The American Revolution wasn't exactly a love fest. We didn't talk our way into independence. We shot red coats in the face. We tried to talk, of course, but the British weren't interested in listening, so we did what we had to do.

The American Civil War was a fight to end slavery and preserve the nation. It was a violent fight. Yankees and Rebs shot each other and destroyed entire cities, and in the end, the task was accomplished.

So when someone like Sen. Ed Markey invokes those two wars as "revolutions" and then calls for a new one, one has every right to believe violence is, at a minimum, not off the table.

And that's exactly what Markey did.

Standing outside in snow-covered Boston with a bullhorn adorned with leftist stickers, including one saying "Black Lives Matter," the senator spoke about the start of the American Revolution, and other similar "revolutions," including one against Trump and Musk. "This is the city of revolutionaries, from the American Revolution, to create checks and balances in the United States Constitution so that we did not have a dictator, a king, the way those way those colonists were living under it!" The crowd could be heard agreeing enthusiastically.

"And they fought, all along Massachusetts Avenue, all coming out, the minutemen and women to say, 'no taxation without representation!'" As Markey continued, his remarks were momentarily drowned out by cheers from the crowd. "The American Revolution started here," he went on to remind. "The revolution of abolitionism started here, the revolution of the suffragette movement started here, the revolution of same-sex marriage started here, the revolution against the war in Vietnam started here, the revolution against Donald Trump and Elon Musk, it starts here," the senator emphasized. 

Massachusetts is where revolutions are born. And the revolution against Donald Trump and Elon Musk starts here. pic.twitter.com/K0hJB8gkHV

— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) February 17, 2025

I'm old enough to remember how Sarah Palin was supposedly responsible for Gabby Giffords being shot because she used crosshairs over districts her organization targeted as vulnerable Democrats, but this is acceptable?

Again, at least two of the "revolutions" he cites here were violent confrontations.

Many comments to the senator's post on X ask if he's calling for insurrection against the elected president of the United States--a man who won both the electoral vote and the popular vote this time around--though he apparently hasn't clarified his remarks as of this writing.

I find this incredibly hypocritical, though.

When people carry guns at all as a form of protest or rally--something I'm not a particular fan of, by the way, because it distracts from the message of any non-Second Amendment-related protest--people like Markey act like the protest was, in fact, a threat. They claim everything is a threat, yet invoking two wars as examples of the kinds of revolution that "started" in Massachusetts is somehow perfectly acceptable and couldn't possibly incite anyone into an act of violence.

Really?

Look, I very much fear that we've been on a path to a second civil war for quite some time. I genuinely thought we'd be there already. Since we don't seem to be taking a different path, I'm concerned we're still heading that way. A lot of other people figure the same thing, and not all of them are on the side of the angels here. Some are going to hear this and potentially think that now is the time.

And if they do, Markey bears just as much responsibility as they want every Republican to bear whenever they try to pin something on them.

On the upside, this side of the debate has guns, trains with them, and carries them everywhere they can.

I suspect those who heed Markey's words as an invitation to violence are going to have a very bad time. That blood will also be on Markey's hands.