There was a huge base of Conservative support for Bush right after 9/11 when he promised to chase down those evil terrorists. People didn’t generally see that eventually his promise was going to come home to roost.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — On his website, militia leader-turned-blogger Mike Vanderboegh writes about fed-up Americans responding to government violence with guns and grenades. It’s an attempt to warn the government that people are armed and angry, he says, just like last year when he urged those upset with President Barack Obama’s health care plan to toss bricks at Democratic Party offices.
A few people shattered office windows then, and federal prosecutors now say his online novel about a militia making war against the U.S. government inspired a group of four retirement-age men in Georgia to plot an attack on unnamed government leaders using guns, the highly deadly toxin ricin and explosives.
Vanderboegh said he doesn’t know the suspects. He ridiculed the men’s plans and chuckled at the notoriety he has gained for his online rants.
Basically the FBI is characterizing Mike Vanderboegh as the primary motivator for those who would do the country harm. Using domestic anti-terrorist tools, the authorities are in the early stages of cracking down on political dissent in the name of protecting your shopping malls.
I’ve said it many times, authoritarianism is not a one way street. The tools you allow against your enemies will eventually be used against you. This is precisely why torture, domestic spying, sneak and peek warrants, and the assassination of “terrorists” are all really bad ideas.
