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Right-Wing Extremism

I want to expand a bit on a previous post of mine titled “Tea Party Hypocrisy.”  Frank Rich had an article in the New York Times recently titled, “The Rage Is Not About Health Care,” where Mr. Rich wrote about how Republican politicians have been playing on their bases fear of a Democratic federal government which manifests itself into a violent rage.  Mr. Rich talks about how this type of divisive politics has been rampant since the Nixon era.  This notion of divisive politics perpetuated by right-wing politicians throughout history has also been talked about in a book by Richard Perlstein titled, “Nixonland,” as well as in a recent article in The Faster Times, by T.R. Donohue  titled, “Why Do Republicans Insist on Fanning the Flames of Domestic Terrorism?”

The general theme in all of the above mentioned titles is, the driving wedge in right-wing politics, talk of these people over here (referring to the left), they want to take what you have (i.e. guns, religion, money…) and give it to these other people who aren’t like you.  These titles talk about how the Republican Party, all throughout history, has played off their bases fear of these “others,” referring to homosexuals, minorities, and college educated individuals who they don’t understand and therefore have a fear of.

The real problem with right-wing politicians, is their willingness to court and even embrace the radical rhetoric coming from these extremist groups and individuals.  Republican politicians consistently stoke the fear and rage that runs rampant amongst their base.  They know that if they play on people’s fear, they have a better chance of retaining power and passing their agenda.  Even when they are in power, they are constantly seen playing the fear card to pass legislation.  We have seen recent examples of this under George W. Bush, with his talk about mushrooms clouds, and the famous line, “we have to fight them over there so they don’t fight us over here.”  Journalists have written numerous examples of the Bush administration mysteriously raising the terror threat level almost every single time there was a dip in administration approval numbers.  Remember how the Patriot Act was passed?  It was passed right after 9/11, when the country was overreacting to a fear of Islamic extremists.

The fact that domestic extremism skyrockets under Democratic administrations is undisputable.  The Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors extremism, said that in 2008 there were 42 right-wing militia groups in the United States.  Today, they report 127 right-wing militia groups operating in the United States.  Why is this?  I think that it is an undisputable fact that the hate and vitriol coming from the right has much more to do with culture than with the issues.  As I talked about in, “Tea Party Hypocrisy,” the right-wing doesn’t care about the issues.  They don’t care about big government, the budget, the deficit, and the constitution, it is all a ploy.  If the right-wing really cared about these things, they would have gone berserk under the Bush administration.  George W. Bush and company grew the national budget and deficit to unprecedented levels.  The Bush administration passed legislation that made unwarranted search and seizures legal under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.  The right-wing, especially the Tea Party, claim to be constitutionalists.  Where were these people when George Bush trampled all over fourth, sixth, and eighth amendment?

The right-wing politicians in this country embrace this extremism.  We saw blatant examples of this during the presidential campaign of 2008.  Remember Sarah Palin referring to President Obama, “palling around with terrorists.”  What do these politicians think is going to happen when they say things like this?  Their ignorant base believes them when the accuse President Obama of not being a United States citizen.  These right-wingers believe their politicians when they tell them that, “we need to take our country back.”

They are telling their base that we need to take the country back from this socialist who is not an American citizen and pals around with terrorists.  How do they think their base is going to react?  If someone honestly believes that President Obama hangs around with terrorists, is not an American citizen, and is a communist, they feel that they need to take their country back by any means necessary.  It is no wonder that a recent Harris poll showed the following percentages of self proclaimed Conservatives believe the following things to be true:

-President Obama is a socialist: 67%

-He wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns: 63%

-He is a Muslim: 51%

-He wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government: 52%

-He has done many things that are unconstitutional: 53%

-He resents America’s heritage: 49%

-He does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do: 38%

-He was not born in the United States and is not eligible to be president: 41%

-He is a domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of: 45%

-He is a racist: 42%

-He is anti-American: 43%

-He wants to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers: 40%

-He is doing many of the things that Adolph Hitler did: 36%

And now for my favorite one:

-President Obama might be the Anti-Christ: 24%

Is any of this a surprise?  Ok, the Anti-Christ part is certainly surprising.  It is amazing to me that 24% of Conservatives believe in the Anti-Christ, let alone think that President Obama might be him.  Do you think that it is in the realm of possibility that these people may think that it is ok to take violent action against President Obama and his administration.  If I believed in the Anti-Christ, which I certainly do not, I would probably think that it's ok if someone took action against that person.

Instead of explaining to their base that these ridiculous things are obviously untrue, Republican politicians, along with pundits like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Ann Coulter, and the rest of the right-wing crazy people, continue to encourage and reinforce these false accusations.  The Republican Party plays on their bases fear because it works.  Their base has an obvious fear of people they see as different from them.  If they don’t understand something, then there is this rage that builds up and manifests itself into violent outbursts.  It is just like when Ronald Regan, who is the second coming of Christ to Conservatives, talked about, “welfare queens driving Cadillacs.”  They see anyone who is not a white Christian male as different, and looking to, “take their country from them.”

The good news that comes with all of this, is that the demographics of this country are rapidly changing.  In the near future, white Christian males are going to no longer be in the majority in this country, and this scares right-wingers to death.  As America becomes more of a melting pot, the right-wingers are going to see their power erode.  While I can’t wait for these right-wingers to lose their majority grip on the country, I fear for what will come along with their loss of power.  I think that the violence and extremism has only begun.  The more these people feel that they have their backs against the wall, the more they will want to fight back.  I hope that for once in history, these right-wing politicians will take a look at what they have created, and do something to stop it.

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