The Radical Right-Wing

There is a significant difference between ordinary conservatives and members of the radical right-wing organizations now growing in America. As my next few commentaries will explain, liberals and conservatives in America have much in common, but there are extremists out there who do not share our basic democratic values. There are people who are so enraged by the verdict rendered in the last election that they feel their only recourse is to armed revolution. Such people are not patriotic Americans. They have more in common with the German and Italian fascists of the 1930s than with today’s conservatives.

True conservatives are deeply patriotic. They may be distressed at the turn this nation has taken, but they want to work by political means to change it. They value the institutions of our democratic society. This is not the case with that group of radicals who care nothing for the judgment of the majority. They are so incensed by having a bi-racial president promulgating liberal laws that they want to counter such programs with violence. As Charles M. Blow of The New York Times says: “They feel isolated, angry, betrayed, and besieged. And some of their ‘leaders’ seem to be trying to mold them into militias…. its not all just harmless talk. For some, their disaffection has hardened into something more dark and dangerous. They’re talking about a revolution.”

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a report in April that warned of right-wing extremist groups gaining new recruits by exploiting fears about the economy and the election of the nation’s first bi-racial president. The report predicts that a worsening economy will lead to more people joining militias and skinhead groups and carrying out individual acts modeled after those of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.

According to the DHS report: “Rightwing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures. Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cabal of Jewish ‘financial elites.’ These ‘accusatory’ tactics are employed to draw new recruits into rightwing extremist groups and further radicalize those already subscribing to extremist beliefs….Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool.”

In its 2009 annual report, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that the number of hate groups operating in the United States continued to rise in 2008 and has grown by 54% since 2000. The SPLC identified 926 hate groups active in 2008, up more than 4% from the 888 groups in 2007, and far above the 602 groups documented in 2000.

The SPLC report says: “Several white supremacists have been arrested while allegedly plotting to kill Obama, and following the election he received more threats than any previous president-elect. Scores of racially charged incidents — beatings, effigy burnings, racist graffiti, threats and intimidation — were reported across the country after the election. Extremists are also exploiting the economic crisis, spreading propaganda that blames minorities and immigrants for the sub-prime mortgage meltdown. Tough economic times historically provide fertile ground for extremist movements.”

It is curious that a number of these groups assert the superiority of the white race even though there is no superiority to be found in their memberships. Most members of these groups are uneducated, unsophisticated, and unintelligent dimwits. When one hears the ranting of a Ku Klux Klan group, one is astonished that they fail to recognize the irony in their claims of white pre-eminence.

It would be nice to think that these morons are harmless, but, unfortunately, many of them are armed and dangerous. Because they cannot cope with their roles as losers in society, they want to lash-out at the demons that assail their self-worth. We need to beware of them.