Posted on 08/12/2009 7:36:24 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
WASHINGTON – Militia groups with gripes against the government are regrouping across the country and could grow rapidly, according to an organization that tracks such trends.
The stress of a poor economy and a liberal administration led by a black president are among the causes for the recent rise, the report from the Southern Poverty Law Center says. Conspiracy theories about a secret Mexican plan to reclaim the Southwest are also growing amid the public debate about illegal immigration.
Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told SPLC researchers that this is the most growth he's seen in more than a decade.
"All it's lacking is a spark," McEntire said in the report.
It's reminiscent of what was seen in the 1990s — right-wing militias, people ideologically against paying taxes and so-called "sovereign citizens" are popping up in large numbers, according to the report to be released Wednesday. The SPLC is a nonprofit civil rights group that, among other activities, investigates hate groups.
Last October, someone from the Ohio Militia posted a recruiting video on YouTube, billed as a "wake-up call" for America. It's been viewed more than 60,000 times.
"Things are bad, things are real bad, and it's going to be a lot worse," said the man on the video, who did not give his name. "Our country is in peril."
The man is holding an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, and he encourages viewers to buy one.
While anti-government sentiment has been on the rise over the last two years, there aren't as many threats and violent acts at this point as there were in the 1990s, according to the report. That movement bore the likes of Timothy McVeigh, who in 1995 blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City and killed...
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Let them blather on about the wanna-be commandos out in the woods—it keeps their tiny little minds off the TENS OF MILLIONS who will grab a deer rifle if the fascism gets out of hand.
I cleared my throat and my answer literally sent her screaming from the room. I said: NO but it's not because I don't believe in their cause or their goals. The simple fact is that they can't teach me anything NEW! After she fled (never to speak to me again, thankfully) the lunch resumed it's normal demeanor and my buddies all gathered around to ridicule her and her commie cohorts at the school, many of whom had remained in the room to eat lunch and were now getting an indirect piece of our minds....
I had the exact same scenario happen to me. My response: "Nah, those wusses are way too liberal for me."
That depends on what the goal is.
Constitutional liberty is not it.
Well, that would certainly qualify as a “spark”, I would think....
Militia groups, in contrast to standing armies, control their leadership.
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