Treason and Treasonous Acts: How to ID Them Other Than for Raw Political Point Making

Epithet for traitor in American history

(Gen. Benedict Arnold)

Setting the scene: Suppose a small group of extremely wealthy people sought to systematically destroy or dramatically alter the American form of government by some all of these tactics:

(1)  Finding and bankrolling candidates for elected Federal office who pledged to shrink, eliminate, and dismember government.  

(2)  Intimidating and outright bribing Senators and Representatives to get them to block all proposed legislation that they did not favor.

(3)  Preventing the appointment of presidential nominees, thus preventing the president from fulfilling his sworn duties.

(4)  Eliminating Federal funds to implement and enforce laws and programs.

(5)  Threatening to default on the nation’s debt and shutdown the entire system.

(6)  Taking over state government governments in order to sustain redistricting for a one-side state party run network, by gerrymandering for party incumbents, requiring new harsh voter rules and identification, or by purging voter rolls in order to suppress the vote of minority citizens, senior citizens, college students, and Vets.

(7)  Running a vast PR campaign designed to convince the American public of a one-side view that narrow, one-sided, and self-serving (like oil, gas, or energy interests).

(8)  Buying up the media across all sectors to include print, radio, TV in order to control the airwaves and prevent any details of the truth from being known, except from the controllers’ point of view.

Cite (Salon.com).So, isn’t all that a form of treason (ref: history lesson), and this closely related and current story (NY Times).

Background on this story:

SPOKANE, WA — Matt Shea was 34 years old when he ran for the state Legislature in eastern Washington State.

Shea had already established credentials that made him a promising Republican candidate. He is a lawyer trained at Gonzaga University who had served a tour in Iraq with Washington’s Army National Guard. Shea pitched voters in 2008 on a platform of limiting taxes and punishing criminals, opposing same-sex marriage and supporting gun rights. 

He went on to win with nearly 60% of the vote, then moved up the ranks in the Legislature, reaching the powerful position of chair of his party’s caucus in 2017.

However, back in his home district, Shea also began attracting the attention of law enforcement for his growing embrace of fringe ideologies and conspiracy theories.

He networked with local militia groups, talked about plans to create a 51st state called Liberty and distributed to his closest followers a Biblical Basis for War (4-page) document.

In part, it calls for the “… surrender of those who favor abortion rights, same-sex marriage, idolatry and communism. If they do not yield — kill all males,” it says.

A report commissioned by the Legislature asserted that Shea had engaged in domestic terrorism in his support of the armed takeover of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by militant ranchers and their supporters in 2016 — part of a protest over federal ownership of public lands in the West. The scrubby pines and sparsely settled hills of the inland Northwest have long been seen as a potential homeland by fringe white supremacists and armed loners who are militantly suspicious of government power.

But for the sheriff here in Spokane County, Ozzie Knezovich, Shea’s activities are part of a troubling trend: Far-right organizers have begun plying their message of civil conflict in mainstream political circles, building new networks that include elected politicians and voters who would never consider themselves part of an extremist group.

“I think a lot of people underestimate the size and the growth of what’s going on,” said Knezovich, a longtime Republican who supports President Donald Trump.

The report prepared for the Legislature found that Shea had played a role in planning the Malheur standoff, which sought to challenge the federal government’s control and management of public lands.

Leaders in the standoff were charged but acquitted of crimes related to the event, which resulted in state troopers fatally shooting one participant.

Shea and about two dozen of his trusted allies have quietly pursued ambitious plans that went far beyond the standoff at Malheur, preparing for what they saw as a fracturing United States.

Full story is here.

My 2 cents: So, what is the equation here? I think probably three: (1) raw hatred for government, (2) easy access to guns, and (4) religious zealots over the line of rational behavior.

The right to bear arms: I support that with rational policy. 

Free speech, yes, I support that too, but not hate speech or any speech that advocates any kind of violence if things don’t go a certain group’s way. 

Religious freedom yes, but not that which average people turn into class hatred, or anger at anyone who does not follow their line, that is a huge no for me.

This story is one that should concern us all, but does it? Keep in mind it only take a handful or people to cause mayhem on a large scale, too.

Thanks for stopping by.