November 22, 2009

The number of militia and right wing groups is on the rise after the election of the nation's first black president in 2008. This is most keenly felt in the southern states, Alaska, Idaho and Michigan all solidly Republican and conservative.

This is not a co-incidence. Disaffected whites are acting out and in their world things got scarier after the 2008 elections. They have been marginalized after being in power under Bush. Now with Obama in office, they have an effective tool to recruit members to causes and groups and to arm and call for action against the government they see as a threat.

For racist whites, there is probably nothing worse short of death than to have a black President. Their fear is overwhelming and paralyzing. All they can do is get together and talk of conspiracies and tyrants in the government and develop a group think that lessens their fears and puts them in some kind of control over their lives again.

Extremist groups are energized by illegal immigration, potential and actual fire arm restrictions, abortion rights, end time prophesies and the perceived loss of U.S. sovereignty. Economic hard times help magnify fears to unreasonable levels.

Despite this, most see extremist group threats as bravado and point to the 1990s after Bill Clinton was elected. But then we had Timothy McVeigh and his deadly bomb in Oklahoma. He proves you can never be sure what will happen when single individual acts out with some help.

Lone wolf extremists seem to rule as far as taking action. Groups... not so much.

A group usually has a leader, literature and website but a lone individual keeps to himself and repeatedly mulls over his fears and builds on them until he snaps. Three recent 2009 examples are: the Holocaust Museum shooting in June, the shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller in May and the mass murder event in Fort Hood, Texas in November.

The rise of the lone extremist is happening and this is most troubling.

Loners are difficult to spot and when someone has suspicions their concerns aren’t given much thought by law enforcement. They see and hear of many crazy people and understand they have the right to say what they believe. Their presumption is that we must wait until something happens.

Protecting individual rights is a cornerstone of freedom and balancing that with blocking loners from reacting violently is a problem that remains unsolved. Unfortunately the violence keeps building the fear and encourages more violence.