By Jamie Neben

We’ve seen town hall meetings and tea parties over the years where people get together and talk about how much the government (both conservative and liberal) is out of control.  I don’t know if that culture had anything to do with someone’s decision to fly his plane into an IRS office building in Austin, Texas.    

I can’t judge the whole life of the pilot, identified as Joe Stack, but I can judge his actions when he decided the best recourse for his various grievances was to harm innocent people.   Of course, it’s not right on any level.  Perhaps some of the complaints in his suicide note are valid.  He may have had more than one legitimate beef.   But I’m willing to bet that most of the people in that building knew nothing about the man, let alone had anything against him.  We’re certain to learn much more in the coming days.

As for my opinion on the morning of February 18, I don’t believe this is your average disgruntled American who has gotten mad as hell too many times.  Most of those people will simply withdraw, or become self-destructive without putting other lives at risk.  Besides that, according to reports, this guy set his own house (where his wife and daughter also lived) on fire before the incident.   Thankfully, no one was injured there but it further suggests to me that he wasn’t playing with a full deck.   Anybody in their right mind would not perform such acts of evil (unless they were inherently evil—which I don’t believe).

I will take a loud political rally any day of the week if people voice their opinions and enact change within the democratic process.   Sure, there are times for revolutions, but in this country, the ballot box has proven to be the most effective method for change.  Let’s make sure that people know that flying into buildings is not acceptable!

To avoid issues with the CAPTCHA code, make sure that this article is the only one on the page when you wish to comment.