An explosion of extremist hatred groups in the United States occurred in 2009 according to a report issued by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Militias and other groups festering with antigovernment anti-immigrant sentiments exploited populist anger across the United States and found its way into mainstream America. These so called "Patriot" groups - militias and other extremist organizations see the federal government as their enemy.
The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias - the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement - were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009.
Brought you by Vejatv.com |
The Intelligence Project identified 512 "Patriot" groups that were active in 2009. Of these groups, 127 were militias and the remainder includes "common-law" courts, publishers, ministries and citizens' groups. Generally, Patriot groups consider themselves as opposed to the "New World Order," They engage in fantasy conspiracy theorizing, advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines.
The report points its fingers to familiar names on the right: Fox News, Fox's Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann are blamed for encouraging this sentiment. The conservative meeting CPAC counted the extreme John Birch Society, which believes that President Eisenhower was a communist, as a sponsor. These so called "patriots" have systematically indulged in some of the conspiracy theories adding to the frenzy of hatred. "despite the total collapse of the second largest neo-Nazi group in America. Furious anti-immigrant vigilante groups soared by nearly 80%, adding some 136 new groups during 2009. And, most remarkably of all, these "Patriot" groups -- militias and other organizations that see the federal government as part of a plot to impose "one-world government" on liberty-loving Americans -- came roaring back after years out of the limelight."
A look at a recent statement by Former congressman Tom Tancredo, who along with his cronies managed to detour immigration reform in the House of Representatives last year makes his anti-immigrant antigovernment rhetoric and racist persuasion clear. He stated at a recent tea party convention that Obama was elected due to lack of "civics literacy test" requirement for voting. "And then, something really odd happened, mostly because I think that we do not have a civics literacy test before people can vote in this country. People who could not even spell the word "vote," or say it in English, put a committed socialist idealogue in the White House, name is Barack Hussein Obama."
SPLC concludes it s report by saying "That is cause for grave concern, Individuals associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead."
