The American Militia Phenomenon: a Psychological
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THE AMERICAN MILITIA PHENOMENON: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF MILITANT THEOCRACIES ____________ A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of California State University, Chico ____________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in Political Science ____________ by © Theodore C. Allen 2009 Summer 2009 PUBLICATION RIGHTS No portion of this thesis may be reprinted or reproduced in any manner unacceptable to the usual copyright restrictions without the written permission of the author. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE Publication Rights ...................................................................................................... iii Abstract....................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I. Introduction.............................................................................................. 1 II. Literature Review of the Modern Militia Phenomenon ........................... 11 Government Sources .................................................................... 11 Historical and Scholarly Works.................................................... 13 Popular Media .............................................................................. 18 III. The History of the Militia in America...................................................... 23 The Nexus Between Religion and Race ....................................... 28 Jefferson’s Wall of Separation ..................................................... 31 Revolution and the Church........................................................... 33 Synthesis: Religion and Politics ................................................... 35 Colonial Rebellions ...................................................................... 44 Pre-Revolutionary America Rebellions........................................ 53 Post-Revolutionary American Rebellions .................................... 86 Summary and Transition .............................................................. 124 Chapter Summary......................................................................... 133 IV. The 20th Century....................................................................................... 134 Introduction .................................................................................. 134 Types of Militias as Recognized in Constitutional Law and Political Writing ............................................................. 135 The Types of Militias as Manifest in Contemporary Form.......... 136 The Militia as Formal Structure ................................................... 138 The Militia Movement Today ...................................................... 141 Origins and Ideology: “Seventeen Little Children” ..................... 142 iv CHAPTER PAGE Private Armies, Public Wars ........................................................ 146 Beyond Y2K: Camouflage and Conspiracy ................................. 151 Psychological Profile of the Modern Militia in America ............. 153 The “Identity” Doctrine: Religion as Ideology ............................ 156 Rejecting Multiculturalism and Miscegenation............................ 159 Deracination Through “Culture Cracking” .................................. 170 Christian Identity: Race as Religion and Religion as Race.......... 191 Chapter Summary......................................................................... 198 V. Militia Movement’s Arguments About Federal Government Excesses and Abuses ................................................................................ 199 Anti-Government Sentiment Concerning Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Oklahoma City Bombing............................. 199 Political and Operationally Visible Militias................................. 200 The Operational Underground Militia “Leaderless Resistance”............................................................................ 237 Lone Operators ............................................................................. 262 Chapter Summary......................................................................... 273 VI. Summary................................................................................................... 274 Causes of the Rise and Fall of the Militias................................... 277 Chapter Summary......................................................................... 284 VII. Conclusion................................................................................................ 285 The Evolution of the Militia Movement....................................... 294 VIII. Epilogue.................................................................................................... 303 Endnotes .................................................................................................................. 306 References .................................................................................................................. 312 Appendix A. Additional Notes....................................................................................... 331 v ABSTRACT THE AMERICAN MILITIA PHENOMENON: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF MILITANT THEOCRACIES by © Theodore C. Allen 2009 Master of Arts in Political Science California State University, Chico Summer 2009 The emergence of political and paramilitary action militias during the 1980s and beyond in the United States is not a phenomenon unique to contemporary America. Indeed, the roots of modern day American militias may be traced all the way back to colonial, pre-revolutionary, revolutionary, and post revolutionary examples. Moreover, 20th and 21st century American militias have more in common with their predecessors than just political and paramilitary similarities. The colonial through post revolutionary militias were motivated by religious and racial attitudes in addition to their political re- sort to military violence as a means for redress of their grievances. The main qualitative premise of this paper is that the militias of contemporary America are also driven by many of the same historical, political, racial, religious, and economic perspectives of their early American forefathers. This historical, political, racial, religious, and vi economic inquiry investigates the militia phenomenon from an academic political sci- ence perspective. Moreover, this paper will explore the details and parallels of those conjunctive intersections between 18th and 19th Century militias and those of their 20th and 21st Century brethren. Moreover, the militia belief that, as a result of their zeal for their doctrine, they are fighting for the existence of their race, heritage, and culture in the country of their birth and consequently they believe they are being subjected to socio-political, religious, and racial marginalization and persecution at least will be ex- amined. Finally, this paper will also investigate the departure of some militias from the original models of the American past and their metamorphosis into a source of domestic insurrection bent on cooperation with foreign enemies toward the destruction of the United States government and long held American socio-cultural values. vii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION It is the intent of this paper to argue and substantiate that contemporary Militias in the United States today can trace their religious, racial, ideological, socio- cultural, and Constitutional roots all the way back to the earliest Colonial, pre- revolutionary, revolutionary, and post-revolutionary armed citizen groups that fought against what they perceived to be oppression from what ever direction it came at them. This historical, political, racial, religious, and economic inquiry investigates the militia phenomenon from an academic political science perspective. Through documented references to the political, religious, doctrinaire ideological and socio-cultural events of their day this study will provide the nexus between the basic issues of early American armed resistance to government oppression and repression in behalf of what they believed and that of the religious, racial, and socio-cultural motivations that still drive the majority of contemporary American militias today. This paper will combine historical, religious, and socio-political analysis as a means of understanding the meaning of the Biblical Jubilee with its deep religious, political, and economic meaning to the early Americans who formed the first militias of this nation and the relationship of those early perspectives to those of modern American militias and other individuals who are in sympathy with them. This investigation will present the reader with a contextual, modified emic perspective. That is, it will be presented from as close to an “insiders” 1 2 point of view as possible, without actually having been a member of any of the groups under consideration. This “inside looking out” vantage point was derived not only from extensive academic research, it was also the result of the author’s personal journeys into the world of gun shows, informal conversations with militia members, skin-heads, neo- Nazis, and some Ku Klux Klan members so as to gain intimate insight into the psychology of these individuals and groups. The motivation for this close contact was one of understanding in order to clearly explain in depth, the philosophies, doctrines and thought processes of the militias, their members, and others without the intent of converting the reader to those philosophical doctrines. This modified