Legitimate revolution or mere insurrection?

Glen Reynolds had an opinion:

Although many militia supporters can quote the framers at great length on the right to bear arms, few seem aware that the framers also put a lot of effort into distinguishing between legitimate revolutions-such as the American Revolution- and mere "rebellions" or "insurrections." The former represented a right, even a duty, of the people. The latter were illegitimate, mere outlawry...

The most important aspect of this theory was representation. Those who were not represented lacked the citizen's duty of loyalty. A government that taxed its citizens without representation was thus no better than an outlaw, and citizens enjoyed the same right of resistance against its officers as they possessed against robbers.

But revolting against taxation without representation is not the same thing as revolting against taxation, period. Like it or not, the government we have now is the government that most citizens at least thought they wanted.

Reynolds wrote this a bit before the Oklahoma City bombing.

I have long thought that those bombers betrayed their own cause. I would have had a good deal more respect for them if, when they were captured, instead of saying "Oh, no, I didn't do THAT" they had plead Not Guilty and explained themselves with a call to arms.

They could have taken advantage of the world's attention to say "We did everything we stand accused of, and we shall tell you why every informed and responsible citizen should join us. The federal government is both guilty of acts which are intolerable to informed and responsible citizens, and those acts cannot be stopped through the peaceful political process. We ask you to find us Not Guilty even though we did bomb the federal building."

Instead, once they had gained the attention of their fellow citizens at the cost of hundreds of lives including children's, they pretended they hadn't committed the bombing. By refusing to defend the morality of their crime they betrayed their own cause, and I think they qualify as nothing more than criminals.