William Rivers Pitt:


Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided
into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily
hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic
groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal
authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government
authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are
dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

- "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate
Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment," Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) Report, 07 April 2009

The much-maligned DHS report on the rise of right-wing extremism in
America, released last April by Secretary Napolitano to conservative
cries of outrage, appears to have been pretty much on the button.

Three days before the report was made public, three Pittsburgh
police officers were shot to death by a right-wing gun-ownership
extremist who believed President Obama was coming for his guns. One
month after the report was made public, an anti-choice zealot named
Scott Roeder gunned down Dr. George Tiller in the vestibule of Tiller's
church in Kansas while his wife sang in the choir. On Wednesday, a
security guard was shot and killed at the Holocaust Memorial in
Washington, DC, by James W. von Brunn, a right-wing conspiracy theorist
who filled pages on his blog with screeds about a Jewish world
conspiracy and, you guessed it, Obama's so-called "false" birth certificate.

Where is all this fear, hatred and violence gaining its
inspiration? I can think of a few examples.

Last March, Fox News personality Sean Hannity ran a poll on his web
site asking readers what kind of revolution they'd prefer: military
coup, armed rebellion or war for secession? "#3 seems most realistic,"
opined Hannity, "since it does present an opportunity for more
homogeneous states to sort of capitalize on their homogeneity. However,
it would likely lead to mass migrations of the minority partisans out of
the rebel states. Of course, that may be fine with those states. Yet it
seems that the ultimate paradox in any rebellion for freedom from within
is that the ultimate goal is to impose the will of the rebels on
everyone else through force. It seems the very foundation of
representative democracy is ****tered if we accept that we exchange the
power of ideas for the power of the sword upon each other. Nevertheless,
I am still very interested in your own preferred form of revolt."

A month later, conservative radio host Glenn Beck accused President
Obama of lifting the ban on embryonic stem cell research in order to
begin genetic development of a new master race. "So here you have Barack
Obama," said Beck, "going in and spending the money on embryonic stem
cell research, and then some, fundamentally changing - remember, those
great progressive doctors are the ones who brought us eugenics. It was
the progressive movement and it was science. Let's put science truly in
her place. If evolution is right, why don't we just help out evolution?
That was the idea. And sane people agreed with it! And it was from
America. Progressive movement in America. Eugenics. In case you don't
know what eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A
perfect person. The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening.
So I guess I have to put my name on yes, I hope Barack Obama fails. But
I just want his policies to fail; I want America to wake up."

Newt Gingrich claimed recently the United States is surrounded by
"paganism." Mike Huckabee claimed recently the California Appeals Court
decision to uphold the Prop. 8 ban on same-sex marriage was "a miracle
from God's hands." Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh has accused the
Obama administration of actively seeking to destroy the country by
aiding terrorism and embracing socialism. The list goes on.

A pertinent section of the April DHS report:

Rightwing extremists are harnessing this historical election as a
recruitment tool. Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the
new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of
issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social
programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms ownership and use.
Rightwing extremists are increasingly galvanized by these concerns and
leverage them as drivers for recruitment. From the 2008 election
timeframe to the present, rightwing extremists have capitalized on
related racial and political prejudices in expanded propaganda
campaigns, thereby reaching out to a wider audience of potential
sympathizers.

Historically, domestic rightwing extremists have feared, predicted,
and anticipated a cataclysmic economic collapse in the United States.
Prominent antigovernment conspiracy theorists have incorporated aspects
of an impending economic collapse to intensify fear and paranoia among
like-minded individuals and to attract recruits during times of economic
uncertainty. Conspiracy theories involving declarations of martial law,
impending civil strife or racial conflict, suspension of the U.S.
Constitution, and the creation of citizen detention camps often
incorporate aspects of a failed economy. Antigovernment conspiracy
theories and "end times" prophecies could motivate extremist individuals
and groups to stockpile food, ammunition, and weapons. These teachings
also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist
individuals and groups in the past, such as violent Christian Identity
organizations and extremist members of the militia movement.

Where is all the fear and violence gaining inspiration? The same
places it has been for a while now. Those right-wing media people keep
talking, and people keep getting killed. Coincidence?

Ha.



William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling
author of two books: "War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to
Know" and "The Greatest Sedition Is Silence." His newest book, "House of
Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America's Ravaged Reputation,"
is now available from PoliPointPress.



--
The modern GOP is little more than an army of moral absolutists led by a
gang of moral nihilists.