Originally posted by Indigo5
"plotting the violent overthrow of our government"....yes, those individuals should be arrested or deported.
"attending a speech"...those individuals should not be arrested in a free democracy.
You seem to confuse or amalgamate the two very different scenarios/people.
Not hardly. The way you are laying it out, only the person talking should be arrested for plotting the violent overthrow. So if 5 guys go somewhere
to listen to one guy tell them what they were going to do, you think only the one guy who actually talked should get in trouble?
I dont. I think if 5 guys go somewhere to plot the violent overthrow of the US government, they should ALL be able to be tried for it, even if only
one was talking. If you attend a speech entitled "overthrowing the government violently" I dont think you should be surprised if you go to jail.
I wouldnt be. And its the same if its one guy, or 20 guys, or 50 guys, if you go somewhere specifically to listen to speeches on how the government
should be violently overthrown, Id say you were behaving treasonously.
And Im surprised that people seem to think its okay or legal to do so now. Its not.
www.law.cornell.edu...
§ 2385. Advocating overthrow of Government
How Current is This?
Whoever knowingly or willfully advocates, abets, advises, or teaches the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing or destroying the
government of the United States or the government of any State, Territory, District or Possession thereof, or the government of any political
subdivision therein, by force or violence, or by the assassination of any officer of any such government; or
Whoever, with intent to cause the overthrow or destruction of any such government, prints, publishes, edits, issues, circulates, sells, distributes,
or publicly displays any written or printed matter advocating, advising, or teaching the duty, necessity, desirability, or propriety of overthrowing
or destroying any government in the United States by force or violence, or attempts to do so; or
Whoever organizes or helps or attempts to organize any society, group, or assembly of persons who teach, advocate, or encourage the overthrow or
destruction of any such government by force or violence; or becomes or is a member of, or affiliates with, any such society, group, or assembly of
persons, knowing the purposes thereof—
A whole country, Libya, is being torn apart violently right now, and lots of innocent people are dying, because a small minority of people, very
likely backed and instigated by economic interests from outside the country, decided they wanted to violently overthrow that country. I dont want
that happening to MY country. It should be, and is, very clear that a small band of people DO NOT have the right to violently overthrow a government
supported by the majority of the population.
If they want to persuade the majority into changing things, fine. If the majority tries to change things, and the entrenched powers refuse and the
situation devolves, fine. In a government of the people, by the people and for the people, the people ARE the government. And so any band of
politicians who barricaded themselves in and used violence against the majority populace and refused their wishes would be, under this same law, the
criminals plotting the violent overthrow of the government.
