Guilty of Sedition? How the Right Is Undermining Our Government's Authority and Capability to Run

[Hestia]

Guilty of Sedition? How the Right Is Undermining Our Government's Authority and Capability to Run the Country
By Sara Robinson, Campaign for America's Future
Posted on April 6, 2010, Printed on April 11, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146322/

Sedition: Crime of creating a revolt, disturbance, or violence against lawful civil authority with the intent to cause its overthrow or destruction -- Brittanica Concise Dictionary

Well, finally. It's high time somebody had the guts to say the S-word -- sedition -- right out loud.

When the indictments against the Hutaree were unsealed last week, the S-word was right there, front and center, in Count One. The Justice Department accused them of "seditious conspiracy," charging that the defendants "did knowingly conspire, confederate, and agree with each other and other persons known and unknown...to levy war against the United States, and to prevent, hinder, and delay by force the execution of any United States law."

This is very serious stuff. But the Hutaree are getting nailed for sedition only because they crossed the line with inches to spare. They're by no means the only ones. Advocating, encouraging, and sanctioning sedition is the new norm on the conservative side.

We saw it again last Thursday, when the Guardians of the Free Republics -- a Sovereign Citizen group that believes that the oath of office taken by state governors is invalid under their twisted Bizarroland interpretation of the Constitution -- sent letters to most or all sitting state governors telling them to either a) take what they consider to be a legitimate oath of office; b) stand down; or c) or be removed "non-violently" within three days. The FBI, rightly, regards this as a potentially seditious threat against the governors.

These two events are a wake-up call for progressives. They're telling us that it's time to openly confront the fact that conservatives have spent the past 40 years systematically delegitimizing the very idea of US government. When they're in power, they mismanage it and defund it. When they're out of power, they refuse to participate in running the country at all -- indeed, they throw all their energy into thwarting the democratic process any way they can. When they need to win an election, they use violent, polarizing, eliminationist language against their opponents to motivate their base. This is sedition in slow motion, a gradual corrosive undermining of the government's authority and capability to run the country. And it's been at the core of their politics going all the way back to Goldwater.

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Take note - they are mapping people's homes - targeting - so they'll know who to go after when their version supposedly comes down.

Repent Amarillo's Spiritual Mapping and Vigilantism

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2010/3/6/95620/29842

[chill_wind]

1. K & R. I was thinking about yesterday's joint Michigan Militia/Open Carry Tea Party

festivities that were advertised for April 10 on the MM's website.

I hope there were some observers.

[iamtechus]

2. You don't have to "act" to overthrow the gov with seditious conspiracy

The Seditious Conspiracy statute was used against Puerto Rican separatists several times in the 1900s as well as against a blind muslin cleric and 11 of his followers. The RICO statute (corrupt organization) has also been used in such cases. Google will produce a bunch of info on this stuff.

"A person can be convicted of seditious conspiracy without the Government showing that the defendant committed any specific act to further the conspiracy. This is a departure from other conspiracy laws, like the racketeering statutes that are often used against organized-crime figures".

1995 NY Times Article

[my2sense]

3. +1