[PEN-L:4814] Paramilitary groups

[(Marianne Hill) <mhill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I received this e-mail message (plus a lot of other info about
paramilitary groups if anyone is interested) from a news service.  Like
others on this list, I am concerned about the rise of intolerance and
hate in this country which fosters the growth of extremist groups like
the various militia, as well as the terrorist anti-abortion groups.  The
provocative note below raises these issues in a forceful way.

Marianne mhill@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

(The opening quote is from a pro-militia organization: )

"At no time in our history since the colonies declared their
independence from the long train of abuses of King George has our
country needed a network of active militias across America to protect
us from the monster we have allowed our federal government to
become. Long live the Militia! Long live freedom! Long live
government that fear [sic] the people! "

SMOKE ON THE HORIZON

Such incendiary rhetoric, commonplace in the Patriot/Militia
movement, makes an armed confrontation between the government
and militia members seem increasingly likely. If past behavior is any
guide, federal law enforcement agencies are all too ready to fight fire
with fire.

Obviously, militias do not pose a military threat to the federal
government. But they do threaten democracy. Armed militias fueled
by paranoid conspiracy theories could make the democratic process
unworkable, and in some rural areas of the West, it is already under
siege.

As ominously, the militias represent a smoldering right-wing populism
 -- with real and imagined grievances stoked by a politics of
resentment and scapegoating -- just a demagogue away from kindling
an American fascist movement.

The militia movement now is like a brush fire on a hot summer day,
atop a high and dry mountain ridge on the Idaho panhandle. As anyone
in the panhandle can tell you, those brush fires have a way of getting
out of control.

(Some "angry white males" not among the privileged of our society)  are
starting to see the world as those not privileged by gender andrace have
long seen it....; no wonder they arenot smiling.
And even as they look out on it, the paths leading up tothe American dream
are being constricted or closed off.
These angry white guys fear their
future will be: Flip burgers or die.