United Liberty

I’ve been talking with some of my friends about this story. Here’s a comment they made about what happened in Austin last week:

…the media is going to take what he did and sweep it under the rug as bat shit crazy and ignore the point he was trying to make. To a godless man in a godless world that was his best option in his mind. He wanted to hurt the government like they hurt him, but he instead hurt innocents that had nothing to do with it. But how do you strike back at something so big and abstract as government? I’m sure he was right when he said he wouldnt be the last. If people don’t take notice of how the government is [screwing] its own citizens we are going to have more and more incidents like this. Basically, America will become its own terrorists.

I want to unequivocally condem the murder Joe Stack committed by flying an airplane into an IRS building. Joe Stack was a fed up man, who thought he was out of options and wanted to make a point.  It’s too bad that he decided to take his life and endanger others to make his point.

Read his suicide note.  It’s very well written.  He worked within the system, as best he could, obeying the rules and finally concluded the tax system is biased, so biased that it cost him:

$40,000+, 10 years of [his] life

What should we take from this act of violence?  Anything? Why was Joe Stack compelled to take his life?  That’s a scary place my mind rejects it out of hand.

No doubt you heard about Andrew Joseph Stack flying his Piper Cherokee into an office building where about 200 IRS employees worked in northwest Austin, Texas.  In addition to the intentional plane crash, he apparently set his home ablaze and possibly booby-trapped his car with a bomb.  His suicide note/manifesto was briefly posted here, before the webhosting company took the site offline “due to the sensitive nature of the events.”

You may recall a report issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center last winter that equated support of many “extreme” views common in libertarian thought, including resistance to the current tax levels and system, with domestic terrorism.  It’s obvious from the note left by Stack that he is no fan of the government, specifically calling out the IRS and FAA, as well as Congress’ manipulation of the tax code.  It will likely be a few small correlations between Stack’s manifesto, his actions, and the MIAC report that generate more government scrutiny of those who oppose the continued growth of the federal government.

The ACLU is defending us “rightwing extremists” (emphasis mine):

Over at The Liberty Papers, Stephen Gordon has the story of what seems to be a report from the Department of Homeland Security entitled, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Environment Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment, that targets some conservatives and most libertarians.

The report says (emphasis mine):

Contributor Jason Pye recently reported on the government report emanating from Missouri which labeled supporters of Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr as possible domestic terrorist suspects.  Because of the immense public outcry, the report has been rescinded and apologies issued.

From John Tate, Executive Director of the Campaign for Liberty-

Dear Friend of Liberty,

Although it sometimes seems that freedom is shrinking everywhere we turn, the fact is a powerful grassroots stand can still stop Big Government bureaucrats in their tracks.