The Chairman of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security Committee says extreme partisan anger on the left and right is increasing the risk of domestic terrorism in the United States. Senator Joseph Lieberman says there are already disturbing signs.
The anger is apparent at both ends of the political spectrum - from militias on the right, to anti-globalization demonstrators on the left. It has been mostly talk and little action, but Joseph Lieberman - a Connecticut independent - says there is plenty of reason for concern.
He points to the recent disclosure of an anti-government militia plot in the American Midwest. He says both politicians and commentators in the media need to cool their rhetoric.
"The level of discourse about our politics and about our country are so extreme and so incendiary that if you are dealing with people who may not be clicking on all cylinders and they have vulnerabilities personally, there is a danger that they are going to do what this group of militia - planned to do this week," said Lieberman.
During an appearance on the NBC television program Meet the Press, Lieberman said the threat of terrorism emanating from abroad is far greater. But he said the risk of a homegrown attack - like the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 - is escalating.
"I would not overstate this threat," he said. "It is not as significant as the global threat of Islamist extremism, but it is real."
Comment: I'm having a tough time digesting any of this. Yes, I see a growing uneasiness against the federal government, but I am finding it hard to believe any militia plot could have any effect on the stability of our country. It is just plain impossible for this occur.
When the Gulf Coast was hit by a Class 5 hurricane and 60 percent of our oil and gas refinery production was knocked out it was brought back online in a matter of days, not weeks or months. When the World Trade Center was hit and destroyed by one of the most sophisticated terrorist groups in the world, and with it the New York Stock Exchange, the exchange was back and operating in a week. So how then can a group of "Dungeon and Dragon" playing over-weight over-grown teenagers have any effect on our country; they can't. This is fear mongering at it most virulent.
What is happening is a peaceable political change that is taking shape. The fear is not for America or the citizenry but for and by the supposed political elite like Lieberman who fear losing their position of power. The danger is and will always be the draconian use of power by a government against the people when the elites are unwilling to peaceably leave when the consensus calls for it. In this case history is more than over-following with examples of governments repressing the people. This is what is really happening.
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