We're All Just RWE's!

I assume most of you have now heard about or read the "leaked" memo from Department of Homeland Security which, without data, evidence or support, labels as "extreme" pretty much half the population of the United States, in particular Republicans, conservatives, and libertarians. The memo targets "groups, movements, and adherents that are mainly anti-government, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority." That would include, if they were alive today, Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, or Madison (well, not all were Federalists, although all of them ultimately agreed to those governing principles).

Just to be sure we are all on the same page here, and drinking tea instead of koolaid, here is the language of the 10th Amendment to the US Constitution:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the People.

That means, for those not sufficiently schooled in 18th Century prose, that anything not expressly granted to the federal government is reserved to the states or the people. Therefore any constitutionalist who believes in the republic, and in the federal form of government, is, according to Napolitano, a "right wing extremist".

The memo also targeted groups and individuals who are dedicated to a single issue - you know, like folks who believe in Right to Life or are opposed to illegal immigration - and especially frightening, targeted returning veterans who could be targeted by extremists and "radicalized" to "exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat." I guess those skills include the ability to shoot - yet the 2d Amendment protects the right to gun ownership.

You know, this antiquated document just gets in the way of the statist/fascist bureaucrats running Washington these days - how much simpler if we could all just be re-educated to trust them, drink the Koolaid, and do as we are told? Well, perhaps because of another little-known right those RWEs stuck in the Constitution, known as the 9th Amendment. It says:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

While I am aware of the Slaughterhouse cases and other poorly reasoned dribble by past courts that marginalize this language, perhaps we need to revisit and reinvigorate these express rights before they are undermined further by even more poorly reasoned dribble, in the form of government scapegoating of those who refuse to drink the Koolaid.

My question? Was this "leak" unintentional, coming as it did on the eve of a national protest of government excess at the federal level, or was it intended to chill protest? And if the latter, how big would those crowds have been without the chilling effect? Somebody needs to remind Napolitano and her ilk to read the base, founding document from which her limited powers derive, before she inserts any more of her foot, gout and all, in her mouth.