I am a gigantic First Amendment fan. It is the cornerstone of what it means to be an American. Over the last 100 years or so the protections it affords have been expanded and expanded again. Where once the test was “yelling fire in a crowded theater” it is now a test of “immediate clear and present danger” for drawing the line on what kind of speech might be reasonably suppressed. This leaves us with a situation where fools like Bill O’Reilly can whip up hatred against people like Dr. Tiller and have no repercussions.

There are those who think this is taking our right to speak out about issues of importance in our government too far. I do not agree. While it is tragic beyond belief that Dr. Tiller was assassinated by a deluded Right Wing Religious fool, it is still better to have all speech, no matter how heinous be able to be uttered without restraint. After all the measure of what is heinous speech is a subjective one and we would not want our own ability to speak out restricted.

However there is still a line as to what is incitement to violence and what is free speech, that line, as I said above, is immediacy. If you are in a situation were your words and actions lead to violence in an immediate fashion, you have gone beyond your free speech rights.

All of this is prelude to the event which will happen today. Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Crazytown) will be leading a rally of “Teabaggers” on the steps of the Capital today. She will then lead these folks into the halls of Congress to “see the whites of their eyes”.

Rep. Bachman is not one to be…circumspect with her rhetoric. She is the Representative who said she is “reporting from behind enemy lines” from Washington. She first came to the spot light on the Chris Matthews Show when she urged the national press core to investigate which members of Congress had “Anti-American views”. She has urged the people of her district to “rise up” against “gangster governments”.

This is the Representive who will be speaking to a crowd of Teabaggers and then leading them into the Congress. Given that we have seen just how on the fringe some of the Teabaggers can be, given that some of the radical right are unclear as to where it is appropriate to carry guns and where it crosses the line into political intimidation, is there anyone else out there who thinks this might end badly?

I am pretty sure you are not allowed to carry, concealed or otherwise, in the Capital building as a citizen. There is at least one Senator who does carry a concealed weapon, Sen. Webb, however, this is probably a super rare exception. This means it is rather unlikely any of Rep. Bachman’s Teabaggers will be armed. This does not prevent the chance of things getting out of hand and out of control, but it does mean gun play in the halls of Congress is unlikely today.

The question becomes, if the worst happens, if Rep. Bachman gets her protestors spun up with talk of rebellion and up raisings, then leads them in to Congress where they do something violent, where is her level of culpability?

It is one thing to advocate insurrection. Case law from the Supreme Court has protected this, as long as there is no immediate action. It is one thing to talk the eliminationist crap the right has been spouting for years. But when you take a group primed on this, when you give them a red meat speech, then take them to confront the very people you have called Anti-American, the people who you have told them want to put Republicans in internment camps using Census data, the people who you have said will set up “Death Panels”; this all seems to get beyond speech and into action.

Now, I think political violence of any kind is so dangerous we should try to avoid it at all costs. So it is easy to say he hopes nothing happens today that even comes close to it. However if it does, if Rep. Bachman has finally played with fire enough to let it get out of control, this particular set of facts argues for her having incited and aided it. While it would be a tragedy for our nation if a Senator or Rep were even just roughed up, there might be a silver lining in it.

The chance to prosecute for over the line and irresponsible actions a Wingnut Member of Congress would go a long way to making clear the standards of speech and conduct we have in this nation. You can say any fool thing you want, but when you set in motion actions of political violence, you have stopped being protected by the First Amendment and started to become a criminal.

The floor is yours.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"