It’s not just anonymous internet bloggers or YouTube publicity hounds. Talk of “revolution” is everywhere on the extreme right, these days. From Pat Buchanan, Larry Klayman and Alex Jones to the organizers of new gun rights coalitions and protests.
The federal government is spying on millions Americans without a warrant, killing thousands in Middle Eastern wars with drones and white phosphorus bombs and death squads and mercenaries, funneling billions of dollars to corporate cronies and war profiteers who use slaves and supplied our troops with poisoned water. The same government under President Bush sponsored torture, and President Bush’s signing statements, which declared that he could decide unilaterally what laws to obey or disobey, did not concern them that much, at least so long as a white Republican with a faux Texan accent was in the Oval Office.
In similar fashion, militarized police forces using extreme violence against non-violent protestors was also just fine with these folks. After all, it was not their heads being smashed, or their eyes being burned and lungs choked with pepper spray. It was only a bunch of “dirty fucking hippies” and pinko commies who deserved to have their rights to free speech and peaceful assembly trampled, not “real patriots” like them.
However, after numerous massacres and assassinations by demented individuals using guns, primarily semi-automatic weapons with high capacity magazines, and the ongoing day to day slaughters that don’t ever reach the level of coverage by our national media because the victims are poor or minorities, it seems that we have finally found the one topic the far right considers worthy of openly calling for violent revolt against the government: a proposed ban on the military style tactical firearms typically referred to as assault weapons. For that cause, and that cause alone, it seems, they proclaim a violent “revolution” against “government tyranny” is justified.
“Our backs are against the wall,” said Scott Wilson, president of the Connecticut Citizens Defense League, a pro-gun rights group. “We are in for the fight of our lives. I have never seen anything like it.” […]
In an open letter to President Barack Obama, [Paul Valone, president of Grass Roots North Carolina] speculated that some gun owners may use violent force to resist government attempts to confiscate assault weapons.
“The real question, Mr. President, is whether you so hunger for power that you are willing to foment what might be the next American Revolution,” Valone wrote.
This hyperbolic reaction to the Obama administration’s meager efforts to date to push for some reasonable regulations on guns, regulations a majority of Americans support, would be astonishing in any other country. However, this is America. What is more, it is an America in which the first African American president has been subjected to relentless attacks on the legitimacy of his presidency by right wing and conservative media outlets and politicians. The racial component of the current outrage against Obama from the right cannot be discounted. They have been calling him a Muslim, a Communist, an atheist, a non-citizen, a fascist and the head of a conspiracy to destroy America’s “way of life” since before he was elected in 2008. Ludicrous claims that he was creating a secret army and that FEMA concentration camps were being prepared for white conservatives have been spread by many on the right via blogs and email. After each of his elections, gun sales soared.
Previously, these absurd fears and extreme levels of animosity had been limited to the most hard core extremists on the right. Now, the fear of actual gun control legislation or regulation in the wake of Newtown has increased the level of fear among those most susceptible to these irrational and histrionic attacks on the president. The unprecedented levels of hatred is primarily concentrated among white conservatives. One can argue that all this will pass away once the heightened fear level of these individuals subsides, and perhaps it will. But I would not be too hasty to make that assumption. Even though the talk of “revolution” may be just empty rhetoric, and the chances of any real sustained violent conflict are exceedingly small, that does not mean that those who stoke the fires of fear and loathing with their talk of “tyranny” and “revolution” should be dismissed out of hand.
The danger is not that we have a civil war brewing. The danger comes from all this talk inspiring more “lone wolf” stochastic terrorism, and possibly plots by right wing militias to use violence as an act to terrorize their fellow Americans. With the number of guns in circulation, it is not unreasonable to assume that, in the current climate of right wing media stoked hatred for all things Obama, some unhinged or desperate gun owners may decide to conduct “independent” assaults on unarmed civilians or government facilities in misguided attempts to defend their “god-given right to bear arms” and with the intention to spark the very revolution they have been told is so close at hand.
In the longer term, one must also consider the state of our economy. Our current so-called economic recovery, one which has failed to benefit most Americans, is fragile and could very well collapse given the right circumstances. Should that occur, it will increase the risk that more and more Americans will at least lend a sympathetic ear to those who promote radical extremism. Times of severe economic distress are often times when the most radical political movements thrive. Certainly with the nature of our polarized and divided government, it is hard to imagine Congress and the President passing legislation to help the great mass of Americans should an economic crisis on the scale of 2008-2009 re-emerge. This time the House is not controlled by Democrats, and thus the chance of any stimulus package to increase jobs and stop the bleeding among the poor and middle classes is effectively “off the table” no matter how many economists might agree that it would be necessary.
Another point to consider is that the last decade’s wars have created a large class of young returning veterans with little hope for the future. Some are bound to find favor with the simplistic explanations of right wing extremists. This is not entirely unknown in our history. After WWI, veterans during the great Depression marched on Washington, some of whom were seduced by the rhetoric of the far left. They did not bring weapons to challenge the government, but imagine if they had. The actions of President Hoover and Douglas MacArthur to attack the “Bonus Army” provides a cautionary tale for all of us. This time the veterans are more likely to be radicalized by the right, and more likely in my opinion to arm themselves for violent confrontations with police or governmental authorities. If anyone doubts that such scenarios could occur I would remind them that we already have organizations such as the Oath Keepers that direct their recruitment efforts toward current and former members of the military. In a worst case scenario of economic collapse, their message (and the message of similar organizations) would appeal to a larger group of individuals and lead to an increase in their membership, in my opinion.
I do not know what the future holds. I do know that any talk of violent revolution is a sign of our democracy’s failure to address the real problems that face our people: lack of job growth, massive income inequality, the lack of oversight of major financial institutions to limit the possibility of a repeat of the 2008 financial collapse, etc. When our government is so dysfunctional (granted such dysfunction has been caused by the extremism of Republicans in Congress), the appeal of demagogues who call for simple and more radical, even violent, solutions to our political crisis is bound to grow. The outrage and response by many gun owners regarding potential gun regulation is only a catalyst for the expression of the underlying anger that so many on the right have regarding our current political and economic crises. Obama and the Democrats have long been held up as scapegoats by the conservative media for all our nation’s problems. We are witnessing the fruit of their labors. Whenever any group of people feel no connection to their political leaders, and indeed believe themselves to have been betrayed by them, the risk of politically inspired violence to redress their supposed repression will increase.
The last four years have seen an substantial rise in the number of far right wing organizations, militias, and other hate groups. Attempts by right wing groups, and by individuals motivated by right wing beliefs, to use violence to accomplish political goals is higher than any time I can recall. Does that mean civil war is at hand? Revolution? No, not at this time. However, discounting the effect of excessive and seditious rhetoric from the right would be a mistake. The powder keg’s fuse may not yet have been lit, but it is certainly being primed. The next Timothy McVeigh (or worse) is out there. Best to be better prepared than we were the last time a Democratic administration and the federal government were demonized by conservatives.
