Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is drowning in his own words, having stated that if he can stop union protesters in Wisconsin, he can handle ISIS. A lot has been said about this subject already, but I have yet to see anyone make this connection: to the State, left-wing protests are a terrorist threat.
I would be enthused to be able to say that just red states treat liberal protesters like terrorists, but even here in the progressive state of Washington, the city of Seattle classified much of its incident response plan to the Ferguson Grand Jury decision because it was "prepared, assembled or is maintained to prevent, mitigate or respond to criminal
terrorist acts."
To be fair, it's not just Seattle's response to the #BlackLivesMatter movement, it also permeated the rhetoric and response to #BlackLivesMatter protests across the country, as well as
Occupy Wall Street. Other protests, such as union protests, are at least, in part, considered to be "
low-level terrorism" by the Department of Defense. The truth is, any protest which attacks a symptom or contributing factor of capitalism is considered against the national interest and is therefore subject to strict police scrutiny. States, Democrat like Washington or Republican like Idaho, are prohibiting protests from taking place in the very halls of government, citing security concerns.
But we don't here about mainstream right-wing protests undergoing severe police surveillance, protest disruptions, undercover police plants, because the Tea Party is very pro-capitalist at all costs. They are allies.
There's not much substance to this post other than to remind people that the gaffes uttered by politicians are the underlying attitudes they hold when it comes to discontent, and that many others who do not dare to utter the words in public hold those views in private.