Legal Commentary

On the Latest Eco-Terrorist

By Jonathan H. Adler

?Grover Cleveland? at Pileus offers these thoughts on James Lee:

James Lee (the Discovery building hostage taker and crazy environmentalist) no more represents left-wing environmentalists than do violent ?right-wingers? (such as Timothy McVeigh) represent those people who are conservative, libertarian, or anti-government.  I can see conservative demagogues using Lee to bash left-environmentalists, but I think this is quite unfair even if liberal/progressive demagogues have done similar things to those of us who are largely opposed to the actions of the federal government and the recent trajectory of American politics.

Of course, it is fun to note that Lee was apparently inspired by Al Gore?s loony manifesto.  But there is no straight line from Gore to hostage taking.  Lee and other environmental activists who have turned to personal violence are the extreme (pun intended) tail of the distribution in the environmental movement.  So let?s keep our eye on those who want to, via the political process, use the coercive power of the state to infringe on our liberty in the name of the environmental faith ? and avoid demagoguery related to individual nuts.

Full post as published by The Volokh Conspiracy on September 02, 2010 (boomark / email).