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Friday, May 16, 2014

The Sad Launch Of #OperationAmericanSpring

Today was supposed to be the historic launch of the movement that would end the Obama presidency and restore constitutionality to the United States: Operation American Spring. Modeled loosely off the Arab Springs (but with 100% less Islam) it would involve three phases:
Phase 1 - Field millions, as many as ten million, patriots who will assemble in a peaceful, non-violent, physically unarmed (Spiritually/Constitutionally armed), display of unswerving loyalty to the US Constitution and against the incumbent government leadership in Washington D.C., with the mission to replace with law abiding leadership. Go full-bore, no looking back, steadfast in the mission.
Phase 2 - One million or more of the assembled 10 million must be prepared to stay in D.C. as long as it takes to see Obama, Biden, Reid, McConnell, Boehner, Pelosi, and Attorney General Holder removed from office.
Consistent with the US Constitution, as required, the U.S. Congress will take appropriate action, execute appropriate legislation, deal with vacancies, or U.S. States will appoint replacements for positions vacated consistent with established constitutional requirements.
Phase 3 - Those with the principles of a West, Cruz, Dr. Ben Carson, Lee, DeMint, Paul, Gov Walker, Sessions, Gowdy, Jordan, should comprise a tribunal and assume positions of authority to convene investigations, recommend appropriate charges against politicians and government employees to the new U.S. Attorney General appointed by the new President.
Today was the day and the results were not encouraging: they fell somewhat below 10MM and definitely below the 30MM (10% of the United States).
Gawker Delivers


The #Hashtag Mockery

We won't know how many people showed up for a while (tens, according to some observers)--but the one thing that Operation American Spring did accomplish was the trending hashtag on Twitter: #OperationAmericanSpring. Here are some choice examples:




And some choice tweets from here:

To be fair, it wasn't starting well. The forums were somewhat sparsely populated for a 10-million person army. It seemed half the posters were trolls.

The Live Feed

This being the Internet, there was (is?) a live-feed. Although down for significant periods of time, it worked for me sporadically. The filmer told us that the crowd had swelled to "thousands" (he could not keep up with the marchers chanting "IMPEACH!! OBAMA!!! IMPEACH!!! OBAMA!!!").

The speaker complained about his knees, told us to watch 'V Is For Vendetta' (a movie about one man standing up to socialism). He told us that this wasn't a game--that it was our country they were saving--everyone's (including Democrats).

Some quotes from the narrator:
  • "If America falls--if America Falls the nations--the whole world will fall into a dark ages."
  • "We've got an entire nation of people with Stockholm syndrome."




What They Want

At least these guys, unlike #OWS, know exactly what what they want. What they are less clear on, is why.  Here is a list of Obama's illegal actions which justify occupation of the capital. It's long. Here's a select few:
  • 23 Executive Orders on gun control - infringement of the 2nd Amendment
  • Dodd-Frank – Due process and separation of powers. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau writing and interpreting law. Article. I. Section. 1
  • ACA (Obamacare) mandate – SCOTUS rewrote legislation and made it a tax because there is no Constitutional authority for Congress to force Americans to engage in commerce. SCOTUS has no authority to Legislate or lay taxes. Article I Section 1 & 8.
  • Chrysler Bailout -TARP - violated creditors rights and bankruptcy law, as well as Takings and Due Process Clauses – 5th Amendment (G.W. Bush also illegally used TARP funds for bailouts)
  • Plans to sign U.N. Firearms treaty – 2nd Amendment.
  • Executive Order 13603 NDRP – Government can seize anything
  • Executive Order 13524 – Gives INTERPOL jurisdiction on American soil beyond law enforcement agencies, including the FBI.
There are a lot more. I picked these either at random (the numbered executive orders) or because I had some idea of what the underlying event was. To take a quick look:

23 Executive Orders on Gun Control

Read them here. These are some of the most Milquetoast Executive Orders imaginable. They include things like "Launch a national safe and responsible gun ownership campaign,"Nominate an ATF Director," and "Review safety standards for gun locks and gun safes."

Dodd-Frank

Dodd-Frank is a law passed by congress to try to prevent things like the 2008 meltdown. There was some question about its constitutionality (I had to look it up)--but, while there's a potential issue with Title II (the bullet-list gets the title wrong) (A) Obama doesn't have anything to do with that and (B) it can be challenged in court. In fact, the Consumer Protection Bureau part was. It was thrown out.

Obamacare (ACA) Mandate

They need to talk to Justice Roberts of the Supreme court about that. Indeed they do argue about SCOTUS in their point. The person they want is POTUS. 

Chrysler Bailout

They (correctly) note Bush did this too. In fact, he started it. Obama just completed what the previous presidency had done. IMPEACHABLE!

U.N. Firearms Treaty

This is in no way a threat to the 2nd Amendment. It has to do with arms deals to other countries. Ask Snopes.

Executive Order 13603 NDRP

This is an executive order that ... ALLOWS OBAMA TO SEIZE THE COUNTRY. Specifically, it allows him to seize the country so long as you do not study the order, its history, or what it really means. The order is an update to a 1950's Truman era order and changes relatively little. If HotAir doesn't think it's a big deal and Legal Insurrection doesn't think it's a big deal, I don't.

Executive Order 13524 

This gives paper pushers in the UN's NYC HQ some additional immunities but they aren't going around and arresting people. Thirty seconds and snopes.

The fact that about 10 minutes of Googling can disprove almost all of this is evidence that what's driving this isn't a deep understanding of constitutional violations but rather these people having been told over and over that Obama is a communist dictator and that he (or ... the Democrats? Someone) is going to lead the country down into darkness.

The Omnivore thinks it's entirely possible that Obama will be remembered as an incredibly ineffectual president (although the ACA alone makes that unlikely). Possibly a very poor president (depending on what finally happens with the 'recovery,' most likely). Maybe even a terribly bad president (if Russia manages to hold Ukraine and the Middle East descends into chem-weapon chaos).

These things are all possible--but a literal dictator? A tyrant? That seems like a rhetorical flourish. These people are taking it literally.

What's Going On With Operation American Spring?

The Omnivore holds that all politics are psychological (well, almost all). Anything you believe strongly--and put a lot of energy into--it's because you have an underlying emotional driver. Now, that doesn't mean you can't learn about, say, an injustice, and become a champion for correcting it. That's fine--but look at it the other way: many other people hear about [ the criminal theft of honey from bees ] and don't [ become Vegan ]. What was it about you that got you on board?

Having an underlying emotional driver doesn't make the cause bad and it doesn't make the person following it bad--but that lens does provide some clarity on what's really going on. In cases like Operation American Spring, it also provides some insight as to how they'll operate and what they might accomplish.

Here's what The Omnivore sees:
  1. Brotherhood Against Adversity. The Omnivore thinks that a lot of those people may well be facing some kind of adversity. To be out there indefinitely you pretty much have to be unemployed. Going through that alone seems broken (The Omnivore would like to know how many of them get some kind of government aid too ...)
  2. Anger At A Nebulous Force Of Great Power. The Omnivore doubts most of the patriots can explain the charges against Obama at more than a cursory level. If asked why he should be impeached, the answer will likely be "Benghazi." That's fine--but it's also bogus. Instead, the President (and, sometimes, the Supreme Court ... or the last president) instead become these symbolic oppressors. They're responsible for [ Grand Theft America ]. They're the targets.
  3. A Journey. This kind of undertaking is akin (very much akin) to a spiritual journey: it is going to be long (they will stay there until he leaves--probably 2016). It is going to be hard (winter is a long way off--but ask Eddard Stark how that works out). They are going to have to endure. Part of that is the brotherhood--but part of that is also seeking personal change. The speaker I heard had bad knees and couldn't keep up with the marchers. I suspect his journey to Washington was proportionally difficult as well. The Omnivore suspects a lot of the people in Zuccotti Park were looking for their identities. Perhaps this older crowd is considering some new ones? Revolutionary Patriot isn't bad--so long as you don't really think you're going to have to, you know, water the tree.
The Omnivore doesn't, in fact, think these are bad people--or traitors. They feel they are called on to take up arms (in a metaphorical sense) against a force they feel is bad--which seems indomitable (the next vote is two years away ... and Hillary is ahead in the polls!)--and for which there is a pre-packaged narrative that they can adopt to guide them.

The Omnivore doesn't hold out much hope for a month--and no hope of unseating Obama--but he does hope they go home feeling something other than totally insulted on Twitter.
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