Dramatic rise in "rightwing extremist activity"

[Jeffersons Ghost]

SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER

Rage on the Right
The Year in Hate and Extremism

By Mark Potok

The radical right caught fire last year, as broad-based populist anger at political, demographic and economic changes in America ignited an explosion of new extremist groups and activism across the nation. Hate groups stayed at record levels — almost 1,000 — despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, so-called "Patriot" groups — militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose “one-world government” on liberty-loving Americans — came roaring back after years out of the limelight.

The anger seething across the American political landscape — over racial changes in the population, soaring public debt and the terrible economy, the bailouts of bankers and other elites, and an array of initiatives by the relatively liberal Obama Administration that are seen as "socialist" or even "fascist" — goes beyond the radical right. The "tea parties" and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism.

“We are in the midst of one of the most significant right-wing populist rebellions in United States history,” Chip Berlet, a veteran analyst of the American radical right, wrote earlier this year. "We see around us a series of overlapping social and political movements populated by people angry, resentful, and full of anxiety. They are raging against the machinery of the federal bureaucracy and liberal government programs and policies including health care, reform of immigration and labor laws, abortion, and gay marriage."
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/spring/rage-on-the-right

Washington Times

The Department of Homeland Security is warning law enforcement officials about a rise in "rightwing extremist activity," saying the economic recession, the election of America's first black president and the return of a few disgruntled war veterans could swell the ranks of white-power militias.

A footnote attached to the report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority.

"It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single-issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration," the warning says.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/federal-agency-warns-of-radicals-on-right/print/

[Rosa Luxemburg]

1. needs to be 'nipped im the bud'

Better nip it in the bud.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

5. better than budding nips, I guess...

seriously though, what's happening to Muslim Americans these days is reminiscent of what happened to Japanese Americans in WW 2.

[sui generis]

2. I like that phrase "Hatriots"

It suits them. They're defined by what they hate. Even when they clutch heart and tearfully proclaim they're for "freedom" and they love "Amurrika" more than anyone else, what they're really saying is they want the freedom to tell other people how to live their personal lives, freedom from fiscal and community responsibility, and the America they love should be more like a libertarian theocracy because they hate non-believers, liberals, and of course commie pinko fags like myself.

For the record I really am for a one-world democratic government . . . .

[Jeffersons Ghost]

3. how about this?

I'm for a government "of the people, by the people and for the people." I also want to see the USA Patriot Act repealed because I still believe the US Constitution needs 10 Amendments. Outdated quaint ideas aren't they?

[Frances]

4. It's like the rise of the Klan

in earlier times. Or the rise of Hitler.

Only now Fox news is the sponsor. I think I read on another DU post that Frum said the GOP thought Fox News worked for them; now it seems that the GOP works for Fox News.

I remember a film about the Nuremburg trials. As I remember it, a German judge on trial (played by Burt Lancaster) says that when Hitler's brown shirts first exercised their muscle, he and other judges thought that the brown shirts were doing what the judges wanted; later the judges realized that they had to do what the brown shirts wanted.

The United States is in danger of becoming controlled by Murdoch IMO. So ironic that the tea baggers who are being manipulated by Fox and who yell about the consitution are helping to destroy it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. controlled by something more sinister than Fox or Murdoch

it needs to be stopped