Pentagon, IRS Attacks

Jillian Bandes | March 05, 2010 12:50 PM

What was curious about the attack last night near the Pentagon metro -- very close to the actual Pengaton building -- was how close its timing was to the IRS kamikaze attack in Texas. Both anti-government extremists left notes talking about their disallusionment with the government, though the IRS killer's note seemed to have greater depth. The IRS killer had a weird combination of pro-free market and pro-communist tendencies, near as I could tell. The Pentagon shooter was just another conspiracy theorist -- another 9/11 truther, and CIA critic.

But these two incidents taken together may represent the fringe element of growing government distrust. I'd emphasize that this fringe element knows no political bounds. Being a 9/11 truther, and being disappointed in the taxation system, are agenda items that can be applied to either the right or left. But the fact that they happened so close to each other might be reflective of a more heightened, generalized distrust of government policies. That's not saying there's going to be more violence, but the timing does seem odd.