You Can't Hurt the Government Without Hurting Real People

We had a real scare this week when an angry person crashed a plane into an IRS office in Northwest Austin. I was out of town when I heard about it. My wife works for the IRS, but it was not her office that was hit. As a result of heroics by first responders and volunteers, good training and a well-designed building, only two people died.

The perpetrator had a list of grievances against the IRS that went back 20 years. He was upset that he couldn't deduct his home as a church, that a change in the tax laws allowed him to be treated as an independent contractor and that he had to pay taxes and penalties on funds prematurely withdrawn from a retirement account. There was also something about his wife's undeclared income. He finally decided that "nothing changes unless there is a body count" according to his final statement.

While Andrew Joseph Stack III only managed to create a body count of two, it is important to remember his victim. Vernon Hunter was a 68 year old African American man. He served 20 years in the military and had worked at the IRS for 20 years. After his second retirement, he planned to work with children with learning disabilities. He was active in his church. He had three children, three step-children and seven grand-children. In short, Vernon Hunter was a good man. Joe Stack tried to strike a blow against the government. Instead, he killed a good man.

There has been angry rhetoric against the government for as long as I can remember. We have had the militia movement and tax protestors. More recently we have the Tea Party activists who refer to the "usurper" in the White House and rail about how we are being turned into an unconsitutional, totalitarian, socialist state. On the left we had protestors who brought Molotov cocktails to the Republican National Convention.

To those who are angry, I say this: Use your First Amendment freedoms to protest, organize and demonstrate. Rail against injustice. Speak out. However, when you cross the line into violence, be aware that you are hurting real people with real faces and real families. If the plane had struck a different IRS office at a different time of day, my wife could have been a victim. If doesn't do any good to rail against Andrew Joseph Stack, III because he is gone. I just hope that other angry souls will realize that you can't hurt the government without hurting real people, people like Vernon Hunter.