The DOJ will have an easy time prosecuting and convicting the
Kochs because there are money trails leading directly to PACs whose
primary purpose was inciting opposition to…
There is a saying in the entertainment industry that any publicity is
good publicity, and although it is primarily true for entertainers, it
is not the case for politicians. For the dark money and puppeteers
behind wingnut politicians, anonymity is the preferred state and
any publicity is inherently bad regardless if they fund extremist
politicians or schemes to shut down the government. After news broke
that the billionaire oil magnates the Koch brothers funded the culprits
behind the still-ongoing government shut down, they finally spoke out in
a
letter to
Senators claiming their innocence and denying they had any part in
teabagger and repugican machinations to hold the government hostage in
exchange for killing the Affordable Care Act.
The Koch brothers’ letter claimed they had no part or took no position “
on
the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding
ObamaCare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding
ObamaCare,” but like their repugican lackeys; they are filthy liars. The
Koch-funded FreedomWorks issued a letter in February that said, “
Wingnuts
should not approve a CR unless it defunds Obamacare. This includes
Obamacare’s unworkable exchanges, unsustainable Medicaid expansion, and
attack on life and religious liberty.” If paying a surrogate to
demand repugicans and teabaggers tie defunding the Affordable Care Act
to keeping the government operating is not taking a position on the
government shutdown and the continuing resolution, then the Sun rises in
the West and the Earth orbits the moon.
Obviously the bad publicity frightens the Koch brothers and doubtless
they are legitimately concerned they will lose influence with their
right wing conservative base who are taking a beating in the public
sphere for their fervent support of the government shutdown. Likely, the
Koch’s are not happy their reputation could be further sullied for
backing the lunatic fringe wing of the repugican cabal led by Michele
Bachmann, Ted Cruz, and Steve King who championed the government
shutdown strategy to eliminate the health law. It is also likely they
did not miss Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s accusations they were
behind the shutdown, or the articles, petitions and calls for the
Justice Department to investigate them for sedition that never had a
snowball’s chance in Hell of touching the Kochs.
However, there is a statute in the U.S. Code that does apply to the
Koch brothers and every other wingnut that spent the past three
years attempting to prohibit implementation of the Affordable Care Act
and it is a legitimate and actionable offense the DOJ can prosecute with
extreme prejudice. In
18 USC § 2384 – Seditious conspiracy, it plainly says; “
If
two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject
to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspires to oppose by force the authority of, or prevent, hinder, or delay
the execution of any law of the United States, they shall each be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.”
For the Americans affected by the government shut down, and those who
live in repugican states that rejected free Medicaid expansion written
in the Affordable Care Act, it is highly likely they would support
fining and imprisoning the Koch brothers for twenty years.
The U.S. Code says “
if two or more persons” are involved in a conspiracy to oppose the authority of, prevent, hinder, or
delay any
law they shall be punished and that means that every single repugican,
teabagger, wingnut media, and libertarian belief tank is in line
to be prosecuted for seditious conspiracy by the Department of Justice.
Every repugican in the House that voted to tie defunding the Affordable
Care Act is part of the conspiracy, and that also applies to repugicans who voted in lockstep to prevent the law’s implementation by
tying defunding the law to passing a continuing resolution to open the
government.
The repugicans in leadership positions in the House and Senate are
particularly culpable for preventing the law’s enactment and not because
they wasted taxpayer time and money voting over forty times to repeal
the law, but because their propaganda, lies, and misinformation incited
hostility in the states to oppose the authority of the law. In states
such as Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and Missouri The repugicans refused to enforce the law, and after the general election
at least three repugican states voted to
arrest
any federal official who tried to implement the law making them part of
the seditious conspiracy as much as the Koch brothers who paid
hundreds-of-millions to hinder the law’s implementation. One former repugican, Joe Walsh (r-IL) actually went so far as to provoke his
supporters to “
defy and or break the law” if faced with what he
called “restrictions” in the federal health law. Three repugican cabal-controlled
states openly voted to “nullify” the law.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was signed
into law on March 23, 2010 and yet repugicans have never admitted it
is the law of the land. It is true that after the 2012 general election
Speaker of the House John Boehner had a moment of clarity and said
“Obamacare is the law of the land,” but he, and his fellow wingnuts
treat the law as if it is a piece of legislation still up for debate
and negotiation. Since the law is over three-and-a-half years old, every repugican, teabagger, wingnut think tank, and even wingnut
media is guilty of conspiring to oppose the authority of, or prevent,
hinder, or delay the ACA and it is incumbent on the Department of
Justice to charge every last one of them with seditious conspiracy under
U.S. Code 18 USC § 2384, but especially Charles and David Koch.
The DOJ will have an easy time prosecuting and convicting the Kochs
and their conspirators because there are money trails leading directly
to PACs whose primary purpose was inciting opposition to the established
law. There are also videos, angry screeds, and floor speeches from repugicans in the House and Senate demanding the ACA be defunded and
delayed that would give any prosecutor an easy task of proving seditious
conspiracy.
Americans have put up with criminal sedition from the Kochs and
Republicans for too long and they cannot be held to a different standard
or above the law because they are rich and powerful. In fact, their
violation of the U.S. Code may well be the easiest, and only, means of
stopping their continued assault on America’s representative democracy.
Obviously the Koch brothers were rattled by charges they were behind the
government shutdown through their funding efforts to hold the
government hostage in exchange for eliminating the ACA or they would not
have written a letter lying about their involvement. But they, their
think tanks, PACs, and cohort in Congress and the states cannot deny
they are guilty of seditious conspiracy to “
oppose the authority of, or prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States”
and no American should be satisfied until they are fined or imprisoned
for twenty years. If there is any justice left in this corrupt nation,
they will get both.
Author note:
The fact that states voted to arrest federal
officials attempting to enforce the health law, coupled with the growing
threats of armed violence against the government due to the health
law’s enactment meets the definition of “by force” originally omitted in
the U.S. Code’s description. By definition, a conspiracy means the
planners, inciters, and funders are guilty the same as Osama bin Laden
was guilty for recruiting, planning, and funding al Qaeda terrorists who
flew commercial airliners into American buildings.
