From Peaceful Demonstrations to Domestic Terrorism

In just over a year, the conservative voice has seen a dramatic shift.

What began as protests in Boston, with men and women in tri-point hats dumping tea into the Boston Harbor, against the Democratic stimulus package has culminated into what can only be described as the most destructive domestic terrorist attack since the attacks of the DC sniper.

If you watched the news last Thursday, you would have noted that an anti-government software engineer flew his single engine private plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. You would have also noted that he posted a 3000 word manifesto, exclaiming that the government had no right to tax the citizens of the United States and that the IRS had controlled his life.

Or maybe you didn't note that. Because the mainstream media has paid this event with little to no attention. Even my beloved Huffington Post has posted very few articles on the subject. I have seen no O'Reilly Factors or Crossfires concerning the dangers of conservative extremists. But when the son of a Nigerian bank fails to blow his underwear up on a plane headed to Detroit, it's a cause for weeks of analysis of Obama's national security policy and the extended searching of plane passengers en route from key "countries of interest", now including Niger, why aren't similar actions being taken against extremist in our own borders? When does the right to free-speech end and flying your airplane into a government building begin? How is Joe Stack any different from the nameless, faceless suicide bombers in Iraq and Afghanistan?

When the Whiskey Rebellion broke out in 1794 (an outburst against taxes, coincidentally), George Washington did not stand for it and broke the insurrection. When the South seceded from the Union, Abraham Lincoln fought for the preservation of the Union. When the Seattle Race Riots broke out in 1886, Grover Cleveland declared martial law and sent U.S. military personnel into the city to break it up. Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not stand for the Detroit Race Riot of 1943, he sent in military officers to end the conflict. When Anti-Vietnam War extremists started bombing buildings in protest of the ongoing war, Lyndon Johnson suppressed them. Obama must do something now to subdue these conservative extremists of today or there will be more to come.

And it is up to Obama to do something. Scott Brown said it best. In response to the attack in Austin, Sen. Brown simply stated, "No one likes paying taxes..." His non-chalante attitude says everything. And he's right. I mean, as long as the extremists are on your side, that's okay. I'm sure Osama bin Laden said the same thing. And Kim Jong-il. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. And Saddam Hussein. And Idi Amin. And Joseph Stalin. And Mao Zedong. And Benito Mussolini. And Adolf Hitler. And Maximilian Robespierre. And...