ARE WE MEESE— OR MEN?

Here is how I would deal with the current shutdown of government, now in its ninth day, possibly continuing to Oct. 17 and longer.

My scenario about restoring the rule of law in government plays out with the doors bursting open in that august chamber, the House of Representatives. The Sergeant at Arms, swinging his Mace, rushes down the aisle, followed by Navy Seals, commando units from the Army, Marines, Air Force, FBI, ATF agents, Border Patrol and other government law enforcement units, stopping short of using drones, although they will be hovering over the building during the operation.

Cut to court papers being waived as security forces isolate the 30 or 40 “terrorists,” as Rep. King has termed members of the House Tea Party Caucus and other destructionists. Collared from under their desks or other safe houses, clamped in irons, the violators of the law will then be marched up the aisles to the cheers of moderate Republicans and boos of Teapartynik fellow travelers.

The charge: violating the Smith Act (54 Stat. 670, 671, Title I).

The Smith Act has nothing to do with bringing women across the border for immoral purposes, as some of my readers concluded from a too-fast reading of the previous Justaminutemen Crisis Bulletin #4 (Sept. 30, 2013). It is the statute that clearly makes it a Federal crime for anyone with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of the government, or attempts to do so… That is, any society, group or assembly of persons, who teach, advocate, aid or abet in the proselytizing on behalf of revolution… Shall be fined or imprisoned, not more than twenty years, or both, and shall be ineligible for employment by the United States, or any department or agency thereof, for five years next following conviction.

The alleged perpetrators, the Attorney General’s indictment might read, in effect, are holding the government hostage, and demonstrating to the world ours is not a government of laws, does not believe in majority rule, or the values of compromise on which the Founding Fathers so built this country. Ipso facto, a description of the Tea Party and its apparatchiks.

Furthermore, by digging their heels in the ground, like petulant children, saying, “No, I won’t eat my spinach,” these duly elected representatives are enunciating the constitutional theory “It’s my way… or the highway”, thus illustrating the government can be shut down on any issue, even if the Pittsburgh Pirates don’t win the World Series.

Cut to the alleged law-breakers doing the perp walk before cable news network cameras. Lawyers will speak for their clients, denying they are traitors.

“Then what are they,” a reporter might ask.

“Patriots.”

“Really? Would patriots want to destroy the country by starting another recession, or worse, by debt default?

“No, we only want to blame Obama for whatever happens by our reckless irresponsible behavior.”

At the same time, other government enforcement agencies are fanning out and nabbing the so-called brains behind the Tea Party control of government op. According to the New York Times (Oct. 7), the conspiracy was engineered by former Attorney General Edwin Meese III. In his latest contribution to American jurisprudence, Meese organized the Conservative Action Project, a coalition of three dozen likeminded public-spirited groups. He rounded up the usual suspects: Heritage Action for America, Americans for Prosperity, FreedomWorks, et al--and wrote the Manifesto, a tool kit showing how to create the standoff that has shuttered much of the Federal bureaucracy to the astonishment of the world. We now seem as bad as Italy as a government model, an awesome achievement.

I am not a Smith Act scholar. I have no idea how all of this will go down in the courts, especially before a Supreme Court that might have secret Tea Party-leanings. Victor Rabinowitz, the distinguished civil rights lawyer, once explained he wouldn’t take on a Smith Act defense because too many of the lawyers are having coronaries.

But it is the law of the land, and deserves application with the full force of the government.

While all this is thrashed out in the courts, the teapartynik co-conspirators should be held without bail and due process serving the rest of their terms in office in Gitmo, which they have voted not to close. Here they will have the peace and quiet and access to Fox News and the talk radio echo chamber where they can fine tune the master plan for destroying the country’s respect for law and order, they had pledge to honor and obey faithfully, so help them Rush Limbaugh!

This kind of dangerous madness we are seeing acted out in our seat of government must stop. Who knows what other seditious subversive groups are hiding in the bushes or under the bed ready to follow the Meese Manifesto.

Invoke the Smith Act NOW.

If this be treason, as some have said, including me, so be it.

Marvin Kitman
Oct. 8, 2013