Right-wing radicalism in this country is growing, and its not unrelated to the rhetoric that the right-wing has been increasingly using over the past decade. The country is reported to be more polarized now since before the Civil War, and the increasing amount of violent and divisive rhetoric being used by the right needs more attention.

When two shooters shouted "this is a revolution" in Las Vegas, most media refused to call it right-wing terrrorism, or right-wing radicalism or right-wing violence but that's what it was. In the 90's right-wing militias were a popular topic of concern, but since 9/11 they have been forgotten. In my opinion the concern today should be less about any of these militia groups and more about single "lone wolf" terrorist who have been inspired by these groups.

But a lone-wolf right-wing terrorist may not even need a militia group to radicalize them, today even popular politicians use divisive and sometimes even violent rhetoric. The Republican party and popular Libertarian voices need to do more to quell the growing rise of right-wing radicalism.

6/24/2014 10:43:58 AM

Oath Keepers NY official calls on cops to disobey orders, join war vs. socialist tyranny
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/06/23/oath-keepers-chief-calls-on-cops-to-disobey-orders-in-war-against-socialist-tyranny/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_Keepers
Oath Keepers are one of the better organized and better respected organizations among the radical right. They were involved in the Bundy Ranch standoff but were kicked off the ranch by others because they weren't radical enough.

There are some legitimate grievances with police today, i certainly share some of them, but they are not because of "socialist tyranny." If any political policies have led to the problems with police today, its the constant "war on drugs/gangs/terrorism/etc..." mentality that members of this same group probably supported. This is not socialist tyranny, it stems from beliefs that were embraced by both parties and particularly embraced by the right.

Oath Keepers are calling on other police officers to ignore orders from the communist left-wing president and his socialist cabal, its a call to divide LEO among party lines

6/24/2014 10:50:03 AM

What are the odds it's in response to radical left wingers?
Rabid hardliners on either side frighten me a little. People seem to be so unwilling to at least hear each other out that it's no surprise at all that we end up with extreme polarity.

Just as a small example - call someone a "wingnut", tell them that their principles and beliefs are simply ignorant and that they're of inferior intelligence.. and let me know how much they want to cooperate with you after that. It works both ways, don't get me wrong, and I've been just as guilty as the next at times.

[Edited on June 24, 2014 at 12:27 PM. Reason : ]

6/24/2014 12:27:17 PM

radical left wing groups... from almost 40 years ago? yeah... no.

if you are drawing a comparison, the marxist radical left from 40 years ago could probably be compared to right-wing radicals today but the right today is not a reaction to the left.

it seems like you believe the rhetoric that the right is peddling

6/24/2014 12:39:00 PM

Radical-right wing groups reach all time
There are now more conspiracy-minded Patriot groups than at the height of the militia movement in the 1990s
highhttp://www.salon.com/2013/03/06/radical_right_wing_groups_reach_all_time_high/

Quote :

"While the more mainstream anti-government Tea Party movement faded from view as the GOP co-opted it in the past few years, the action has moved to the fringes, where the number of radical right-wing Patriot groups reached an all time high in 2012, according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center. What’s more, it’s the fourth year in a row that the record has been broken. Conspiracy-minded Patriot groups first entered the public consciousness in the 1990s with the rise of the militia movement, and then the Oklahoma City bombing. Now, the SPLC is warning government officials that they see eerie similarities between the current era and that leading up to the bombing. “As in the period before the Oklahoma City bombing, we now are seeing ominous threats from those who believe that the government is poised to take their guns,” the group’s president, Richard Cohen, wrote in a letter sent Tuesday to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. The number of Patriot groups peaked after the bombing in 1996 at 858, before falling off steeply and remaining low under George W. Bush. However, since the election of Barack Obama, the number of groups tracked by the SPLC has skyrocketed and continued to climb. Last year, the SPLC found 1,360 Patriot groups in the country — up more than 500 over the ’96 peak — including 321 militia groups."

Quote :

"The SPLC blames the resurgence on the down economy (hate and radicalism always tick up when things seem desperate), along with the election and reelection of Barack Obama, a push on gun control, and racial tensions over immigration and the declining power of white America. “Another factor driving the expansion of the radical right over the last decade or so has been the mainstreaming of formerly marginal conspiracy theories,” notes senior fellow Mark Potock. Indeed, one needs only watch Fox News for an hour or read a Dick Morris column to see that. And conspiracy theorizing seems to have reached new heights recently. The big fear is that some of this will lead to violence — or rather, more violence. The incidents are too often ignored or viewed as isolated from each other, but there has been much more right-wing terrorism than most people probably realize, from the Sikh Temple shooting, the Holocaust Memorial shooting, the Pittsburgh police shootings, of any of the dozens of attacks on law enforcement officers."

[Edited on June 24, 2014 at 12:45 PM. Reason : [/]

6/24/2014 12:44:06 PM

All time high? I'm rather curious why the graph only goes back to 1995.

6/24/2014 1:09:32 PM

i just posed that as a question to think about, not as a 100% assertion fwiw. i do think that this new wave is -in part- in response to recent changes (think "Obamacare", etc.). i didn't mean to imply "radical" in the same terms as what you're referring to with the right.

to tell the truth i don't even know what all makes up the rhetoric of either side anymore. i normally avoid fox news and the like.

[Edited on June 24, 2014 at 1:13 PM. Reason : ]

6/24/2014 1:12:36 PM

^^it was comparing it to the 90's, the previous peak was in '96. here is the preceeding paragraph:

Quote :

"The number of Patriot groups peaked after the bombing in 1996 at 858, before falling off steeply and remaining low under George W. Bush. However, since the election of Barack Obama, the number of groups tracked by the SPLC has skyrocketed and continued to climb. Last year, the SPLC found 1,360 Patriot groups in the country — up more than 500 over the ’96 peak — including 321 militia groups."

here is another image that only goes back to 2000

http://www.splcenter.org/home/2013/spring/the-year-in-hate-and-extremism

Quote :

" i do think that this new wave is -in part- in response to recent changes (think "Obamacare", etc.)"

the ridiculous rhetoric about Obamacare (it's a communist/socialist/etc.. takeover, death panels, etc...) is the kind misleading, inflammatory, and divisive rhetoric that is being talked about.

[Edited on June 24, 2014 at 1:19 PM. Reason : .]

6/24/2014 1:17:44 PM

why i put it in quotes

6/24/2014 1:35:57 PM

my brothers, our time is now

6/24/2014 1:39:42 PM

Define "right-wing radicalism."

6/24/2014 1:41:48 PM

http://archive.adl.org/learn/ext_us/militia_m.html?LEARN_Cat=Extremism&LEARN_SubCat=Extremism_in_America&xpicked=4&item=mm
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/splc-report-return-of-the-militias
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Militia_movement

[Edited on June 24, 2014 at 1:46 PM. Reason : .]

6/24/2014 1:43:56 PM

So you should have titled your post "The Rise of the Militia Movement."

Again, define "right-wing radicalism." Simply posting a link is not a definition.

6/24/2014 1:48:58 PM

6/24/2014 1:49:23 PM

Why even begin a thread if you're not seriously interested in discussing ideas?

6/24/2014 1:56:42 PM

relevant story from 2009:
Conservatives Decry Homeland Security Report on “Rightwing” Extremism
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2009/04/conservatives-d/

Quote :

"The report states that while DHS "has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are currently planning acts of violence…rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues." DHS defines "rightwing" as "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." The "emergent issues," the DHS report states, include both "the election of the first African American president" and "a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit," which DHS says "present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.""

Quote :

"Dobson said "there are no Timothy McVeighs out there right now. They’re making a big deal out of something that hasn’t happened and may not happen.""

by the time that Dobson said that there are no Timothy McVeighs out there right now there had been about 70 known plots, conspiracies, or rampages by right-wing extremists since the Oklahoma City Bombing

6/24/2014 2:03:03 PM

What a shit thread.

Can you just leave? Just pack up your shit and go home.

6/24/2014 10:38:37 PM

This will temper itself once we have a white president again.

But this is also a big factor in the inequality problem. There are large amounts of white people disenfranchised by stagnant wages and pooling wealth, and this alone (as recent studies have shown) crates division and racism. As it is now, politicians, especially conservatives, don't seem interested in seriously looking at the problem, and it's only going to get worse.

the world is changing and conservatism is inherently more dangerous during times of change. We don't want to be Rome.

6/25/2014 12:16:48 AM

Funny you should say that. Because all I see around me is bread and circus.

6/25/2014 5:57:37 AM

March 27, 2014
Robert James Talbot Jr., 38, is arrested in Katy, Texas, by FBI agents who say he was about to rob an armored car. He is alleged to have been plotting to use C-4 explosives and weapons to rob banks and armored cars, blow up government buildings and mosques, and kill police officers. Prosecutors say he is behind a Facebook page called “American Insurgent Movement,” on which he posted antigovernment screeds, called for violence against public officials, and ranted about Muslims and LGBT people. He used the page to attempt to persuade others to join his cause. Talbot faces federal charges of attempted interference with commerce by robbery, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and possession of an explosive material. The FBI opened an investigation into his activities in August 2013 after learning of his alleged desire to recruit others into terrorist activities.

6/25/2014 8:48:23 AM

tah me, sounds like a turrrrrrrrooorrrrrist, tah me.

6/25/2014 9:28:54 AM

Quote :

"This will temper itself once we have a white president again."

I wish TWW wasnt full of so many liberal racist pieces of shit.

6/26/2014 12:24:24 AM

Look at all the conservatives sticking their head in the sand.

http://www.salon.com/2014/06/23/gun_nuts_are_terrorizing_america_the_watershed_moment_everyone_missed/

6/26/2014 3:48:47 AM

Quote :

"I wish TWW wasnt full of so many liberal racist pieces of shit."

Are we projecting again?

6/26/2014 3:54:01 AM

Quote :

"Oath Keepers are calling on other police officers to ignore orders from the communist left-wing president and his socialist cabal, its a call to divide LEO among party lines"

unless i'm missing something, they're asking LEO to follow the constitution. sounds pretty reasonable to me. apart from the "socialist president" talk, i can't see anything wrong with that. i'm all for civil disobedience, whether you're a democrat or republican or neither

[Edited on June 26, 2014 at 8:44 AM. Reason : .]

6/26/2014 8:39:56 AM

yeah, you're missing something (a lot actually)

6/26/2014 8:44:33 AM

well that article wasn't helpful and neither is wikipedia so i'm gonna keep believing what i just said

6/26/2014 8:49:16 AM

oath keepers is a group that radicalizes people. they are not the supreme court, they are not protecting the constitution, they want to enforce their interpretation of the constitution and call on LEOs and military personnel to play judge and jury. this isn't judge dredd, that's not how justice works.

if they really were only about that stated goal they wouldn't necessarily be a bad organization, and they are not past the point where they can be a respectable organization, but their continued alignment with conspiracy groups (Montana Freeman, UN Amendment 21 groups, John Birch Society, Flouridization is a communist plot, colloidal silver is the cure the government is hiding, etc...) just makes this an armed training group to radicalize right wing nuts.

6/26/2014 9:02:03 AM

Aug. 18, 2013
David Allen Brutsche, 42, and a woman described as Brutsche’s roommate, Devon Campbell Newman, 67, are arrested in Las Vegas after a months-long investigation into an alleged plot to kidnap and execute police officers. Both Brutsche, a convicted felon and registered sex offender, and Newman consider themselves “sovereign citizens” and have conducted recruiting seminars on sovereign ideology, officials say. Authorities say they intended to kidnap a police officer at random, detain the officer in a crude jail in a vacant house, “try” the officer in a “common-law” court, then execute the officer. The two are charged with felony conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, and attempted kidnapping. Newman pleads guilty in December 2013 to conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, a misdemeanor, and is sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to have no contact with Brutsche. Brutsche, who renounces sovereign citizen ideology during court proceedings, pleads guilty in February 2014 to conspiracy to kidnap police officers and receives five years’ probation. In a separate case involving failure to register as a sex offender, he receives 188 days in jail in addition to time served.

6/26/2014 9:03:33 AM

Thanks for informing me about a group that I had never heard of until this thread. I'm sure oath keepers is appreciative of your efforts to bring more free publicity to their group.

6/26/2014 9:05:02 AM

6/26/2014 9:06:11 AM

Glenn Beck warns that Obama is about to snap and put conservatives in internment camps
http://crooksandliars.com/2014/06/glenn-beck-obama-about-snap-put

this is the kind of thing that Right-Wing extremists hear every single day on talk radio, it how so many are being radicalized.

6/26/2014 11:20:19 AM

This doesn't apply to all the groups being discussed here, but as the "center" of US politics continues to go left (i.e. be progressive) more or more of your "normal folk" will be viewed at as ring wing radical. Add in that the government is continually increasing it's power grab beyond that set forth by the constitution and you get a lot of pissed off people.

6/26/2014 2:06:34 PM

the center has been moving right for well over a decade

[Edited on June 26, 2014 at 2:16 PM. Reason : really over the last few decades+]

6/26/2014 2:09:44 PM

not inside the bubble, apparently

6/26/2014 2:10:53 PM

^^how exactly?

6/26/2014 2:25:42 PM

Quote :

"Glenn Beck warns that Obama is about to snap and put conservatives in internment camps"

watched that vid... the internment camp comparison was silly/wtf, but the rest wasn't all that insane.

sidenote: I take anything Glenn Beck says with a 5lb bag of salt even when I do hear/see what he has to say.

6/26/2014 2:38:10 PM

^^For one, as pointed out in the article I posted, gun control has become less and less of a part of Democratic platforms. They just seem to be giving up about it.

6/26/2014 3:10:06 PM

Glen Beck can sometimes be Alex Jones kinda crazy (he compared Chris McDaniels loss to the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion"), but it's exactly the type of stuff that right wing extremists listen to every single day on talk radio. A portion of that population hears about the internment camps, fixates on it, and when they hear it every single day they start to radicalize.

Extreme right-wing fear mongering is conceptually no different than how extremist imams radicalize some young Muslim men, so its a problem when that language is used by the not-that-extreme right.

[Edited on June 26, 2014 at 3:13 PM. Reason : ^it's really a issue for another thread (although it should be a short discussion due to the facts)]

6/26/2014 3:12:40 PM

You've yet to define the term "right-wing radicalism" so I'm assuming you're also not going to define "extreme right-wing fear mongering" and explain how it's differs from your run of the mill right-wing fear mongering.

6/26/2014 3:49:57 PM

wat? glen beck is pretty centered. i'd call him a moderate.

6/26/2014 4:00:12 PM

glen beck has sanity swings, he's sometimes reasonable and moderate and at other times is way out there. I have no idea if he actually believes the crazy things he says or if he is just being entertaining (I suspect he doesn't believe them), but the idiots who listen to talk radio don't know either so it's dangerous speech regardless.

[Edited on June 26, 2014 at 5:01 PM. Reason : sp]

6/26/2014 5:00:43 PM

Quote :

" gun control has become less and less of a part of Democratic platforms. They just seem to be giving up about it."

And yet you fail to point out that the more important thing, legislative action, has resulted in horrendous gun control bills being offered and even passed at the state level. I know some of you like to pretend that just because some gun rights have been gained recently, there have been major and far reaching gun control bills passed... some that even lead to... confiscation... omg, I said it. It's real! I know, I know, we're not coming for your guns... yah, keep that lie going.

/side bar

6/26/2014 5:34:57 PM

http://youtu.be/Q2FSMvrlUlY

6/27/2014 2:28:46 PM

lol, right wing radio is dangerous

6/27/2014 6:15:49 PM

"You haven't phrased the issue in a way that leaves us blameless, therefore this thread's stupid."

-most responses to the OP

6/27/2014 10:07:58 PM

America wasn't ready for a 'black' Democrat to be president (well, at least the south wasn't). The wave of right-wing radicalism is just the manifestation of that. There was a time when America couldn't possibly think of black and white people occupying the same space at once, and the social/political change required to alter that was painful. Unfortunately, I think the radicalism is just this in a different form, but luckily the majority of people tend to be, at least I hope, reasonable and progressive when presented with well-formed arguments and credible evidence.

Its funny to think about the demographics of the so-called 'right wing' - it's a bunch of middle-to-old-aged white Christian men concentrated in the south. The homogeneity is almost laughable at this point and it's why they're losing relevance as the country becomes more ethnically/culturally diverse.

6/28/2014 11:59:20 AM

yep. conservatives don't like obama because he is (part) black.

6/28/2014 3:02:00 PM

There are definitely racists out there who do not like that a mixed-race (but mostly black-looking) guy is president of THEIR country. And you know most of those people are conservatives.

6/28/2014 11:20:51 PM

ITT I think the concern for right-wing radicalism is a little overstated. And citing salon.com for reliable interpretations of news is like citing infowars.

With that said...

Quote :

" glen beck has sanity swings, he's sometimes reasonable and moderate and at other times is way out there. I have no idea if he actually believes the crazy things he says or if he is just being entertaining (I suspect he doesn't believe them), but the idiots who listen to talk radio don't know either so it's dangerous speech regardless."

YES. I could never make up my mind about him, but I've never heard a more accurate description.

6/28/2014 11:27:24 PM