Radical Right?

Apparently us low life country hicks have managed to attract the government’s concern yet again. The Department of Homeland Security Office’s of Intelligence and Analysis recently released a new assessment of the national security situation, and came to the conclusion that “The consequences of a prolonged economic downturn–including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit–could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities”. (The report can be seen at http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf Read it, and be prepared to get good and mad.) “In addition, the historical election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization.” “A recent example of the potential violence associated with a rise in rightwing extremism may be found in the shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 4 April 2009,” according to the DHS, which describes “extremists” as those “that are primarily hate-oriented” and those that “reject federal authority.” Also targeted are veterans, people expecting even more restrictions of their Second Amendment rights, those concerned about lost of U.S. sovereignty, folks having general anti-government feelings or who prefer local or state government to federal control over almost anything. The report implies that people with such views are not only racist, but potential terrorists as well. I guess it’s nice to know that our government thinks so highly of us!

Another report, issued by the Missouri Information Analysis Center last year includes the “possibility” that the vocal supporters of Rep. Ron Paul’s 2008 bid for the presidency are also potential terrorists! (See the report at: http://88.80.13.160.nyud.net/leak/miac-militia-2009.pdf) Under the heading "Political Paraphernalia," the Missouri report states, "Militia members most commonly associate with 3rd party political groups. It is not uncommon for militia members to display Constitutional [sic] Party, Campaign for Liberty, or Libertarian material. These members are usually supporters of former Presidential Candidate [sic]: Ron Paul, Chuck Baldwin, and Bob Barr." Can you imagine the political brouhaha had the names mentioned been Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Maxine Waters!?

Then we have the (April 15th, 2009) Maryland National Guard alerted to be on the lookout for dangerous people who “have formed recently to express displeasure/anger over recent federal/state government actions: more taxes, increased spending, higher deficits, a surge of borrowing to pay for it all, bailout of the financial institutions.” “This movement can be identified by different variations of “TEA Party” or “Tea Party.” Past “TEA Party” events have been peaceful. “TEA” stands for “Taxed Enough Already,” the report continues. An obvious challange to the government I suppose. And with that, several years back while out on a fire I managed to read a US Forest Service briefing paper for fire staff officers, one that told them to be careful of what they might say to us north Idaho folks, as we’re all anti-government, and won’t “listen to reason” either.

So, it appears that if you oppose any of the following, you could be profiled (along with being investigated and possibly arrested) as a potential dangerous "militia member" or terrorist: The United Nations, The New World Order, Gun Control, The violation of Posse Comitatus, The Federal Reserve, The Income Tax, The Ammunition and Accountability Act, A possible Constitutional Convention, The North American Union, Universal Service Program, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Abortion, or Illegal Immigration. Looking at that list I’d bet that three quarters the American people oppose at least one of the items, but even that opposition is sufficient to mark them as potentially violence prone and anti-government. Looks to me as if the government is either painting itself into a corner, or is planning to arrest just about everybody in the country!

All in all this looks like a most disturbing trend in our government. Dissidents are commonly referred to as "extremists" in these reports (similar to the old Soviet practice of claiming that all dissidents were mentally deranged), and people who express their opposing views in public are now being singled out by name. If we do nothing about this situation it will soon be too late to stop it… it will become a leviathan bureaucracy monitoring and controlling the personal opinions and speech of every man, woman, and child in this country. The Feds already monitor nearly every phone call, email, or public speech. How long before these reports will be used to justify the arrest, and to incarcerate people, because of their ideas and opinions differ from the official line, making them a "threat" or "dangerous" to the officially approved society? Shades of Orwell’s “1984”! For this I spent most of my working life in the armed forces and the fire service!? You might remember Mr. Obama’s campaign speech in Pennsylvania where he said: "they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." This comment could be interpreted as targeting people who hold different views from the elitist liberal view -- and not because they're particularly "bitter" or lashing out at a far left political system that appears to have discarded them.

Another report from the DHS that is quite irritating to me personally has an entire section dedicated to “Disgruntled Military Veterans.” (People who are against abortion and illegal immigration also got special mention.) I am after all one of those millions of Americans who once wrote a blank check to the American people, a check that was “payable with my life if necessary”. The idea that our veterans, who have sworn to defend this nation against all comers, would be at high risk to overthrow our country is dead wrong. If anyone has an allegiance to this nation, and have put their life on the line for the nation and the safety of our people, it’s the veteran. He’s the one that is more apt to stand up for the flag and say, “For better or for worse, I love my country” because he long ago made that commitment, and willingly took that oath. To me, reports and assessments such as these do little more than demonstrate the distain in which our government holds the American people, their wishes, and desires. It aptly shows our left wing elitist government in action, and their mad scramble to forcibly control every aspect of our lives. It completely rejects the fact that federal authority is ultimately derived from “We the People”, and that such authority cannot exist without our express permission.

As a source of general information, http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/publications/ is the government webpage listing a wide assortment of DHS publications. I don’t think I’m violating national security (and thus subject to arrest as an enemy of the people) by posting this web address, as the website is currently available to the public. In addition, despite my somewhat precarious position as a rather vocal conservative and military veteran, if we consider my advancing years and declining health, I rather doubt I’m any real threat to the United States government, no matter if I agree with their policies or not.

But then, if I’m not here next week…