Note: the headline at the top of this post is mine. The headline above Ms. Madrak’s polemic at crooksandliars.com is So At What Point Do We Actually Stand Up to the Gun Nuts? Her screed leaves no doubt that Ms. Madrak is asking when Uncle Sam is going to get the lead out (so to speak) and shoot “gun nuts” (a.k.a, armed opposition to federal overreach). The piece uses our Quote of the Day from Rick Perlstein – “Here is a truth so fundamental that it should be self-evident: When legitimately constituted state authority stands down in the face of armed threats, the very foundation of the republic is in danger” – as her jumping off point . . .
Perlstein doesn’t mention the big honkin’ elephant in the room: Namely, at what point does the federal government literally go to war with its own citizens? Because we’re not talking about bank robbers here, we’re talking about (mostly) non-criminal cranks — scofflaws and political malcontents. So what line has to be crossed in the good old U.S. of A. before we start mowing them down to make our point? Because you can’t talk about the Bundy ranch without talking about Ruby Ridge, and Waco.
So here’s the political corner into which we’ve painted ourselves.
Do we have the ATF and BLM agents roll up in armored tanks? Do we use drone strikes? I can see the administration’s reluctance to have that confrontation — after all, it’s not as if gun control advocates were flooding the White House switchboard, screaming to ‘take them out!’ And then we do have the militia types all over the country, just waiting for an excuse to start their own local uprising. These assholes want a civil war so bad, they can taste it.
Some days, I wonder: Should we let them, and just get it over with? You know, settle the burning question about whose is bigger.
As the tipster who emailed us this link says, “I think it worthwhile for you and your readers to know what kind of people we’re up against in the fight for our rights and freedoms.” Roger that. And keep your powder dry people, both literally and figuratively in the comments section below. And yes, that is the graphic on Ms. Madrak’s personal homepage.