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Explosive growth of right-wing 'patriot' groups linked to economy,election by 123wert sdfsf
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Explosive growth of right-wing 'patriot' groups linked to economy,election by 123WERT SDFSF
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| Article Posted: 05/18/2013 |
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Explosive growth of right-wing 'patriot' groups linked to economy,election |
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Fears of a coming economic collapse that could spark widespreadviolence, even civil war, fueled the continued explosive growth ofconspiracy-minded antigovernment patriot groups in 2011. That's the conclusion of a new report from the Southern Poverty LawCenter, which tracks extremist groups in the United States. Theorganization's quarterly Intelligence Report, issued Thursday,found that the number of patriot groups grew from 824 to 1,274between 2010 and 2011, up from 149 in 2008. In Alaska, the Fairbanks militia leader Schaeffer Cox and hiscompatriots with the Alaska Peacemakers Militia are scheduled to goto trail in May, charged with a laundry list of weapons violationsand conspiracy to murder state and federal officials.
Earlier analysis by the SPLC, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala.,found that the patriot movement was largely inspired by concernsthat whites would become a minority in the US by mid-century symbolized by the election of President Obama, the nation's firstblack president, in 2008. Now, however, the movement is alsodrawing energy from conspiracy theories about globalization, theloss of individual rights and opportunity, and economic doom. Political vitriol ahead of the November presidential election alsois fueling the fire, says Mark Potok, editor of the IntelligenceReport. The animus toward Obama and the government may be as much rootedin economic as racial anger, Mr. Potok writes in the report,adding later at a press conference that, This is largely anational reaction to things that are going on in the real world.
The SPLC says it doesn't track political opposition groups, onlythose that espouse invalidated conspiracy theories in order to ginup fear and drive membership. They tend to have the groups in there where people are eitherespousing really extremist rhetoric or they've got connections toillegal behavior, says Carolyn Gallaher, author of Fault Line:Race, Class and the American Patriot Movement. But the patriot movement is a huge umbrella, she says, andthere are many people that are in that movement that aren't engagedin illegal activity. In its report, the SPLC says that the normalizing of conspiracytheories, largely a result of the breakdown in traditional mediaand rise of the blogosphere, has played into the growth of patriotgroups as their ideas have gained traction in the political sphere,including on many US city councils and county commissions. Specific ideas include pushback to the United Nations Agenda 21 smart growth treaty; lingering questions about Mr.
Obama'scitizenship, highlighted last week by an independent investigationinto Obama's eligibility by Sheriff Joe Arpaio in Arizona; whispersabout FEMA building concentration camps; rumors of covert plans byMexico to repatriate parts of the Southwest; and concerns aboutMuslim Sharia law becoming part of the US court system. Patriot groups are also pushing state legislation to rebuff theNational Defense Authorization Act, signed by Obama in December,which allows the US to detain without arrest American citizensbelieved to be involved in terrorism, which is widely seen in thepatriot community as a constitutional breach. All those factors taken together fears about government tyranny,the looming loss of the white majority, degradation of economicopportunity, the political and media mainstreaming of moreextremist thought, and the potential reelection of Obama haveserved to drive up the danger level, Potok says. Along with the rise in patriot groups has been a marked increase ingun sales and concealed carry permits, which experts peg in part tocrime fears, but also a basic fear of government, particularlythe national government, and what it might do, says SanfordLevinson, a law professor at the University of Texas, in Austin. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI have warnedrecently about the rise of right-wing extremists and so-called sovereign citizen groups, which believe that most US lawdoesn't apply to them.
But those warnings have also served to stokeparanoia among patriot group members. The idea that the US government has patriot groups in its sightswas taken up by Republican US Senate candidate Jamie Radtke ofVirginia, who in February called on the US House leadership tolaunch a formal investigation into whether the Internal RevenueService is targeting tea party and patriot groups. Those within the largely rural patriot movement agree with the SPLCthat tensions are rising ahead of the presidential election inNovember. The worse the economy gets, the more the groups are going togrow, August Kreis, a former Aryan Nations leader, told theIntelligence Report. White people are arming themselves andblack people, too.
I believe eventually it s going to come down tocivil war. It s going to be an economic war, the rich versus thepoor. We re being divided along economic lines. In his press conference Thursday, Potok quoted League of the Southpresident Michael Hill at a recent talk, where he reportedly said, We're already at war, what would it take to get you to fight? He also quoted William Gheen, head of the Americans for LegalImmigration PAC, as saying that to save white America it may benecessary to engage in extrapolitical activities that I can'treally talk about because they're all illegal and violent. I think the growth of patriot groups is a symptom of some veryhard times economically and some disturbing political trends, said Hill.
I'm really concerned about the level of animositybetween the two sides out there, and that's why I'm saying thatpeople should take advantage of the Second Amendment and make surethey learn to safely use firearms, just to protect themselves inthis kind of environment. The real concern behind the rise in the number of patriot groups,however, is not always the prospect of crime and violence, buttheir effect on the political system, says Ms. Gallaher, who isalso a professor at American University. Within these groups, it's not about race or class, it's alwaysrace and class all blended together, she says.
So we can getcaught up on whether or not we label them racist or not, but that'sa semantic issue. The real issue is, what are they espousing, andwhat would it do to minorities and immigrants and the poor?. I am Packaging & Paper writer, reports some information about jumbo hot rollers , aluminum boat welded.
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