decided to open fire upon was a black man who had the ability to return the favor, and so no one besides than the very heroic Stephen T. Johns died that day.
Shawna Forde, and two other members of the anti-immigrant Minutman group which she founded, the ''Minutemen American Defense,'' decided that one way to finance her burgeoning organization was to dress up as law enforcement agents, and to rob Mexican immigrants. When Shawna and her compatriots illegally entered the home of Raul Flores, and demanded money, the head of the family ordered the trio to leave, prompting the radical right-wingers to put a bullet into the head of little 9 year old Brisenia Flores, and into the head of her father. Unluckily for the conservative killers, Brisenia's mother was able to barricade herself in her bedroom, where she kept a handgun, and she was able to keep at bay her would be assassins until the real police arrived.
Richard Poplawski opened fire on police officers during a domestic disturbance call, in April of 2009, killing three of them. Why? The 23 year-old right-winger feared that the President was poised to take away his hand guns.
Just a few days after that shoot-out, two sheriff’s deputies in northern Florida were shot and killed by Joshua Cartwright who later was fatally shot by other deputies. The reason, according to Cartright's wife, was because Joshua "believed that the US Government was conspiring against him," and, according to her, he had been severely disturbed that Barack Obama had been elected President.
Passing the hate down from one generation to the next, the father and son team of Bruce and Joshua Turnidge blew up a homemade bomb in December of 2008 which killed state police bomb technician William Hakim, who was trying to dismantle it, and Woodburn Police Capt. Tom Tennant, who was helping, during bank robbery in Woodburn, Oregon. The completely unrepentent Turnidges' plan was to rob banks to finance an anti-government militia group, and killing two police officers was small beans compared to what they really wanted to do to the Democratic majority in Washington DC.
The list of victims from right-wing terror does not stop there.
It goes on, and on.
Doctor George Tiller.
Arkansas Democratic Chairman Bill Gwatney.
Congresswoman Giffords and the other victims of the Tucson shooting are but the latest victims of this madness.
Hours before the shooting spree in Arizona which took 6 lives including that of a Federal Judge and a 9 year old little girl, Christina Greene (born on 9-11-2001), Representative Peter King, a conservative Republican and the new chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, made clear his intention to use taxpayers' money - our money - to investigate the radicalization of American Muslims, claiming in his zeal to persecute American Muslims, that "These are very legitimate hearings."
But since the day little Christina was brought into this world, on that fateful September morning, the number of victims who have been laid to rest due to domestic jihad pales when compared to those who have been killed by conservative terrorists during little Christina's short tenure on this earth.
For moderate republicans to hide these blood-thirsty radicals within their ranks behind the legitimate dissent of the anti-abortion lobby, or of that of any other conservative movement, be it anti-immigration, or advocates for 2d Amendment Rights, and to deny any responsibility for help in fostering these lunatic's bizarre views, doesn't help the moderate republican lobbies achieve their aims and goals...
It, instead, helps the radical conservative terrorists attain theirs.
We should be there, in Washington DC, on the first day that Rep. King convenes his American Muslim witch hunt.
We should be there to tell him with a thunderous voice that we know who the real domestic threats to America are.
I will be there.
Will you?
Del Wasso,
Rockford Coffee Party Coordinator,
Rockford, Illinois,
www.rockfordcoffeeparty.org
*A note on the graphic included with this post: The Sons of Liberty were the patriots who had finally had enough and threw the King's tea into Boston Harbor. The graphic is the flag of those American patriots. If you, too, are ready to toss out the tea, proudly adopt this flag as a piece of your American heritage once again.
I can not, on my own, organize a DC protest, but someone out there can.
Timing a protest against right-wing terrorism when Rep. King begins his House hearings "investigating" home-grown Amerian Muslim radicalization would send a clear message: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
If you agree, and feel that peace-loving patriots need to (finally) step up and be heard, PLEASE kick and recommend this post.