Sedition - You Decide

Brainy Dictionary ^ | 6/20/2005 | Nobel1

[Nobel_1]

Sedition ... The raising of commotion in a state, not amounting to insurrection; conduct tending to treason, but without an overt act; excitement of discontent against the government, or of resistance to lawful authority.

[Nobel_1]

Yes, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill) is a living, textbook definition of sedition: 1. He has raised a commotion ... but not to the level of an insurrection (yet). 2. His conduct is tending towards treason (but without an overt act) 3. He works (overtime) to excite discontent against the government 4. He openly, actively, consistently resists layful authority (after all, he is not the Commander in Chief).

By comparing US treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to inhumane tatics used in Nazi, Soviet and Cambodian concentration camps, the assistant minority leader can only succeed in: diluting American security resolve, frustrating our military soldiers overseas and (yes) aiding and consoling the enemy. What immediately response would have resulted had these utterings made it across the airwaves right after 9/11? Is there any doubt as to the outcome?

Our freedom depends on our security, which requires our military. One cannot break one link in this chain and promise that we will remain free.

Nobel1

[Maceman]

excitement of discontent against the government,

Well, I think that even Free Republic meets this definition.

This site excites a lot of discontent against the government, albeit it in a productive way that does not come near inciting violence.

[UseYourHead]

NOPE -

Dictionaries only apply to conservatives and Christians. Didn't William the Zipper teach you anything?

[Lord_Baltar]

You speak the truth Mace...

Never wish on your enemies that which might at some point be visited on you.

[Zeon Cowboy]

Mike Savage throws this word around a lot...

[Strategerist]

That's nice, but pure sedition itself isn't currently a crime. And a good thing too.

As noted, many of the posters on FR during Democratic Presidential Administrations would meet a definition of sedition.

[Lazamataz]

Sedition should never be illegal, because it is free speech.

However, politicians should not be seditious, and should be expelled when they are.

[rlmorel]

Treason sounds better, merely because it is a hangin' offense...:)

Seriously, the bar for treason was raised by Jane Fonda and Johnny Walker Lindt. Heck, if they couldn't try him for treason, there is no way to try anyone.

I don't think the guy should be a Senator. I wish his state would do something about him, but I have no room to talk. I have Swimmer Ted and John "Jenjis Kahn" Kerry as my Senators. How embarassing is that?

[newgeezer]

What has Little Dick Durbin done, other than engage in political speech?

I vehemently disagree with what he said. But, I also thank God for the First Amendment.

When we start prosecuting people for political speech, the end is near.

[kms61]

The bar for treason was raised a lot longer ago than that, by Aaron Burr. When a guy who conspires to split off the Western frontier and turn it into his own kingdom can't get convicted, treason as a legal term has no meaning.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

If I recall the Burr mess correctly, the problem was that the witnesses against Burr had significant credibility problems (one was himself guilty of treason).

[clearsight]

This is an exerpt from News with Views. Go to site at bottom to get complete article.

First, On March 23, 1933, the newly elected members of the Reichstag (the German Parliament) met in the Kroll Opera House in Berlin to consider passing Hitler's "Ermächtigungsgesetz" or, The "Enabling Act." This Act was officially called the "Law for Removing the Distress of the People and the Reich."
Opponents of the "Enabling Act" rightly warned that, if adopted, the Act would make Hitler a de facto dictator. They worried that the Act would dismantle constitutional liberties. History would prove that their worries were valid.
At the time, however, it was anything but certain that Hitler would prevail in convincing German lawmakers to pass his "Enabling Act." Then, suddenly, terrorists struck the Reichstag building.
After the Reichstag was burned on February 28, 1933, President Hindenburg and Hitler invoked Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which permitted the suspension of civil liberties during national emergencies. As a result, freedom of the press, free expression of opinion, individual property rights, right of assembly and association, right to privacy of postal and electronic communications, states' rights of self-government, and protection against unlawful searches and seizures were suspended. Shortly afterward, the "Enabling Act" was passed, and the rest, as they say, is history.


http://www.newswithviews.com/baldwin/baldwin244.htm

[rlmorel]

Yes, good point. True, though very few remember his example.

[kublia khan]

Free speech is a wonderful thing it allows people like Rosie O'Donnell, Howard Dean and even Senator Durbin to open there mouths and remove all doubt. A camera and a mike are great tools for identifying the idiots among us.

[Max Flatow]

At the time (of Burr) the Louisiana Purchase made the North grumble that it would become an agricultural fortress under a slave driven society. New England was afraid that it's influence would be greatly diminished if that territory was developed into many slave states that would tip the balance beteween free state and slave state. Burr tapped into this separatists ideology which led to his 'treasonous' act.

Burr was Jeffersons VP from 1801 to 1805, and who won 73 electoral votes in the 1800 election. Remember the election of 1800 was a dead heat between Jefferson and Burr. John Admas finished third with 65 electoral votes. The House of Representatives made some 36 votes to elect Jefferson with Alexander Hamilton playing a key role in electing Jefferson over Burr. This second presidential election tie led to the passing of the 12th Amendment.

Burr died nearly penniless and friendless in New York on September 14, 1836.

[michigander]

Constitution of the United States
Article I.
Section. 6.
Clause 1:

The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, beprivileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

[Max Flatow]

The Alien and Sedition Acts did not provide the results that was intended. The main targets of the Sedition Act (1798) were republican newspaper editors who were free to to condemn and criticise President Adams. Jefferson and Madison opposed the Sedition Act as well as the Alien Act which they believed were in opposition to the Bill of Rights. They were certain that the federal judges would not over turn them so they went to individual state legislatures to get help. This led to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolves which tested the argument that states legislatures could nullify federal law.

With the Sedition Acts, and with the Quasi War with France, and the XYZ Affair, Adams lost the support he had paving the way for Jefferson to win the election of 1800. Adams became the first one term president of our fledgling republic.