Tea Parties and Militias

Last May I noted the resurgence of the militia movement and the generous contribution they are making to the paranoia, fear, and stupidity of modern-day political dialogue. Now, it seems that militia types and their ideological allies have been inviting themselves to the Tea Parties.

The Tea Party movement represents a spectrum of ideas that runs from little old Republican ladies who enjoy tea cakes along with their politics to militia members who enjoy blasting effigies of President Obama with their AK47s. The resurgence of the militias and their crashing of the Tea Parties is a matter of some concern to civil rights organizations such as the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).
According to a recent report by the SPLC: “The situation has many authorities worried. Militiamen, white supremacists, anti-Semites, nativists, tax protesters and a range of other activists of the radical right are cross-pollinating and may even be coalescing" (under the Tea Party banner).

In the 1990s, when the last liberal Democratic president was in office, the militias thrived. These groups were under the impression that the federal government was planning a socialistic take-over of America. Their bogyman was a mythical “Black Helicopter” that was supposedly conducting surveillance of and preparing for war against the gun-toting patriots of America. The militias’ activities culminated in the bombing by two militia members, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City--killing 168 innocent adults and children.

Now, with liberals back in power, the militias, and organizations sharing their beliefs, are on the rise. The SPLC report noted that in Pensacola, Fla., a militia spokesman told a gathering of antigovernment “Patriots” that the federal government had set-up 1,000 internment camps across the country and was storing 30,000 guillotines and a half-million caskets in Atlanta. He averred that they are there for the day the government finally declares martial law and moves-in to round-up or kill American dissenters.

Outside Atlanta, a so-called "American Grand Jury" issued an "indictment" of President Obama for fraud and treason because, the panel concluded, he wasn't born in the United States and is illegally occupying the office of president. Other sham "grand juries" around the country have followed suit.

There is a new element to this second wave of militia revival. According to the SPLC report: “One big difference from the militia movement of the 1990s is that the face of the federal government — the enemy that almost all parts of the extreme right see as the primary threat to freedom — is now black. And the fact that the president is an African American has injected a strong racial element into even those parts of the radical right, like the militias, that in the past were not primarily motivated by race hate. Contributing to the racial animus have been fears on the far right about the consequences of Latino immigration.”

This racial hatred has popped-up in Tea Party gatherings where demonstrators have waived racist signs and posters showing President Obama as a witch doctor and saying things like “Obama’s plan--white slavery” and “Save white America from Obama.”

Needless to say, these militia groups, and those affiliated with them, are not in competition with MENSA for the best minds available. These groups are made-up of the most ignorant elements of white America. These are mostly losers whose resentment stems from the fact that they have achieved nothing in society while the leaders in this country are mostly intelligent, well-educated, sophisticated, elite individuals who look down on the militia types.

One hopes that the little old ladies and other Republican guests at the Tea Parties will look-around and be aware of the party crashers from the far-right who would rather slurp from the mug of conspiracy than sip from the teacup of sanity.