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| Flip believes in an incorrect interpretation of the Constitution that would have us re-fight the Civil War |
It’s not just the racist
remarks of state Senator Elaine Morgan, but also Rep.
Justin Price’s praise for the “Three Percenters” – a small movement of
radicals who believe that if they can organize 3% of the population, they can
overthrow the federal government.
The worst though, is Rep.
Blake “Flip” Filippi who supports and represents the Tenther Movement
(believers that most actions by the federal government are unconstitutional)
and the militia group the Oath
Keepers. The Oath
Keepers recruit from the ranks of the military and police and believe that
soldiers and police should ignore any order THEY believe is unconstitutional. –
W. Collette
Sorry, Republicans. But it’s time to come back to reality.
The Republican Party is currently on a crusade to demonize
Muslims and refugees from the Middle East as terrorists who want to kill us
all.
It’s a false characterization of an entire people that really
shouldn’t be taken seriously by Americans.
Sadly, however, far too many Americans are buying into the fear
mongering and hate of the GOP, especially conservatives.
In response to the Paris terrorist attacks, Republicans have
viciously opposed granting asylum to thousands of Syrians fleeing their homes
as a result of civil war and terrorism.
But Republicans are doing so by ignoring the true threat in this
country. It’s not Muslims on the other side of the world we should be worrying
about, it’s the white conservative Christian males who live amongst us.
They are the true threat of terror within our shores, and
Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown helpfully pointed
that out on Thursday
during a radio interview on WAKR.
Brown began by noting that there hasn’t been a major terrorist
attack in this country since 9/11, but we’ve had several smaller incidents of
terrorism committed mostly by white males.
“I think most of us recognize, we’re concerned but we also know that we trust the FBI and our security forces to do this right. I mean, since the beginning of the Bush administration when we were attacked, September 11th, we’ve not had any major terrorist attacks in this country. We’ve had individual crazy people, of normally, they look more like me than they look like Middle Easterners — they are generally white males — who have shot up people in movie theaters and schools. Those are terrorist attacks, they’re just different kinds of terrorists.”
Indeed, as the New York Times reported in
June,
Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearly twice as many people have been killed by white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists than by radical Muslims: 48 have been killed by extremists who are not Muslim, including the recent mass killing in Charleston, S.C., compared with 26 by self-proclaimed jihadists, according to a count by New America, a Washington research center.
Brown then explained that people shouldn’t be paranoid of
refugees because the government has done an impeccable job of keeping us safe
from terrorist attacks by foreign terrorists. The real threat we should be
paranoid about are the domestic terrorists the government isn’t doing such a
good job at protecting us from.
“But we have since the early Bush days, when September 11th happened, through the rest of the Bush years, and through the almost six years of the Obama administration, we’ve kept this country safe. Individual people shouldn’t be fearful, because by and large our government, the federal government — people always talk obviously they don’t trust the feds, whatever — the federal government and local communities have done a pretty good job at keeping us safe. Not keeping us safe from crazy gunmen coming into schools and movie theaters sometimes, but certainly keeping us safe from foreigners attacking this country.”
In fact, history shows that hateful angry white guys have
committed more acts of terrorism in America than any Middle Eastern terrorist
organization has carried out.
You’d have to have extra sets of hands to count the number of
right-wing terrorist attacks in this country since the Oklahoma City Bombing
carried out by Timothy McVeigh in 1995. Here’s a long list right here.
And that list doesn’t even include the recent fire-bombings of
abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood, the recent epidemic of mass shootings
in schools and movie theaters, nor does it include the slaying of nine
churchgoers in South Carolina perpetrated by white supremacist Dylann Roof.
To be blunt, Al-Qaeda and ISIS wish they could commit that many
terrorist attacks on our soil. But they don’t have to expend their energy when
it’s clear that conservative Christian right-wingers are willing to do their
work for them on the inside.
The Department of Homeland Security has been warning us about the real threat of
domestic terrorism for
years, but conservatives have successfully distracted the public by ginning up
fears of terrorist attacks by Muslims, thus allowing right-wing terrorist to
slip under the radar and preventing law enforcement agencies from working to
prevent these attacks before they happen.
It’s time for Americans to wake up and realize that Syrian
refugees escaping violence and death in their home country isn’t a threat
unlike the right-wing terrorists who actually do bring violence and death to
this country.
Unlike the white gun nuts who aren’t being vetted at all, the
Syrian refugees are being heavily vetted in a lengthy process that can take
years before they settle in America.
If we placed that much scrutiny on those who buy guns or those who
collect arsenals or those who spout extreme right-wing propaganda, perhaps we’d
be safer from domestic terrorism as well.