Anti-government [i.e., treasonous] militias on the rise in the US
Looks like anti-US militias are gaining strength in the US. I wonder if they know what they’re doing is treason (taking up arms against the US government). Here’s a story by Arthur Bright in the Christian Science Monitor:
Right-wing militia groups are on the rise in the United States after nearly a decade of obscurity, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors hate groups and extremist activity.
The report, released Wednesday, warns of “unmistakable signs of a revival of what in the 1990s was commonly called the militia movement.”
Militia rhetoric is being heard widely once more, often from a second generation of ideologues, and conspiracy theories are being energetically revived or invented anew. “Paper terrorism” — the use of property liens, bogus legal documents and “citizens’ grand juries” to attack enemies and, sometimes, reap illegal fortunes — is again proliferating, to the point where the government has set up special efforts to rein in so-called “tax defiers” and to track threats against judges….
Militia training events, huge numbers of which are now viewable on YouTube videos, are spreading. One federal agency estimates that 50 new militia training groups have sprung up in less than two years. Sales of guns and ammunition have skyrocketed amid fears of new gun control laws, much as they did in the 1990s.
The report also cites a range of events and reports as evidence for the purported upswing in militia activities, including the murders of six law enforcement officials over the last several months by those espousing anti-government, racist, or pro-militia beliefs. It also singles out the June shooting of a National Holocaust Museum guard by James Von Brunn, who had ties to white supremacist groups, as The Christian Science Monitor reported.
The SPLC report also claims that with the election of Barack Obama to the head of the US government, which militias typically perceive as their enemy, the messages of militias, not traditionally focused on racial hatred, have taken on racial undertones.
Agence France-Presse reports that some experts believe that the upsurge in militias is in part caused by “a vibrant world of unsubstantiated yet widely publicized conspiracies.”
Fox News writes that conservative groups are dismissing the report, which they say relies on a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report released earlier this year on right-wing extremism. They say that the DHS report relies on unofficial reports and unfairly lumps together legitimate critics of the Obama administration with radical militias, and as a result the new SPLC report is suspect for the same reasons.
They are attempting to brand all right-of-center protesters as potential domestic terrorists or extremists,” [William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration PAC,] said. “They are painting whole swaths of people as hate groups and extremists.”
As for the purported rise in “militia” groups, which SPLC includes as part of the broader anti-government “Patriot” movement, Gheen said: “We’re just not seeing it.”
Dwight Lewis, a columnist for The Tennessean, writes that “the Southern Poverty Law Center’s track record is one that doesn’t show it disseminates information to the public just to be blowing smoke.”
Consider the letter SPLC officials wrote to U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno 15 years ago warning about extremists in the militia movement, saying that the “mixture of armed groups and those who hate” was “a recipe for disaster.”
Six months later, the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed.
Yes, we’ve got to take note of the return of these right-wing militia groups, but more importantly, government and law enforcement officials need to make sure they’re kept in check.
I think your way off base here. Militias were the first true stand against tyranny years ago when we fought and nearly lost our independence from GB. I don’t recall anyone calling them anything but heros. Although in most everything there are those who go to extremes including our government. Most all men in uniform that either protect our streets or protect our country swear an oath to protect our constitution and every single citizen of this country has the same obligation. The militias are no different and by far are not committing treason. Read some of the statements made by our founding fathers in warning about the government, as a matter of fact read what was written on the liberty bell!
True Patriot
1 December 2009 at 8:02 pm
From the point of view of Great Britain, of course, those early militias were indeed treasonous. The reason the participants are all called heroes is because we (the US) are naming them.
I agree that we should protect the Constitution. But Timothy McVeigh’s efforts didn’t do that, though he certainly thought he was in the right in attacking the government.
LeisureGuy
2 December 2009 at 4:42 am
Again, I say that there are extremist in all things organized including the government. I understand what your saying and yes I agree about TM and everyone else just like him. I’m saying all those who use their constitutional right to have militias is not treasonous, but merely patriots of our country and of our constitution.
True Patriot
2 December 2009 at 6:09 pm
Of course there can be constructive militias. The most obvious example is the National Guard. It’s not clear to me why the US needs independent military organizations (militias), but I suppose they could be okay. I think you’ll find this report to be of interest. And, of course, we are specifically talking about militias who oppose the US government. (Taking up arms against the US government is considered treason, BTW.)
LeisureGuy
2 December 2009 at 6:18 pm
LOL, yes rasing your gun against the US is treason but remember even the National Gaurd is owned and controlled by the government. The oath I spoke of earlier states specifically to protect against foreign and domestic. Take it how you would like.
True Patriot
2 December 2009 at 6:44 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I too have served with 17 years in the Army, Reserve, and National Gaurd and also served in Baghdad Iraq. 7 of those years active duty as well as 10 years in law enforcement. My duty lies to my country and the people make that country up. The government was formed as a go between for the states, not to rule with a big stick.
Teddy Roosevelt
“Order without liberty and liberty without order are equally destructive
Thomas Jefferson
“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’, because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.”
So you see militias are just as important as the governement it’s self. There is a difference between government and country, as our founding fathers proved so long ago.
True Patriot
2 December 2009 at 6:54 pm
Sorry for the several posts. The report shows that racism is a big factor along with conspiracy theories of the NWO. Racism has been around longer that the US has been a country. The NWO is theory but true and false until proven otherwise. Many have researched the 9-11 event and have gathered many facts including hundreds of eye witnesses including cops, firefighters, and media. Professionals at the scene compared to investigators over 400 days later. I wont get into that because that can turn into hours of debate. When you think about the branch davidian you think about a cult not a militia, and even if they had military weapons does not make them a militia but only a well armed occult. I know you see the media today Fox, CNN, MSNBC beating each other to pulp and using fear tactics to push thier agendas, but true patriots look beyond that and see two parties of politics trying to gain ground in order to put thier cause into effect. As usual it’s never about the people of this country but about the political careers. A true leader is for the people, which the people make the country and install a government to run that countries logistics. When the machine begins to think for its self without the input of the creator to benefit its self and at the sacrafice of the creator, the machine has lost it’s purpose and then becomes a threat to the very existence of the creator. The creator “We The People”, The machine the government.
True Patriot
2 December 2009 at 7:21 pm