Republicans, Zealots and Our Security

[Derechos]

IF China or Iran threatened our national credit rating and tried to drive up our interest rates, or if they sought to damage our education system, we would erupt in outrage.

Well, wake up to the national security threat. Only it’s not coming from abroad, but from our own domestic extremists.

We tend to think of national security narrowly as the risk of a military or terrorist attack. But national security is about protecting our people and our national strength — and the blunt truth is that the biggest threat to America’s national security this summer doesn’t come from China, Iran or any other foreign power. It comes from budget machinations, and budget maniacs, at home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/opinion/24kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

[dgibby]

1. I have always been more concerned with the enemy within

than with the enemy without.

[Skip_In_Boulder]

2. The most important line in the text is at the end.

"So let’s remember not only the national security risks posed by Iran and Al Qaeda. Let’s also focus on the risks, however unintentional, from domestic zealots."