Sedition is defined in federal law thus:
If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both. [Emphasis added] 18 USC 2384 [Cornell Univ.]
There are at least two GOP candidates for federal office who are walking very close to this line. And if the Republican party has a problem with that, they are keeping quiet about it as far as I can tell.
First off, sedition is not necessarily treason, which is very narrowly defined in the Constitution (the only crime to be specifically described there) as levying war on the United States, or giving aid and comfort to their enemies. (Art III Sect. 3) Sedition, which (unlike treason) does not carry a death penalty, includes a conspiracy by two or more persons to "oppose by force" the authority of the United States - including laws passed by Congress and decisions of the President.
And there's also rebellion (no conspiracy needed):
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States. 18 USC 2383
In a January interview with a right-wing talk show host, Sharron Angle said this:
You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years.
I hope that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take Harry Reid out. WaPo 15 Jun 2010: The Plum Line by Greg Sargent
Sargent added his own commentary:
The most charitable interpretation here was that Angle was floating armed insurrection -- or "Second Amendment remedies" -- as a defensible response if electoral politics fails to change where things are headed under the current regime.
This was diaried a little while ago, and also mentioned in passing in the midday open thread, but I'm trying to make a broader point here.)
Now add Rick Barber, who's a Tea Partier currently in a runoff for the Republican nomination for AL-2, who put up an ad yesterday (still on his website) in which costumed characters playing Sam Adams, George Washington and Ben Franklin agree that the President needs to be impeached (for what is never said), and if that fails, go to war. Here's the text of the ad:
In the ad..., Barber has a discussion with men dressed up as America's founding fathers. "I would impeach him," Barber says at the beginning, obviously a reference to impeaching President Obama.
Barber continues, "Today we have an Internal Revenue Service that enforces what they call a 'progressive' income tax... Now this same IRS is going to force us to buy health insurance, cram it down our throats or else. Now I took an oath to defend that [the U.S. Constitution] with my life, and I can't stand by while these evils are perpetrated. You, gentleman, revolted over a tea tax! A tea tax! Now look at us. Are you with me?"
One of the men dressed like a U.S. founding father -- George Washington? -- replies, "Gather your armies." And to drive home the point, there are clear images of pistols in the ad. MSNBC First Read 14 Jun
MSNBC's headline reads: "GOP candidate declares war against U.S.?"; also, diaried here yesterday. The Freepers have a mixed response to this, some approving, others saying it goes too far; also either praising or denouncing Glenn Beck, who called Barber a "dope" on his radio show today.
But, speaking of Beck, he's just published a book, The Overton Window (no link), described by the Washnigton Post's reviewer this way:
The danger of books like this is that radical readers may take the story's fiction for fact, or interpret the fiction -- which Beck encourages -- as a reflection of a reality that they must fend off by any means necessary. "The Overton Window" risks falling into the tradition of other anti-government novels such as "The Turner Diaries" by William L. Pierce, which became a handbook of extremists and inspired Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. WaPo 15 Jun
Read that again. Glenn Beck's book could inspire the next Timothy McVeigh.
Michele Bachmann: "I want people in Minnesota armed and dangerous on this issue of the energy tax because we need to fight back." 23 Mar 2009 That's not a candidate; that's a sitting member of Congress.
Speaking of Republican members of Congress, remember this from the Health Care Reform debate?
Moments ago, while members were on the floor for a vote, a protester stood up in the visitor's gallery and began shouting "Kill the bill! Kill the bill! Kill the bill!" Clerks quickly removed him. But as they were doing so, a number of Republicans--at least half a dozen, from what I could see from a few feet away--were cheering the man. The New Republic 21 Mar
Last year, the Department of Homeland Security was preparing a report: Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment [pdf]. Republicans (and some Democrats) made DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano withdraw the report. But denying the calls for violence, for rebellion, for sedition doesn't make them go away; if anything, it just encourages more of them.