In Texas, a Lubbock County judge, Tom Head, said that, if Obama is re-elected, he is “going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the U.N. Okay, what’s going to happen when that happens? I’m thinking worst case scenario here. Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. We’re not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations. We’re talking Lexington-Concord take up arms and get rid of the guy…[Obama’s] “going to send in U.N. troops, with the little blue beanies. I don’t want them in Lubbock County, so I’m going to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say ‘You’re not coming in here.’ And the sheriff, I’ve already asked him, I said ‘You gonna back me?’ he said, ‘Yeah, I’ll back you.’”
There. That’s the quote. You’ve all heard it. I took the quote right from the Texas Tribune.
It is not unusual for people to be upset when a candidate from the other party wins the presidency. Republicans were upset when Bill Clinton won, twice. Democrats were upset when George W. Bush won, twice. But what is different this time is that some Republicans—unfortunately, the ones who seem to have the most influence in the party, the right-wing activists, still known as Tea Partiers—actually hate Barack Obama. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) yelled out “You lie!” during one of Obama’s State of the Union messages. And now we have a Republican leader speculating that civil war may be necessary. What we have here is the Republican Party ready to go to war, perhaps not just rhetorically, against the Democrats. I do not know why Republicans merely disliked Clinton (who remains more left-leaning than Obama) yet they openly hate Obama. The only thing I can think of is that Obama is black. Or maybe it is because the hate-frothing right wing of the Republican Party, which has always been there, has now gotten a controlling interest in their party.
I do not think this is merely a random nut case who can be forgotten. I fear that the civil war that some Republicans would like to see might just actually happen, even if only on a local scale. First, the governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has already pointed out that when Texas joined the Union, it retained the right to secede. Rick Perry represents the Texas Republican viewpoint; he is no isolated extremist. Perry’s remark sounded like civil war talk. Judge Head’s remarks sound even more like civil war talk. And remember that these Republican extremists have guns. Lots and lots of them.
Maybe the Republicans are merely saying hateful things that they do not actually plan to do. Let us hope that it is merely hot air. But it is, at the very least, an attempt to intensify the climate of hostility. And it is not impossible that some of them may try to start a new Civil War. The poisoned political discourse in America in 2012 is not all that different from the poisoned discourse of, say, 1855.
Remember that John Sununu said recently that President Obama should learn how to be an American. He later downplayed his remarks, but only after he discovered that some of his fellow Republicans disapproved. Sununu was defining “American” to be the same as “Republican.” The Constitution defines who is an American and who is not. But, apparently according to Sununu, Republican Party membership defines American citizenship. This, too, is civil war talk. So it is not just Judge Head. It is Rick Perry and John Sununu.
The Republicans are creating a sea of hostility in which swim millions of angry people with itchy trigger fingers and lots of triggers.
If you are a Republican and embarrassed of Judge Head, get on the phone or email to your party and tell them to quit fostering a climate of hostility.
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