There once was a time in American history when ordinary citizens like you and me thought it not only their right, but also their responsibility, to make it known that they disagreed with the actions of their government. While some staged sit-ins, protest rallies and marches, others took more drastic measures. They felt that only dramatic action like bombings would garner the attention of Washington politicos who had heretofore ignored the will of the people. Ring any bells? The idea of armed revolution is nothing new, but the world over, where violence is used as a tool to fight the status quo, we now call the individuals engaged in this activity terrorists.

I’ve seen enough documentary evidence from Colombia, Palestine, Cuba, and the US to think that, while I don’t agree with destroying property or killing people, there are people engaged in these activities who feel so disenfranchised that they can see no other path. Trying to engage in compromise with government is  met with silence. Until they start misbehaving, governments pay no attention to them. (I’d be curious if anyone has an example of a time and place where the disenfranchised were actually brought into the fold of discourse.) Were the Weatherman right to do the things they did here in America? No, but there were reasons. They served their time in prison and many have gone on to become thought-leaders, including Bill Ayers. While Ayers is rightfully keeping quiet, please take a moment to read filmmaker Sam Green’s thoughts over at AJ Schnack’s blog and I’d also highly recommend to anyone concerned about Obama and/or Ayers to watch Green’s film The Weather Underground.

If we are to be a civilized society, there can be no justification for protest that results in death. I’m finding it really hard to swallow that the so-called politically right think that it is appropriate to not only smear Barack Obama by using the language “associates with terrorists” but also that Obama, Ayers and others have been met with death threats over the whole thing. Um, excuse me, but isn’t the issue here that Ayers and his compadres set bombs that killed people? And you voice your objection to the Weatherman via a death threat? So in actuality, the only difference between these would-be murderers and the Weatherman is that they acted.

I was watching Colbert the other night and his guest David Gergen noted how abominable it is that the McCain campaign would not stand up and tell their supporters that threatening death to anyone is behavior they won’t stand for. Instead, they continue to stoke the embers and try to hammer home an absurd connection between Ayers and Obama. Yes, we have more important issues to focus on that this one, but this sad story appears to be one more tweet from the canary in the coal mine that something is terribly wrong in our country.

Thank you to the following engaged citizens for their news tips: Chuck Tryon, AJ Schnack and Scott Beiben.