# Stupid Republican idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 26, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897 "2009-03-26T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 715
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14281 "2014-04-25T02:30:51Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > And Rachel Maddow, probably among others, is pointing out on her show that his racist views should hardly come as a surprise, since his rants about county sheriffs being superior to federal authorities have their roots in the days when local sheriffs bravely stood up to the meddling Feds who were trying to enforce civil rights laws. See also [url=]Posse Comitatus. > [@](#): > > The **Posse Comitatus** organization was an extreme right-wing tax resistance movement active in the U.S. in the 1970s and early 1980s. It was strongest in the rural Midwestern states where a farm foreclosure crisis gave them an appealing recruiting target. Less an organized group than a decentralized movement, they generally held that the only legitimate form of government was at the county level (_posse comitatus_ is Latin for “power of the county”) and did not recognize the state or federal government. They believed the county sheriff was therefore the head of state, and the unorganized militia of the county (themselves) was the sheriff’s enforcement arm under their admittedly bizarre reading of common law. (See: pseudolaw) It is not documented exactly how Posse Comitatus activists felt that this would work in areas of the country with weak or non-existent county governments (such as New England or Alaska), or in New York City, where the governments of five counties (the Five Boroughs) have been completely subsumed by the city government. > > \ > > While Posse Comitatus is not active in any significant sense, its ideology led to the sovereign citizen movement as well as the closely related militia movement. The anonymous propaganda tract known as the _Citizen’s Rule Book_ is also believed to have been written by either members or sympathizers of PC due to its ideological slant. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14282 "2014-04-25T03:07:48Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > color me unsurprised Ha! ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14283 "2014-04-25T03:52:16Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > As for Bundy, color me unsurprised _suspicious_ What kinda name is Miskatonic, anyhow? Are you one of them furriners? ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14284 "2014-04-25T04:20:48Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > _suspicious_ What kinda name is Miskatonic, anyhow? Are you one of them furriners? Furriner! He was in New England before the pilgrims arrived. Before the Native Americans too… ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14285 "2014-04-25T04:44:07Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Furriner! He was in New England before the pilgrims arrived. > > Before the Native Americans too… Yeah…probably better not to ask TOO many questions about certain people’s ancestry ‘round that neck o’ the woods… ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14286 "2014-04-25T06:47:49Z")
The Interesting Times Gang from Ian Banks’ Culture novels. They would get shit handled. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14287 "2014-04-25T13:16:12Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > _suspicious_ What kinda name is Miskatonic, anyhow? Are you one of them furriners? Step into my circle and we’ll…discuss it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14288 "2014-04-25T14:24:36Z")
Posted in the wrong forum. I guess you guys have gotten a little jaded about nonsense in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14289 "2014-04-25T14:27:37Z")
[Now Bundy has some thoughts about “the Spanish people” and they are more interesting than you might expect.](http://www.vox.com/2014/4/25/5651432/cliven-bundy-spanish-people) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14290 "2014-04-25T14:29:03Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Step into my circle and we’ll…discuss it. > > 😃 Hey, careful there! You don’t wanna get [Banned from Arkham](http://www.khaosworks.org/filk/arkham.html)! ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14291 "2014-04-25T14:33:20Z")
When you have to say [“I’m not a racist,”](http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/crime/2014/04/25/newday-intv-bundy-im-not-a-racist.cnn.html) you’ve already lost. I know, I know. Nobody is ready to say Bundy’s lost, yet, but I’m going out on a limb and calling it. ---
**Author:** ![hotflungwok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/edb3f5/32.png) [@hotflungwok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hotflungwok)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14292 "2014-04-25T14:39:03Z")
Golly, I wonder what he thinks of Arabs. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Greenjeans](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.greenjeans/32/551_2.png) [@Mr.Greenjeans](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Greenjeans)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14293 "2014-04-25T14:46:01Z")
And I bet I can guess how he feels about the Jew. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14294 "2014-04-25T14:57:28Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Nobody is ready to say Bundy’s lost, yet, but I’m going out on a limb and calling it. It’s pretty sad that he’s “lost” due to something irrelevant to the case, though, not because he’s a thief. ---
**Author:** ![MacCat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maccat/32/216_2.png) [@MacCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacCat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14295 "2014-04-25T15:23:00Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > [Now Bundy has some thoughts about “the Spanish people” and they are more interesting than you might expect.](http://www.vox.com/2014/4/25/5651432/cliven-bundy-spanish-people) “We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front,” said former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, a Bundy ally. “If they are going to start shooting, it’s going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers.” Lest you worry too much about those women, Stephen Colbert pointed out they will protect them with a line of children. [The Ballad of Cliven Bundy](http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/ehanpl/the-ballad-of-cliven-bundy) ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14296 "2014-04-25T15:40:51Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > It’s pretty sad that he’s “lost” due to something irrelevant to the case, though, not because he’s a thief. Not exactly irrelevant. He was ranting about people on public assistance, which one could reasonably say he was. And, well, a _melon farmer_ complaining about negros, talk about biting the hand. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14297 "2014-04-25T15:41:48Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Posted in the wrong forum. I guess you guys have gotten a little jaded about nonsense in this thread. Or maybe everyone but me has you on ignore. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14298 "2014-04-25T16:14:31Z")
Hey! **Evil Captor** is cool, one of my favorite posters. WTH? 😕 :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14299 "2014-04-25T16:18:20Z")
Evil Captor is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful poster I’ve ever known in my life. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2014, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897/14300 "2014-04-25T16:21:51Z")
Your eyelids were blinking something else in Morse code when you wrote that, right? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=714) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-republican-idea-of-the-day/490897.md?page=716)