While Republicans constantly invoke our nation's founders, they and a large number of individuals and organizations who support them, are in violation of one of our founders' earliest proscriptions: Seditious Conspiracy, made illegal through The Sedition Act of 1798.
Seditious Conspiracy as it pertains to the current shutdown of the United States federal government is defined in 18 USC § 2384 of the Criminal Code as:
"[T]wo or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspir[ing] to ... by force ... prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States."
The Code further defines the punishment:
"[T]hey shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both."
There is no question but that a large, coordinated plot was hatched and then carried out by a covert group of individuals for the purpose of preventing, hindering, and delaying The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act by force using a government shutdown as their weapon.
The damages caused by this seditious act are numerous and immeasurable. Hundreds of thousands of Americans are without ongoing income to support their families. Children are going hungry. Our veterans’ families are being denied death benefits for the loss of their loved-ones in battle. Thousands of families will see their personal credit scores gutted as they are increasingly unable to pay bills that continue while their income has been cut off.
States, cities, and communities are suffering billions in lost revenue from tourism due to the closure of national parks, museums, monuments, and more. They will suffer further as property values in their neighborhoods begin to plunge as more American families are hit with foreclosure when they can't meet their mortgage obligations without steady income from their work.
The reputation and good standing of the United States has already taken a major hit, as institutions are selling off short-term Treasury bonds and demanding higher returns in interest for the purchase of longer-term bonds.
"The yield on the one-month T-bill jumped to 0.27 percent Wednesday, its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis. The yield was nearly zero at the beginning of the month. Money market mutual fund managers don't want to be caught holding U.S. government debt that comes due around the time the government hits the debt ceiling. They fear that the government may not be able to pay back bond holders, said Gabriel Mann at the Royal Bank of Scotland Group.
"'Investors are buying protection,'" Mann said, referring to growing demand for insurance against the U.S. defaulting on its debt — a security known on Wall Street as a credit default swap. Overnight interest rates in the repo market, used by banks to fund day-to-day lending, shot up to 0.12 percent Wednesday from 0.04 percent at the beginning of the month.
"The increase is partly because some banks have stopped accepting some U.S. Treasurys as collateral, or are requiring more collateral, to borrow."
Short-Term Funds Show Stress as Default Looms
These individuals acting in concert have gone far beyond the free speech protected by the 1st Amendment, protections up to which they are only entitled to the point of causing “clear and present danger.” And with the shutting down of vital services of our government, they have demonstrably caused “clear and present danger” to the United States of America. There is very real, tangible, and dangerous damage being done to our country's economic stability, our reputation throughout the world, and to our national security.
These individuals and everyone in the groups to which they belong — or any other group that contemplates similar actions in the future — must be made to understand the consequences of such conspiratorial acts against the government. And we must hold accountable those whose long-term plotting has already directly caused the damage the country is suffering — and will continue to suffer long after the shutdown ends — it's what The Sedition Act was enacted to punish.
See who's on the list below the squiggly ...
Among those known to date to have conspired against the United States government to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of a law of the United States by forcing the government to shut down are:
Edwin Meese III – Former Attorney General under Ronald Reagan
Charles Koch – Co–owner, Koch Industries
David H. Koch – Co–owner, Koch Industries
Michael A. Needham – CEO Heritage Action for America
Ted Cruz – United States Senator from Texas
Alfred S. Regnery – President, The Paul Revere Project
Andrea Lafferty – President, Traditional Values Coalition
Andresen Blom – Senior Strategist, Center for Civic Virtue
Angelo M. Codevilla – Professor Emeritus, Boston University
Becky Norton Dunlop – Former White House Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
Bob Reccord – Executive Director, Council for National Policy
Brent Bozell – President, ForAmerica
Brian Baker – President, Ending Spending
Chris Chocola – President, Club for Growth
Cindy Chafian – President, The Mommy Lobby
Colin Hanna – President, Let Freedom Ring
Craig Shirley – Reagan Campaign Biographer
David Bossie – President, Citizens United
David Bozell – Executive Director, ForAmerica
David McIntosh – Former U.S. Representative, Indiana
David Williams – President, Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Don Devine – Senior Scholar, The Fund for American Studies
Duane Parde – President, National Taxpayers Union
Eric Cantor – House Minority Leader
Erick Erickson – Editor, RedState.com
Gary Aldrich – President, Patrick Henry Center for Individual Liberty
Gary Bauer – President, American Values
Grace–Marie Turner – President, The Galen Institute
Heather Higgins – President, Independent Women's Forum
James Martin – Chairman, 60 Plus Association
Jenny Beth Martin – Co–Founder, Tea Party Patriots
Joe Gregory – CEO, Gregory Management Co.
John Boehner – Speaker of the House of Representatives
Kay R. Daly – President, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Kenneth Blackwell – Conservative Action Project; President, Constitutional Congress, Inc.
Kevin Gentry – Koch Public Sector
Lee Beaman – Businessman, Nashville, TN
Lewis Uhler – President, National Tax Limitation Committee
Marco Rubio – United States Senator from Florida
Marjorie Dannenfelser – President, Susan B. Anthony List
Mat Staver – Liberty Counsel
Mathew D. Staver – Chairman, Liberty Counsel Action
Matt Kibbe – President, FreedomWorks
Michael Grebe – leads the Bradley Foundation
Mike Lee – United States Senator from Utah
Mitch McConnell – Minority Leader, United States Senate, representing Kentucky
Myron Ebell – President, Freedom Action
Pat Toomey – United States Senator from Pennsylvania
Patrick Pizzella – Conservative Action Project
Penny Nance – President, Concerned Women for America
Phyllis Schlafly – Conservative Action Project
Ralph Benko – President, Center for Civic Virtue
Senator Rand Paul – United States Senator from Kentucky
Rebecca Hagelin – Activist and Right Wing journalist
Rev. Lou Sheldon – Chairman, Traditional Values Coalition
Richard Rahn – President, Inst. for Global Economic Growth
Stuart Epperson – President, Council for National Policy
Susan Carleson – President, American Civil Rights Union
T. Kenneth Cribb – Former Domestic Advisor, President Ronald Reagan
Tom Donelson – Chairman, America's PAC
Tony Perkins – Conservative Action Project
William Wilson – President, Americans for Limited Government
(Additional names may come to light at later dates and should be included in any prosecutions.)
This list was curated using the following sources: