Causality, or causation, is the relation between some event (the cause) and a second, subsequent event (the effect), where the second event is a direct consequence of the first. It is not necessary for the second event to be an immediate consequence of the first, and in many cases it may take time for the cause to build momentum to produce the desired effect. Over the past five years, Republicans, teabaggers, 2nd Amendment advocates, and disaffected conservatives have slowly and methodically built their cause’s momentum that finally produced its first desired effect on Sunday.
The second mass shooting within a span of a few days was a product of the National Rifle Association’s drive to arm every citizen in America, and it is certain they will spin the good guys with guns were murdered by bad guys with guns to their advantage regardless the shooting claimed the lives of two Las Vegas police officers and a careless good guy with a gun on Sunday. The NRA never met a mass shooting they could not spin to put more guns in the hands of anti-government malcontents, but there are many, many more players responsible for causing two revolution-minded white supremacists to give the anti-government conservatives the desired effect they have sought for five years.
Call the shooting the start of a revolution, “taking our country back,” watering the tree of liberty, 2nd Amendment remedies, armed and dangerous, or any number of the GOP’s favorite Obama-era slogans from the right-wing propaganda machine, but call it what it really is; a product of Republican and teabagger anti-government white supremacist rhetoric. Now, it is likely Fox News, the NRA, Republicans, and teabaggers will claim the two shooters were crazed maniacs, but that is precisely who those conservative groups have spent five years pandering to and inciting to violence against government authorities; even if they were local Las Vegas authorities.
It is no small coincidence the shooters shouted “This is a revolution” or that they put the Tea Party banner, the Gadsden flag, on the body of one of the slain police officers. Leading up to, and during, the Bundy standoff with federal officers the clarion call to armed militias was “this is the second revolution” as the seditionists waved Gadsden flags. In fact, the idea of a revolution has been the theme of the likes of Larry Klayman, 2nd Amendment fanatics, and the so-called American Spring organizers also proudly flying the “Don’t Tread on Me” teabagger flag. There has been no small amount of reporting that the two shooters were white supremacists, but it is important to remember that the police officers were both white. However, that does not mean the white supremacists were not incited to act as a result of five years of Republican white supremacist angst and propaganda inciting hatred toward not only President Obama, but the idea that there “aren’t enough angry white guys” to keep Republicans in power over the long haul.
From the beginning of the 2012 Republican presidential primary campaign through the general election, there was a constant drumbeat against African Americans that Paul Ryan continued a few months ago and its only purpose is to cause white rage against people of color. It is part and parcel of the conservative movement’s “take our country back” to a “white only nation” crusade that fit handily with the gun fanatic cult’s contention that the 2nd Amendment exists to rebel against tyranny they claim is an African American President. Their efforts finally paid off and it is highly unlikely it is the last gun violence against government authority that the Bureau of Land Management avoided during the Cliven Bundy sedition.
One of the cheerleaders of the Bundy sedition, so-called oath keeper and gun fanatic, Richard Mack said, “Oh, no, I was afraid that he might have been at the Bundy ranch. As soon as I heard about it, I was afraid of that.” What was Mack really afraid of? Was it that the public would learn the Las Vegas shooters were encouraged by calls of “this is a revolution,” or that they murdered “white” law enforcement officers, or that Mack was instrumental in garnering support from likely white supremacist militias to take up arms against government authority? If nothing else, Mack should have been pleased that his, Bundy’s, Larry Klayman, Republicans, teabaggers, and their ilk’s calls for 2nd Amendment rights to “water the tree of liberty” through armed revolution finally bore fruit.
It is impossible to segregate the racism, anti-government rhetoric, gun proliferation, and calls for revolution from conservatives that are one in the same. Republicans are as guilty of inciting gun violence against government authority as “revolution-minded traitors because not once have they condemned gun maniacs for fighting for their precious 2nd Amendment rights to, as they claim, fight government tyranny. In fact, Republicans rallied behind the Bundy seditionists despite they advertised it was the start of the second revolution over what they claimed was government tyranny. Apparently, Cliven Bundy’s son claimed they asked the Las Vegas shooters to leave the “battlefield” after a couple of days because the couple were “very radical,” but that claim is suspect because a member of the Oath Keepers admitted passing out boxes of ammunition to “mentally imbalanced” individuals.
Regardless the shooters utilized the teabaggers’ icon the Gadsden flag, shouted “this is a revolution,” placed Nazi Swastikas on the slain officers, or used firearms to kill representatives of government authority, they were acting on what the right-wing echo chamber has been advocating for five years. Armed violence against government authority. It is true the Las Vegas couple meted out justice to themselves, but there is plenty of blame, and justice yet to be served on the entire conservative movement including the Republican Party.
The Las Vegas shooting spree, and shouts that “the revolution’s begun” are symptoms of a sick and twisted American conservative movement since a Black man was elected President. It is also the direct result of Fox News, teabaggers, the NRA, and mainstream Republicans decrying non-existent government tyranny, inciting opposition, even armed opposition against government authority, and calling for a revolution that two gun-wielding maniacs took to heart and attempted to incite.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn't look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
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