The Far Right and Domestic Terrorism

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Lately in the news, we've been hearing about the tragic murders of abortion provider George Tiller and Stephen T. Johns, a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.; both murders were motivated by far-right ideology. Recently in these very forums, a member of Wrong Planet and a resident of the city I live in has espoused views similar to James von Brunn, the white supremacist who killed Johns. Has the mere presidency of a Democrat been enough to bring the extremists out of the woodwork? During President Clinton's time in office, we witnessed the Oklahoma City bombings and Waco along with the growth of right-wing militias.

This is looking to be the beginning of a dangerous trend. Differences of an opinion should not warrant violence. We have a democratic process and a system of law for resolving conflict and a Bill of Rights to protect everyone's freedom. So how do we counter this while respecting people's freedom and privacy?

I think more moderate conservatives should categorically denounce the violence in the most certain terms and denounce the hatred that motivates it. Second, we should promote values that remedy the hate: tolerance, welcoming a diversity of viewpoints, and exposure to different ways of living so that people can see firsthand that people are, well, people.

It was warned about in a Department of Home Land Security Memo.

Anyway, when the economy is going down and workers are being laid off, discontent brews. When people who preceive themselves as hard workers who have done nothing wrong get the shaft and observe gross inequities in power, they feel outrage. This is easily manipulated by demaguges and ultra-right nationalists. When mainstream politicians (Obama) brand themselves "reformers" and continue to play the game by the rules and selectively help the most undisciplined (financial firm CEOs) without any standards of accountability, the ultra-right can channel this discontent into a form of sheer vile and barbarianism.

The solution is progressive reform that is really outside the box. By that I mean something of a democraticization of bailed out firms, where community groups and stakeholders have a say in what goes on. I mean institutional reform rather than minor tweaks to ensure another crisis of this scale doesn't happen.

Waco happened the way it did because the government wanted to make a spectacle out of it and you should read the army corps of engineers' report on Oklahoma City before blaming right-wing militants for that.

the reason for it seems twofold
1. a BLACK "liberal" is in the white house
2. The right wing is losing ground because a lot of americans are tired of the BS, so they become more extreme in their idology, that is why conservative polls say that GOP should become MORE hard line, despite the fact the hard line is what is causing them to lose power to begin with. And as for the member of WP, its people like that which the world thinks of when they think of America, stupid, ignorant, backwater, red neck, beer guzzling 'Muricans! (prounced Mer-Ra-Kin)

Waco happened because a wacko running a cult shot government agents and then did a Jonestown to keep from being captured, regardless of what you read on websites run by paranoid people who ought to spend the rest of their life in a mental institution.