TPMDC
Republican House Candidate: Violent Uprising Is 'On The Table'
Jillian Rayfield | October 22, 2010, 11:44AM
Stephen Broden, a Republican running for Congress in Texas' 30th District, said he would not rule out a violent overthrow of the government if the midterm elections don't cause a change in government, saying that "our nation was founded on violence" so "the option is on the table."
According to the Dallas Morning News, Broden said in a TV interview yesterday: "We have a constitutional remedy here and the Framers says if that don't work, revolution."
"If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary," he continued.
The head of the Dallas County GOP has called the remarks "inappropriate."
Broden is challenging incumbent Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D)....
Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) is a decent human being who has represented District 30 approximately forever. The notion of her being worthy of violent revolutionary opposition is just plain crack-brained. But this is the inevitable destination of current Republican thinking: "If people don't like us enough to elect us despite our spending more money than Dog on buying seats, well, we'll get our money's worth the hard way. Yeah, we'll show 'em; we'll make them pay for their uncooperative voting behavior."
Does anyone else find Broden's statement completely outside the pale? or are we headed for violent conflict in the near future in Texas?
Afterthought...
Let me put it another way: does Broden's constitutional interpretation allow me, an American citizen just like him (well, not just like him), the same right of violent response to my possible distaste for an election outcome that favors him? Or is he alone empowered to decide who may kill and maim in response to an unfavorable outcome? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Broden is just saying out loud what many of the Tea Party types think. While any reasonably sane person recognizes the insanity I won't be surprised if this leads to violence. Glenn Beck and his ilk are pushing violent overthrow on a regular basis and these folks don't have the intellectual depth to know how insane the proposition is. Texas is as good a candidate as any to be the epicenter of such violence.
ReplyDeleteFallenmonk, Texas is certainly a violent place, and by now I expect violence from the Tea Party crazies sooner or later, but I never thought I'd hear it so blatantly stated by someone who, at least in theory, is trying to get elected as a candidate of a major party. "Fucking nuts" is the only reasonable description for him.
ReplyDeleteWhat he is advocating is pretty much the definition of treason, and I believe that more than two people heard him say it.
ReplyDeleteSomeone should provide him with a history of the United States and explain the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States.
These people are seriously delusional and they are running for Congress.
At this point I would have infinitely more concern with seeing Congresscritters at the airport than Muslims.
What an arsehole. If the Republicans had any integrity they would throw him out of their party
ReplyDeleteBryan, when our Founders committed revolution, they pledged "[their] lives, [their] fortunes and [their] sacred honor" to a cause they felt was essential to their living as a free people; many of them lost the first two of those in the course of the Revolutionary War. I wonder if Broden has given even the tiniest bit of thought to what revolution entails, and what its consequences are. I doubt it. He's stringing together half-remembered slogans he picked up in grade-school history, not only getting them wrong but failing utterly to understand their context. Headed for Congress? prison is a more appropriate destination for him.
ReplyDeletejams, I fear your condition is not met: "If the Republicans had any integrity", I haven't seen the evidence. Power and money are the only two things that really mean anything to them.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAs Bryan says: it's treason... and he wants to be elected to serve in a government he wants to overthrow....
ReplyDeleteA note to users who delete comments: the comment can be, and indeed is, removed from the thread, but nothing can retract the email to me that was generated when you posted the comment.
ReplyDeleteellroon, that really is the epitome of irony, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI refutiate the email of my deleted comment!
ReplyDeleteWhat in the hell happened to Texas.? Where are the Ann Richards' and Molly Ivins'?
ReplyDelete