Terrorism

In the article, "The First Tea-Party Terrorist?", Robert Wright talks of Joseph Stack's actions and reasoning for those actions in retrospect to terrorism.  As Austin surely knows, Stack set fire to his home before he flew his airplane into the Echelon building which houses many IRS offices.  Officials later found his manifesto stating his problems with the government and his tax evasion.  There's obviously more to it than just that, but that's not all this article is about.  Aiming and the general American public, Wright explains that Joseph Stack could have been a Tea Partier, a group that deals with anti-tax protests and issues.  Since this party deals with anti-tax, it would seem natural to place Mr. Stack into this category.  Wright suggests Stack's attack could have been the first of this Tea Party, causing the government to put more focus on tax-related issues than it already does.  Wright also states that "the core unifying theme of the Tea Partiers is populist rage", which was a big deal to Stack.  Wright also refers to the term "terrorist".  He states that "a terrorist is someone who attacks in the name of a political cause and aims to spread terror - to foster fear that such attacks will be repeated until grievances are addressed."

Terrorism is a big part of what puts fear into the eyes and hearts of Americans, especially after the 9/11 attacks.  I agree with the common usage of what a terrorist is, and I completely agree that Joseph Stack was a terrorist.  But this time was different than the 2001 attacks.  This time the attack against America was an American.  Because of his hardships and issues with the government, Stack felt the need to strike fear into America and consider himself as part of a cause - fighters against tyranny.  Stack also believed that there will be many more people to join the cause and strike out against it, which I agree with.  No matter what happens, there is always going to be someone who feels they are hurting worse than others and will feel the need to, again, spread terror throughout the nation to get their point across.  I will argue that stack being considered a Tea Partier is irrelevant.  Okay, there is a group of people that are protesting against some political and governmental issue...welcome to America!  The fact is that terrorists take things to a whole new level and cause detriment to the areas they strike.  I feel the issue is just that: terrorists.  Due to what this nation has faced, there are always going to be certain individuals that feel the need to take things a step further than need be.  Joseph Stack may have been well-suited to be placed in the Tea Party category against taxes, fine.  But there are always groups protesting one thing or another.  It's the fact that terrorists exist, and they will always come out of the shadows and into the light to spread fear and anger in the hearts of American citizens.  The fact that it's happened before will be more motivation for terrorists to feel like they can repeat what has already been done, or maybe they will feel the need to "one up" their "competition" and strike out in worse ways, if that's possible.