President Obama’s new Secretary, Janet Napolitano, has recently been criticized for issuing a nine-page memo prior to the nationwide “Tea Parties” last week, warning of right-wing political extremism, referring to United States citizens with "dangerous" political leanings.
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An official document of the DHS lists right-wing extremists as "groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," and includes those "rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority." So, apparently, according to Homeland Security Department, the American ideal of federalism is a threat to American ideals.
In the case of the tea parties, these dangerous extremists were American citizens – Moms and Dads, Children and Grandchildren, Husbands and Wives -who were upset with how the federal government was spending their money. They were fed up with what they saw as massive and excessive government spending. They were peaceably assembled, yet were deemed a "threat" by our federal government. This is a dangerous line of thinking and reasoning from our government leaders and a direct infringement on First Amendment rights.
We're not talking about wire-tapping calls of suspected terrorists to foreign countries to protect our nation against acts of violence like we saw on 9/11 – though the New York Times has reported that domestic wire-tapping is now at an unheard-of high level, we're talking about the government watching you, your family, your neighbor because your political views differ from those of the people in control in Washington.
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Congressman Thaddeus McCotter points out in a piece with the American Spectator that despite the Department of Homeland Security having "'no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence,' the memo specifically smears returning veterans and a host of other sovereign citizens who may hold conservative views; and generally smears conservatism by equating it with 'Right-wing extremism."
To me, it looks like the extremists are those running the DHS.
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