Political Terrorism in America | Op-ed by Eric Lapham

Sept. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- I was watching "The Matrix" the other night, when it came to a part in the movie where Agent Smith said the following...

Agent Smith: "I'd like to share a revelation that I've had during my time here. It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you're not actually mammals. Every mammal on this planet instinctively develops a natural equilibrium with the surrounding environment; but you humans do not. You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure."

Hearing that, I also came to a revelation myself when reflecting on our Republican friend's policy of "Obstruction" this year, as well as the resulting effects of the party's past policies over the decades. It came to me when I tried to classify the current Republican party and realized they are not actually public servants. Every public servant develops a natural equilibrium between their political party's ideology and the needs of the nation as a whole...but the Republicans do not. Their thirst for power for the benefit of their supporters (a select few who uphold greed and accumulation of wealth above all) is so great that they will engage in any action to seek a change of power in their favor. The change is desired so badly that failure to achieve change is seen as a worse outcome than the deaths of civilians.  

Another group of people on this planet follows this same pattern. Do you know who they are? Terrorists. Republican's currently are a disease, a cancer of this nation.

Now that I have nicely twisted the dialogue from the movie, let me explain the fundamental reasoning behind it and the conclusion I draw.

I used to think of the Poor, the Middle Class, the Unemployed and the plight of the 99ers as victims of "Collateral Damage" due to the political warfare that the Republicans are engaged in against the Democrats. Then I looked up the actual meaning of Collateral Damage: "Damage that is unintended or incidental to the intended outcome".

I then realized that when someone votes against or block bills and/or policies that range from providing the means for medical care, food and shelter (and all the way to those that would provide jobs for the unemployed), I can no longer consider them to be victims of "Collateral Damage".

Now I would consider them to be the victims of "Terrorism", which is actually a better definition for them. One of the definitions of Terrorism is "to engage in acts which are perpetrated for a religious, political or ideological goal, and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians)."

So in many respects the willful actions (or inactions) on behalf of the Republicans are more along the line of the very nature of terrorism that they claim they are against. But, unlike "normal" terrorists, their actions are in conflict of the oath of office they have been sworn to uphold.

(* Eric Lapham is a free-lance commenter at the New York State Department of Labor's Facebook wall - http://www.facebook.com/nyslabor )

# # #

The Tier Five Times reports on the latest unemployment news such as the jobless numbers and unemployment benefits for "99ers" - those who have exhausted all unemployment insurance benefits.