The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was passed by Congress, signed by the President, and affirmed by the Supreme Court. House Republicans and Senator Kruz are threatening to place the nation at huge financial risk as an unconventional and possibly illegal way of thwarting the laws of the nation, in an effort to damage and destroy as law of the land the ACA. These are our elected officials, publicly and actively trying to destroy a law that was voted and affirmed by the people. Could this be sedition?
I'd be interested what folks think. I am not a lawyer, but it sure seems to me that what Kruz and his gang are doing meets the definition of sedition. Here's a definition I found on the web:
Sedition
A revolt or an incitement to revolt against established authority, usually in the form of Treason or Defamation against government.
Sedition is the crime of revolting or inciting revolt against government. However, because of the broad protection of free speech under the First Amendment, prosecutions for sedition are rare. Nevertheless, sedition remains a crime in the United States under 18 U.S.C.A. § 2384 (2000), a federal statute that punishes seditious conspiracy, and 18 U.S.C.A. § 2385 (2000), which outlaws advocating the overthrow of the federal government by force. Generally, a person may be punished for sedition only when he or she makes statements that create a Clear and Present Danger to rights that the government may lawfully protect (schenck v. united states, 249 U.S. 47, 39 S. Ct. 247, 63 L. Ed. 470 [1919]).
Isn't the effort to shut down the government and destroy our financial system a Clear and Present danger?
The crime of seditious conspiracy is committed when two or more persons in any state or U.S. territory conspire to levy war against the U.S. government. A person commits the crime of advocating the violent overthrow of the federal government when she willfully advocates or teaches the overthrow of the government by force, publishes material that advocates the overthrow of the government by force, or organizes persons to overthrow the government by force. A person found guilty of seditious conspiracy or advocating the overthrow of the government may be fined and sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. States also maintain laws that punish similar advocacy and conspiracy against the state government.
Mon Sep 30, 2013 at 8:30 AM PT: I am not saying that what Kruz or others say on the floor are sedition. Instead, I'm asking whether the series of actions whereby a small minority, unhappy with the laws of the land (ACA), choose to then force the government into default as a means to force repeal of a law that was passed by Congress and endorsed by the Supreme Court, is seditious behavior. Is it a felony to throw the government into default? I think that argument can be made, and thus the action could be argued as treasonous, an even higher crime than sedition. Is forcing the government into default a clear and present danger to the state? We shall see, I guess. Point is, for over 200 years our system has worked according to a law, once passed, being enforced and upheld until it is changed by vote of Congress. This new strategy to threaten financial destruction because one party lost on the vote, and then lost an election largely about that vote, seems a radical departure from the Constitution as written. This my question.