Matthew Yglesias is being dangerously sanguine:

But instead of complaining about the hypocrisy involved in not trying to whip people into a fit of terror and madness about this incident, I think it makes more sense to congratulate everyone on handling this in a calm and sensible manner. The key point, that all authorities seem to agree on, is that while this is a serious crime and a genuinely Bad Thing To Have Happen, that you need to put the likelihood of this sort of incident into a broader context. Simply put, the odds of “death by disgruntled anti-tax activist flying an airplane into your office” are extremely small and it’s extremely difficult to think of cost-effective and efficacious methods of ensuring that this never happens again. Off the top of my head, this looks to me like a demonstration of the desirability of better mental health services in the United States, but that’s something that I would think was true one way or the other.

How can Yglesias be sure there won’t be another plane flying into another building to promote the sick ideology that fueled Joe Stack’s murderous intentions? And how can he sure that plane won’t be filled with unconventional weapons? Our cities would become battlegrounds. Is that a chance he’s really comfortable taking?

We can’t just play defense in this fight. What Yglesias fails to understand is that the ideology Stack subscribed to is the problem. All across the country are sleeper cells preaching hatred of the tax code, gathering in public to denounce the results of a democratic election and sow the seeds of sectarian violence. They even have a major television network sympathetic to their sick agenda. The threat is there for all to see.

The proper response is to go on offense. Intelligence is crucial to anticipatory self-defense, so we must authorize the use of enhanced interrogation methods to break their determined resistance. Similarly, we need to authorize lawful methods of widespread data collection, known as the Teabagger Surveillance Program, to enable us to gather the dots necessary for putting together the puzzles of future attacks. Working with our partner intelligence agencies overseas, we will rely on humane but tough methods employed by our partner agencies in more appropriate legal environments. The gloves are off.

Of course, we have determined that as long as this Long War continues, it will be necessary to conduct the same sorts of detention operations that have featured in all previous wars. Accordingly, we ought to work to design a military commissions system for trying detainees for their war crimes. To rule out its applicability on American citizens would only encourage future radicals to recruit Americans.

The important thing to remember is that this can’t be treated as a law enforcement matter. The military is most properly in the lead here, and so we need to use our military to go on offense, busting up the cells and meeting places and safe havens the extremists use to hone both their ideological and their combat skills.

Defending America is a serious business. But all peace-loving conservatives should know that this campaign is not directed at them, but rather the sick extremists within their midst who pervert a great political tradition. We will encourage, and expect, those patriotic conservatives to cooperate with intelligence and military officials against those extremists. We must always be clear-eyed about the threats we face. Patriotic conservatives can clearly recognize that the methods we employ for our mutual interest are in the proud tradition of our Founding Fathers, whose traditions our actions are designed to uphold.