TheA PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL RESEARCH PublicEye ASSOCIATES SPRING 2002 • Volume XVI, No. 1 Hard Times on the Hard Right Why Progressives Must Remain Vigilant

By Chip Berlet movements work, and where the Republican political activists and Extreme boundaries on the political Right lie; Right organizers recruit activists in this Introduction • Rethink some useful ideas borrowed sector. By recognizing that the political hat happened to the armed citizens from major human relations groups Right is arrayed along a continuum, and by WMilitias? Once a flourishing move- (with which PRA sometimes tracing the dynamic relationships among ment, Militia units are dwindling rapidly. disagrees); and, the various sectors, we better understand Now that the influential Aryan Nations • Remain alert, active, and opti- what is happening in the U.S. political compound in Idaho has been demolished mistic—and not get too blue. Right and how to construct an effective after being seized through a civil lawsuit, counter-strategy.1 what is the future of the Extreme Right? Some Important Distinctions Two recent books have attempted to Does it still make sense to monitor these to Bear in Mind chart the boundaries of different U.S. types of groups when the Bush administra- he Extreme Right does not cause racism right-wing movements. One is by tion is the major force propelling politics in Tin this country—it exploits it. What Martin Durham, the other by this author the United States to the right? When a lead- clearly is seen as objectionable bigotry and Matthew N. Lyons.2 Below is a chart ing Christian Right activist is Attorney surfacing in Extreme Right movements is using compromise terminology that estab- General of the United States, does the term actually the magnified form of oppressions lishes some of the boundaries recognized in “extremist” have any meaning? When it’s that swim silently in the familiar yet obscured both books. hard times on the Hard Right, why do eddies of “mainstream” society. Racism, In this article I will use the term Hard groups in this sector warrant continued sexism, heterosexism, and antisemitism are Right to describe all right-wing movements attention? the major forms of supremacy that create to the right of Mainstream Conservatism, While mainstream electoral politics and oppression, but there are others based on which is primarily focused on political legislation is an appropriate arena for pro- ability, language, ethnicity, immigrant sta- movements and institutions committed to gressive organizing, the task of opposing tus, size, and more. These exist independent electoral reform through the Republican Hard Right groups is no less important. To of the Extreme Right in U.S. society. Party. To avoid confusion, I will eschew the buttress this argument requires the reader to: Between the hate-mongering groups of term Far Right, because it is sometimes used • Reject some old and widespread the Extreme Right and the election-oriented to describe what is here called the Hard beliefs about the nature of the Militias; groups in Mainstream Conservatism lie a Right, but also used to describe what is here • Review some new theories about series of right-wing populist movements— called the Extreme Right.3 how right-wing social and political the Dissident Right. Both conservative When using the term Extreme Right I

Mainstream IN THIS ISSUE Conservatism Hard Right Commentary ...... 2 Electoral Reform Dissident Right Extreme Right (Political Movements) (Populist Social Movements) (Insurgent Right / Racist Right) Book Review ...... 23 Republican Party Christian Right | Patriots | Militias Neofascists | Neonazis Eyes Right ...... 26 Heritage Foundation Anti-Immigrant | White Ethnic Nationalists National Alliance | Racist Skinheads American Enterprise Institute Property Rights | Anti-Affirmative Action Church of the Creator | Ku Klux Klan Eye Lashes ...... 26

THE PUBLIC EYE 1 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye Guest Commentary ThePublicEye Editor Nikhil Aziz, Ph.D. By Kathleen M. Blee Printing Red Sun Press hat [still] needs to be done in terms of studying the Racist Right? In recent years, Mailing Wmany excellent studies of racist groups have appeared. Further research, however, Walnut Street Center is sorely needed in six areas. First, we must connect grassroots activism and academic work. It is clear that accu- PRA rate knowledge of the Racist Right depends on sustained engagement between community POLITICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES activists and academic scholars. Yet, academic research informed by the questions, Board of Directors agendas, strategies, and concerns of grassroots activists is still rare. Joseph Agne Miguel Bustos Second, we need to understand the causes of organized racism. We know how racist Michael Chapman groups recruit, but not why people join them. We know how racist groups are orga- Jean Entine nized, but not why they form. There is increasing consensus that a single factor—an Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D. Michael Kozu absent parent, childhood victimization, or financial uncertainty—cannot explain Vivien Labaton organized racism. But there is little consensus about why people become racist activists. Mohan Sikka Faith Smith Third, we need to study racist violence. We do not know whether symbolic violence Paul Watanabe (the displays of swastikas and burning crosses, with their threat of racial terrorism) or Loretta Williams, Ph.D. the practice of physical violence is most important to racist groups. We also need to Lucy A. Williams know what violence means for organized racism. Is it a tactic, a goal in itself, a means Staff of promoting internal solidarity, a way to ensure media amplification of racist events, Nikhil Aziz, Ph.D., Research Analyst or largely the product of those only loosely affiliated with racist groups? Wendy Beauchamp, Information Specialist Chip Berlet, Senior Research Analyst Fourth, we need to differentiate racist display from racist recruitment. Klan and Stephanie Clark, Office Manager neonazi groups incite tremendous public concern by announcing their intention to Kate Cloud, Director Richard Allen Jackson, Jr., recruit new members through public rallies. Yet, few new members are recruited in Director of Development & Communications such a fashion. We need to study how racist groups recruit—largely through personal Jean V. Hardisty, Ph.D., President ties to potential members—rather than assume that recruitment occurs through Mitra Rastegar, Researcher public racist displays. Advisory Board Fifth, we need to explore why people adopt the worldviews of organized racism. Racist Rita Arditti John Roberts Ann Baker Mab Segrest groups teach their members that racial, ethnic, and religious enemy groups control the Donna Bivens Alice Senturia world, fomenting unremitting struggles for dominance in which Whites and Aryans Sara Diamond, Ph.D. Holly Sklar Fred Goff Barbara Simon are increasingly dispossessed. There is a pressing need for research on why people embrace Beni Ivey Urvashi Vaid or reject such ideas. Why does one person accept ideas that are bizarre, dangerous, and Maya Miller Lucius Walker conspiratorial while another, similarly positioned, dismisses them? Suzanne Pharr Leah Wise Skipp Porteous Sixth, we need more research on the connections among the varying ideas that The Public Eye is published by Political Research circulate within racist groups. We know that there are intense conflicts within hate groups Associates. Subscriptions are $29.00 for individuals and non-profit organizations, $39.00 for other over issues like nationalism, pan-Aryanism, organized religion, and gender. We need organizations, $19.00 for students and low-income individuals. Outside U.S., Canada, and Mexico, add to catalog such ideological frictions in the Racist Right. In so doing, we can discern— $9.00 for surface delivery or $14.00 for air mail. and exploit—its weaknesses. Please make checks payable to Political Research Associates, 1310 Broadway, Suite 201, Somerville, Massachusetts 02144-1731. Kathleen M. Blee is Professor of Sociology and Director of Women’s Studies at the 617.666.5300 fax: 617.666.6622 University of Pittsburgh. The comments are based on data from Kathleen M. Blee, Inside Orga- PRA is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. All nized Racism: Women in the Hate Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002). A donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted longer version of this commentary appeared in The Politics of Social Inequality 9 (2001), pp. 171- by law. © Political Research Associates, 2001. 178, and is used here by permission of Elsevier Science. Website: www.publiceye.org All rights reserved. ISSN 0275-9322 ISSUE 39

THE PUBLIC EYE 2 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye am referring to militant insurgent groups pollinate all three constituencies. Sometimes conservative territory altogether.”10 Durham that reject democracy, promote a conscious activists in all these sectors can join with criticizes those who lump together “the ideology of supremacy, and support poli- mainstream conservatives to vote for a Christian Right, Buchanan and the militias” cies that would negate basic human rights political candidate or work in a project to with the Extreme Right. He also argues it for members of a scapegoated group. advance a topical goal such as restricting gay is not useful to claim that the Hard Right Extreme Right groups are viewed as insur- rights or immigrant rights.8 Yet the differ- already does (or might potentially) domi- gent because they “reject the existing polit- ences that exist among these groups are nate the entire U.S. Right. “Not only have ical system, and pluralist institutions important for both analysts and activists.9 we disputed such a categorisation, but it may generally, in favor of some form of author- Durham, a British academic who has be that the mainstream [conservative elec- itarianism.”4 In contrast, Dissident Right authored two books on right-wing politics, toral sector] will prove even more success- groups still hope for the reform ful than it has already been on of the existing system, even drawing more militantly right- when their reforms are drastic wing activists into its orbit.”11 and they are dubious their goals The Extreme Right does not cause racism in This certainly seems true with will be reached. The terms the coalition building efforts of Extreme Right and Racist this country—it exploits it. What clearly is the Bush administration. Right are used interchange- In order to make sense of ably in this issue of The Public seen as objectionable bigotry surfacing in what has happened in the Hard Eye, although for some groups Right, it is crucial to recognize on the Extreme Right gender Extreme Right movements is actually the mag- that the Christian Right, the is also a major focus, and racism Patriot Movement and the Mili- exists in various forms and nified form of oppressions that swim silently tias, and the Extreme Right are degrees in all sectors. three different movements. The term hate group will be in the familiar yet obscured eddies Kathleen Blee stresses that all used to describe any organiza- these groups can be dangerous, tion in any sector that dehu- of “mainstream” society. Racism, sexism, but that their differences are sub- manizes or demonizes stantial (see Blee interview side- members of a scapegoated tar- heterosexism, and antisemitism are the major bar).12 There is some overlap of get group in a systematic way.5 beliefs, especially with some of Rather than using the term forms of supremacy that create oppression, but the Militias and White suprema- hate crime, however, this arti- cists. But as Betty Dobratz cle will refer to acts of intimi- there are others based on ability, language, observes, “these movements dation and violence based on ethnicity, immigrant status, size, remain fairly distinct, and prejudice and hate as acts of although there are attempts to ethnoviolence.6 The term and more. These exist independent of the bridge these movements, they are “extremist” is of dubious value mostly not successful.”13 and not used in this article. As Extreme Right in U.S. society. John C. Green, who studies sociologist Jerome Himmel- right-wing electoral activity, also stein argues, “At best this char- sees some overlap at the edges of acterization tells us nothing these movements, but says, substantive about the people it labels; at suggests that some analysts toss too many “there is not significant overlap.” Accord- worst it paints a false picture.”7 right-wing activists into the bin of the ing to Green, director of the Ray Bliss Cen- There are many movements and topical Extreme Right. He does not think that fig- ter at the Institute of Applied Politics of the groups active in the Dissident Right, includ- ures such as Pat Robertson or Pat Buchanan University of Akron in Ohio, “the Christ- ing the Christian Right, Patriot Move- should be characterized in such a way. To ian Right had some militants that leaned ment, and the armed citizens Militias. How Durham, “more complex distinctions are toward the Militias, and some Militias were much actual overlap exists between these worth making, and where such figures have composed mainly of Christian evangelicals. groups in the Dissident Right and the race breached the boundaries that distinguish But for the most part, the Christian Right hate groups of the Extreme Right is vigor- conservatism from forces to its right, it took a dim view of the Militias.”14 ously debated. It is clear that some issues, remains important to understand that con- Mark Pitcavage, director of Fact Find- rhetoric, and conspiracy theories cross- trary pressures have kept them from leaving ing for the Anti-Defamation League

THE PUBLIC EYE 3 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Interview with Kathleen Blee 12/17/01

The Public Eye: What have been the major changes in how social The Public Eye: What differences exist between the Ku Klux Klan science looks at members of racist groups? in the 1920s and the KKK today? How is it related to a revolt of the Middle Class? Kathleen Blee: In the 1950s, 60s, and 70s many scholars who looked at the Right were somewhat sympathetic in their perspec- Kathleen Blee: In the 1920s, the Klan was a revolt of the Middle tive, and there were few critical, progressive scholars studying the Class in most of the places it organized. In places where it was Right until the 1980s and 90s. strong it was also a mainstream movement, especially in Indiana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Ohio. Where the Klan had its strongest In the earlier period, most scholars who looked at dissident move- chapters, they often involved to some degree many of the White ments were using the collective behavior model based on the idea native-born Protestants in those communities. So the Klan was of mob action. The presumption was that this type of behavior was the mainstream in those communities. transient, of short duration, essentially irrational, and not justifiable by underlying social conditions. Today the Klan is a very tiny marginalized movement, and it is difficult to say it represents a revolt from the middle. Although the Even when scholars looked at the Right, they tended to study the Klan uses many themes and concerns of the Middle Class, they are Right outside of any social context. Many studies were biographies so very tiny that it is unlikely they represent a response to social of the leaders, and the groups they led were not seen as part of a conditions in middle America. social movement on the Right. I am leery of explanations based on Middle Class malaise or eco- Contemporary social movement theory developed as scholars stud- nomic conditions to explain groups that are very tiny and very mar- ied groups on the political Left such as the Civil Rights Movement. ginal; we need to look at other factors. One danger is that people These groups were not seen as engaged in irrational outbursts of col- borrow theories worked out to explain the middle class base of the lective behavior, but as part of strategic movements based on real and Nazi movement in prewar Germany and import them to the United legitimate grievances that stemmed from inequalities in society. States. In Germany, the Nazis exploited economic fears to generate scapegoating, but that is not a good explanation for what has hap- At first, the theory of Resource Mobilization (the idea that disad- pened here. Racist Right movements in the United States have often vantaged groups have constant grievances and can be mobilized to coincided with periods of economic prosperity. change their situation under certain conditions) was developed and primarily applied to progressive social movements. Scholars saw dis- The Public Eye: How does the Racist Right interact with other advantaged groups as having legitimate grievances. That it was movements and the electoral system? rational to mobilize to change. Kathleen Blee: There is a substantial gulf between the Racist Right, The Racist Right was still sidelined as irrational, it was not seen as the Christian Right, and the Electoral Right. They have some issues composed of people acting in their own interests in the same clear in common, and there are bridging issues such as guns, or anti- way as progressive movements. Civil rights activists were acting on immigrant sentiments, and for some, abortion. But we don’t want behalf of their race and class interests, but anti-civil rights activists to blur the differences between the legislative anti-immigrant move- were not always doing so. ments in California, for example, and the Christian Coalition, and the Racist Right. This is not to say they are not all dangerous in It took awhile for scholars to look at Racist Right movements to see their own way. In some ways, the Mainstream Right is more danger- how they would fit into the pattern developed by social movement ous due to their relative power. theory. Racist Right movements are a more perplexing combination of people acting in their interest and acting against their interests at The Christian Coalition is able to peddle soft-core antisemitic the same time. ideas, not because they are borrowing these ideas from the Racist Right, but because both movements are drinking from the same Take as an example the White, Citizens Councils in the South in well of prejudiced attitudes in the United States. the 1950s and 60s. On the one hand, here Whites were acting in their interest against Black demands; on the other hand, they Anti-immigrant organizing is another good example. Prejudice were acting against their interests and on behalf of the interests against immigrants is so diffused into the public mind in this coun- of wealthy people in their communities such as landowners and try that as president, George Bush could exploit it without having factory owners. They were acting with their race interests and to turn to the Racist Right. He could just tap into what was already against their class interests. there below the surface in the general public. Some ideas promoted by the Racist Right—such as xenophobia and anti-Islamic beliefs— were already present in mainstream society.

THE PUBLIC EYE 4 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

(ADL), and founder of the Militia Watch- elements have slowly reasserted their dog website, makes similar distinctions, physical type and have gradually bred observing, “For the Militias and the Patriot Mark Pitcavage, director out their conquerors. . .”18 Movement the primary focus is antigov- “ . . . [and] the more primitive ernment. For the right-wing hate groups the of Fact Finding for the strata of the population always con- primary focus is intolerance. These are not tain physical traits derived from still mutually exclusive ideas and people can Anti-Defamation League more ancient predecessors. . . .”19 shift, but still they are basically different per- (ADL), and founder of the “ . . . Women, however, of fair skin spectives.”15 have always been the objects of keen In addition to recognizing these ideo- Militia Watchdog website, envy by those of the [female] sex whose logical boundaries, progressives need to skins are black, yellow or red.” 20 carefully delineate the different method- makes similar distinctions, Such pseudo-scientific theorizing con- ologies used by various sectors of the Right. tinues today, and it facilitates aggression, This is an especially important task since the observing, “For the violence, and murder by adherents to horrific terrorist attacks on 9/11, given the Extreme Right philosophies such as Chris- dramatic erosion of civil liberties and over- militias and the Patriot tian Identity.21 In its most militant form, broad use of the term “terrorism” justifying Christian Identity accentuates “racist and surveillance and detention of dissidents Movement the primary anti-Semitic motifs,” envisioning a “mili- across the political spectrum. Few members tarized apocalypse” pitting godly, White, of Hard Right groups are actually breaking focus is antigovernment. Christian men against traitorous govern- laws. Progressives need to oppose the Hard For the right-wing hate ment officials, manipulative evil Jews, and Right, but not foist the task of confronting subhuman people of color.22 Christian social oppression onto law enforcement groups the primary focus Identity most likely helped motivate Buford for solution through government repression. O’Neal Furrow, Jr., who in 1999 wounded Since The Public Eye has extensively cov- is intolerance. These are several people in an attack on a Jewish insti- ered the Christian Right in recent issues, this tution in California, and then killed a Fil- article will primarily examine the Extreme not mutually exclusive ipino-American postal worker. The racialist Right, the Patriot Movement, and the armed book War Cycles, Peace Cycles by Richard citizens Militias. The dynamic relation- ideas and people can shift, Kelly Hoskins was found among Furrow’s ships among these sectors are explored. belongings. In 1958, Hoskins wrote a There is a tour of styles and dynamics such but still they are basically pamphlet popular among White suprema- as populist anti-elitism, producerism, alien- different perspectives.” cists, Our Nordic Race, where he claimed ation, and apocalypticism. Tools for estab- that, “The history of our [Nordic] race is lishing boundaries are sharpened. How the an epic story which should thrill the hearts Hard Right influences the mainstream of our youth.” 23 electoral system is discussed. The article con- Grant’s 1923, The Passing of the Great Race. According to Hoskins: cludes with a review of why the Hard Right Grant summarizes the concepts: “Today the entire world is seething still requires our attention. “Democratic theories of govern- with unrest. The line of conflict is ment in their modern form are based found wherever the protective ring of The Extreme Right on dogmas of equality formulated outposts of our western civilization he Extreme Right in the United States some hundred and fifty years ago comes in contact with the now bel- Tlargely comprises groups promoting [the late 1700s] and rest upon the ligerent and aggressive nations of the White supremacy and antisemitism. The assumption that environment and colored world.”24 White supremacy of the Extreme Right is not heredity is the controlling factor Hoskins identifies the villains: rooted in pseudo-scientific theories of the in human development. . . .”17 “[A] group of ‘agitation Jews,’ in biological superiority of the White “race.”16 “ . . . Aboriginal populations from close co-operation with a group of Key texts that these theories draw on include time immemorial have been again and Nordic Race Traitors, are almost Count Arthur de Gobineau’s 1853, The again swamped under floods of new- wholly responsible for the destructive Inequality of Human Races; Francis Galton’s comers and have disappeared for a ‘one race, one creed, one color’ Marx- 1870, Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its time from historic view. In the course ist campaign that has brought strife Laws and Consequences; and Madison of centuries, however, these primitive and disunity to our country and to the

THE PUBLIC EYE 5 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

rest of Western Civilization.”25 He also proposes some solutions, a tac- tical reform agenda, and a strategic plan that implies a more aggressive methodology: “ . . . we must add to the large num- ber of states who already have laws prohibiting racial interbreeding and insure that these laws are made iron- clad. It would be an irony indeed to protect ourselves against a second Pearl Harbor only to be destroyed by Marxist mongrelism from within.” 26 “Crucial it is that we have solidar- ity on the subject of Nordic preser- vation in spite of our enemies within who are doing their utmost to destroy us. If we do not unite our thinking and our actions we shall rest with the ashes of the ages in less than a century. But if we rise to the crisis—if we ally ourselves with our neighbors next door, with our kinsmen more distant, to crush beneath the heel the traitors Reprinted with the kind permission of the artist. within, and stalwartly meet the tidal wave of colored fanaticism that is Even within the Extreme Right, it is the southern landscape and anti-Hispanic rapidly approaching our shores—we important to note that strategies and tac- and anti-Asian discourse would have most shall win through to a great new era tics vary within sectors of the movements, appeal in places where they had been gain- that will follow us to the stars.”27 and can change over time. Kathleen Blee ing visibility.”30 For Hoskins, the primary focus is on shows how the Klan and other Racist Right For many years, members of Racist Right White supremacy, but secondarily the issues groups adapt to find new roles for women, groups were described as part of a patho- of race traitors, Marxists, and “agitation and how women in the Klan have reached logical lunatic fringe of “extremists” gnaw- Jews.” He also is critical of the role of gov- accommodations and exercised power ing away at the vital electoral center of ernment in aiding “mongrelism from within the structures and strictures of U.S. politics. This “centrist/extremist” ana- within.” Since contemporary White almost-exclusively male Klan leadership.28 lytical model actually impedes antiracist supremacy is based on pseudo-scientific Betty Dobratz and Stephanie Shanks-Meile efforts and other struggles against oppres- racialism, Jews are considered to be part of make this point in their book examining the sion because it individualizes what are the semitic race, even though not all Jews increasing popularity of White separatism essentially institutional and systemic prob- are semitic, and many people who consider as a frame among White supremacists.29 lems.31 The use of the centrist/extremist par- themselves semites are Arab. To add further Changing social and economic condi- adigm to analyze the Extreme Right and confusion, some Extreme Right hucksters tions can also affect the targets of White hate groups by major human relations claim they are not really “antisemitic” supremacist organizing. One study of the organizations has not “abolished the move- because they hold no grudge against Arabs, contemporary Ku Klux Klan in the South ment, nor diminished racism in general, and who they classify as semites. found that “fluctuations in density of black may, in fact, unwittingly support racist Some of the better-known contemporary populations, or shifts in its relative size, were beliefs,” suggests Abby Ferber. “While the Extreme Right groups and tendencies are unrelated to [contemporary] Klan activi- focus is on the fringe, mainstream, every- listed below. ties.” However the study found that shifts day racism remains unexamined.” She in the population of His- argues that a discussion is needed on the Ku Klux Klan Neonazi Groups Racist Skinheads panics and Asians were “points of similarity between white Christian Identity Aryan Nations Church of the Creator linked to recent Klan activ- supremacist discourse and mainstream dis- ity. Hispanics and Asians course,” especially since “White suprema- White Aryan Resistance National Alliance Third Position fascists “are relative newcomers to cist discourse gains power precisely because

THE PUBLIC EYE 6 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye it rearticulates mainstream racial narra- but so did existing Patriot groups. Marshal William Degan, and Weaver’s wife tives.”32 Raphael Ezekiel agrees, noting Patriot social movements involve as many Vicki and son Samuel died. Randy Weaver that organized White racism exploits feel- as 5 million Americans who believe that the and his friend Kevin Harris were wounded. ings of “lonely resentment.” It does this by government is manipulated by subversive The Branch Davidian compound in weaving together ideologies already present secret elites and is planning to use law Waco, Texas was a Christian fundamentalist in mainstream culture: “white specialness, enforcement or military force to repress church and survivalist retreat. In 1993 the biological significance of ‘race,’ the pri- political rights. Durham observes that “the David Koresh, leader of the Branch David- macy of power in human relations” along movement is divided in strategy and exhibits ians, was decoding Revelation as an End with “the feeling of being cheated.”33 both authoritarian and libertarian Times script and preparing for the Tribu- James Aho points out how easy it is “to impulses” and that “aspects of each have the lations. The government failed to compre- dismiss racism and religious bigotry as potential to bring its adherents into conflict, hend that the Davidian worldview was products of craziness or stupidity,” but sometimes bloodily, with a federal govern- part of rising millennialist expectations argues that such a view is not accurate. “Evi- ment that they see as a threat to their rights generated by the approach of the calendar dence from field research on Pacific North- and a servant of their enemies.”38 Gov- year 2000. A series of miscalculations by west racists and bigots shows that in the ernment analytical errors and abuses of government analysts cost the lives of 80 main they are indistinguishable from their power during just such confrontations Branch Davidians (including 21 children), more conventional peers, intellectually resulted in needless deaths at the Weaver and 4 federal agents. and educationally.” Aho also observes that family cabin in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the Spurred by anger over these events, the with the exception of those who engaged Branch Davidian compound in Waco,Texas. Patriot Movement spun off the Militia in politically motivated murders, the racists Randy Weaver and his wife were Chris- Movement as an armed wing.39 Armed cit- and bigots he studied “appear well within tian Identity adherents who adopted a sur- izens Militias quickly emerged in all 50 the bounds of normal, psychologically.”34 vivalist mindset and moved to a remote states and according to a tally kept by the location in the mountains. The discovery Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), there The Dissident Right: The by the Weavers of a secret government sur- were 224 Militia units in 1995.40 At its Patriot Movement and the veillance team quickly escalated into a peak during this period there were between Armed Militias deadly 1992 shoot-out in which federal 20,000 and 60,000 active participants. he Patriot movement began Tgrowing in the early 1990s “because of a sense of frustration— that no one was listening—that the government was not effective.”35 Rural areas suffered greatly in the 1980s and 1990s. Farm and ranch economies essentially collapsed, with transnational agribusiness swooping in to buy out thousands of family-owned operations. Sui- cide rates in the farm belt rose along with reports of abuse and mental ill- ness. Hard Right groups spread conspiracy theories in this region while corporate media and policy makers for the most part ignored the plight of the residents who saw their way of life devastated.36 As one song sung to raise funds for Farm Aid put it, these families were being “weeded out.”37 Extreme Right groups such as the Posse Comita- tus laid part of the groundwork

for the Militias during this period, Reprinted with the kind permission of the artist.

THE PUBLIC EYE 7 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Ken Stern, an analyst with the American ment, yet each connects with the others at “. . . may have laid some of the Jewish Committee, argues that the main fac- the body, the New World Order.”43 groundwork for the militias’ forma- tors behind the growth of the Militias were Recent social movement theory argues tion, not only in suggesting structure, government missteps during the Weaver that it is face-to-face recruitment through but also in solidifying connections and Waco confrontations, and fears gener- pre-existing relationships—family, friends, between longtime white suprema- ated by proposed federal gun control leg- and co-workers—that draws people into an cists and Identity followers, on the one islation.41 The government is central to all activist group. People join groups because hand, and others such as Larry Pratt of these factors. Sarah Elizabeth Mahan, they have some grievance or fear, but they of Gun Owners of America. Yet its who conducted a content analysis of four are seldom attracted by the specific ideol- importance should not be overrated. Militia of Montana videotapes, found ogy of the group they join, and in fact tend Meetings happen every day. In order that the central narrative was to use to learn and adopt the ideology only after to have an impact they must plug into “insinuation and intimation” in an joining the group.44 The armed citizens a social fabric that is ready to receive “attempt to ‘prove’ the presence of a grand Militias drew recruits from a broad range the meeting’s message.”46 conspiracy to which the viewers, as Amer- of preexisting movements and networks (see The “1992 meeting at Estes Park was not ican citizens, must be alerted.” The videos sidebar).45 the birth of the Militia Movement,” asserts cited “instances of injustice” to “weave a Pitcavage, even more firmly. “What Larry web of suggestive rhetoric designed to Militias & the Extreme Right Pratt was talking about was Militias in the make the viewers afraid of their own gov- hat is the relationship between the sense of the Guatemalan death squads, not ernment.”42 WMilitias and the Extreme Right? in the ideological sense of the Militia as a John Keith Akins likened Militia con- Some analysts trace the birth of the Militia movement” as it materialized in the United spiracy theory to an ideological octopus. “In Movement to a 1992 Estes Park, Colorado States. And “none of the major early Mili- this analogy, the body of the octopus rep- meeting of antigovernment activists. Stern tia leaders appear to have had strong ties to resents the New World Order theory; each argues that while the meeting was significant, white supremacist groups or the Estes Park tentacle represents a specific concern, such it “may be an overstatement to say that this meeting.”47 Although one attendee, John as firearm ownership, abortion, or prayer Colorado gathering was the birthplace of the Trochman, who had espoused the racist in schools. Each tentacle of this octopus American militia movement.” The Estes theology of Christian Identity, later went on reaches into a pre-existing social move- Park meeting: to found the influential Militia of Montana. Pitcavage does see Christian Identity as playing an important role for some key Where the Militias recruited Militia leaders such as Trochman, where it serves as “a medium that allows for bridg- • Militant right-wing gun rights advocates, antitax protesters, survivalists, and right-wing libertarians. ing antigovernment viewpoints with • Christian Patriots, and other persons promoting a variety of pseudo-legal intolerance.” He, however, agues that while “constitutionalist” theories. John Trochman is involved with Christian • Extreme Right organizers in White racist, antisemitic, or neonazi movements, such Identity, as a Militia Movement leader, as Christian Identity, the Posse Comitatus, and Aryan Nations. Trochman “does not actively promote it • The confrontational wing of the antiabortion movement. [and] it is the government that is his primary • Apocalyptic millennialists, including those Christians who believed the period of focus. With Pete Peters, a Christian the “End Times” had arrived and they were facing the Mark of the Beast, which could Identity adherent based in Colorado, it is be hidden in supermarket bar codes, proposed paper currency designs, implantable computer microchips, Internet websites, or e-mail. the reverse. Intolerance is his main focus, and he promotes that, along with antigov- • The dominion theology sector of the Christian Evangelical Right, especially its most militant and doctrinaire branch, Christian Reconstructionism. ernment ideas,” which are his secondary • Advocates of “sovereign” citizenship, “freeman” status, and other arguments rooted focus. Pitcavage says that for the average in a distorted analysis of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Amendments, member of the Patriot Movement, “the including those persons who argue that a different or second-class form of citizenship basic problem is with the legitimacy of the is granted to African Americans through these amendments. system—in part or in whole. They are • The most militant wings of the anti-environmentalist “Wise Use” movement, county antigovernment, and this then manifests supremacy movement, state sovereignty movement, states’ rights movement, and Tenth Amendment movement. itself as tax protest, sovereign citizenship, and the Militia.” Source: Berlet & Lyons, Right Wing Populism, p. 289. In the 1980s, the Patriot Movement was much closer to the Extreme Right.

THE PUBLIC EYE 8 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye Reprinted with the kind permission of the artist.

Examples would be groups such as the The SPLC agrees that people in the antisemitism in the Militia Movement— Christian Patriots Defense League and the Patriot and armed Militia Movements “were there are. But the Patriots and Militias Posse Comitatus, with leaders like James drawn from all walks of life.” They argue, were different, autonomous, and distinct Wickstrom, William Potter Gale, and Gor- however, that “though only some were movements, and despite some overlap, don Kahl. According to Pitcavage, “the explicitly racist many of the key militants neither is a subset of the Extreme Right. philosophy of the 1980s Patriot Move- and ideologues of the movement had long How can we explain the genesis of this ment was closer to half-and-half antigov- histories of involvement in white suprema- analytical disagreement? Pitcavage notes ernment and intolerance.” In the 1990s, cist groups”50 This is true, and it certainly that, “People who were monitoring hate “the Patriot movement was much closer to set up a struggle within the Militia Move- groups were among the first analysts to libertarianism, and the major leaders mostly ment between those comfortable with overt have discovered the Militias.”51 So it was pre- were not overtly racists,” but were more con- racism and antisemitism and those not. dictable that some watchdog groups would cerned with “the New World Order.”48 Just how much of the Militia Movement see the Militias merely as extensions of Where a Militia unit was located appears was dominated by the Extreme Right is existing hate groups in the United States. to be a factor as well, observes Pitcavage. It hotly debated. Some analysts argue that the After the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, appears that urban and suburban Militia Militia Movement was largely indistin- many experienced analysts who studied the units leaned more toward libertarianism, guishable from the Extreme Right. A sig- U.S. political Right pointed at the Militia while the rural units leaned more toward nificant number of academics and other Movement as the source of the attack; and Christian Identity and other racist philoso- analysts, however, disagree. In their current argued that the Militia Movement was essen- phies. Ohio provides an example of this ten- publications, both the SPLC and ADL tially a front for Extreme Right groups. Yet dency. “In Columbus, the Militia leader was describe the Patriot and Militia Move- neither assertion stands up to close scrutiny. J. J. Johnston,” an African-American “with ments in terms different than those they use From the beginning there was a lack of libertarian antigovernment” sentiments. to describe Extreme Right groups such as appreciation that “the Militia Movement In rural areas of Ohio, the militia leaders the KKK and neonazis. This is not to say was a different movement from the White were closer to racist ideologies.49 that there are not elements of racism and supremacist Movement,” Pitcavage explains.

THE PUBLIC EYE 9 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

There was a tendency to “claim that the con- supremacist and hate groups. persons in the Patriot Movement claim spiracy theories in the Militia Movement Durham also thinks that the Militia “sovereign” citizenship. They contend that were just a ruse” for recruitment by the Movement should not be primarily defined while the Fourteenth Amendment granted Extreme Right and that “eventually people by antisemitism or White supremacy. He statutory rights of citizenship, there was an in the Militia Movement would be intro- argues that “Patriot conspiracy theory is earlier “organic” or “de jure” form of state duced to intolerance,”52 especially through [not] always undisguised or even disguised citizenship. Thus “sovereign” citizenship is antisemitic conspiracism. In some cases anti-Semitism.”56 This is a crucial point that seen as superior to “federal” citizenship, this is just what happened, but it was not a is easily misunderstood. There are ele- especially since it is believed to place the universally successful endeavor. ments of White supremacy and anti- individual outside the jurisdiction of the fed- Pitcavage contends that a key early eral courts and agencies such as the leader in the Militia Movement, Internal Revenue Service. Since Linda Thompson, “had no apparent As is true with the issue of White Patriots believe that a conspiracy of racist motivations. Thompson was secret elites controls the federal gov- part of the Patriot Movement, and supremacy, many of the conspiracist ernment, some further claim part of introduced the idea of the Militias” this conspiracy is to trick the Amer- to a wide audience in the summer of narratives in the Patriot and armed ican people into voluntarily giving 1993 over shortwave radio and her up their “sovereign” citizenship. computer bulletin board system militia movements are influenced by Since the Fourteenth Amend- (BBS).53 Stern notes that Thompson ment recognized the constitutional identified herself as a libertarian and and drawn from historic antisemitic rights of Black people, some critics social justice activist. She repeat- of the Patriot Movement argue that edly sought to distance herself from claims of an international Jewish bank- Constitutionalism is evidence of racism and antisemitism. Al Thomp- conscious racism. Yet within the son, who with his spouse Linda ran ing conspiracy. Most Christian Identity Patriot and armed Militia Move- Associated Electronic News (AEN), ments there were serious debates an online text service distributed to adherents circulate these theories. Yet over White supremacist interpreta- hundreds of BBSs, filed an affidavit tions of “sovereign” citizenship, and in a 1995 legal action against the many in the Patriot Movement do not some Militia leaders publicly urged antisemitic newspaper, the the expulsion of open racists. Spotlight, in which he said the fol- see the anti-Jewish roots of conspiracist While debates over federalism lowing: are as old as the writing of the U.S. “Our network is a serious news theories that do not specifically mention Constitution, today’s constitution- network and has no association alist arguments for the most part with persons who purport to be Jews. They do not recognize that given have been adapted from pre-Civil racists or anti-Jewish, nor do we in War appeals for states’ rights as a way any manner condone or endorse historic prejudice, even generic conspir- to defend legal or de facto White such agendas; this false association acism creates an atmosphere where anti- supremacy.57 So even though Patriot by the Spotlight with our net- Movement proponents argue they work discredited AEN News in semitic scapegoating can flourish. have no racist intent, the use of journalistic circles and subjected constitutionalist arguments per- the network to a massive media petuates historic racist ideology. campaign directed against us. It This is different, however, from the also attracted at least one very anti- semitism in the Patriot Movement, but not naked and overt White supremacy of neon- semitic person to our network who in the same form or force as in the Extreme azi and other Extreme Right groups. Objec- left an anti-Jewish post and which has Right, and in some cases barely distinct tionable, but different. caused us to have to use great caution from prejudice found in sectors of “main- As is true with the issue of White in allowing access to the network.”55 stream” society. supremacy, many of the conspiracist nar- The Thompsons, and many other Mili- The charge of White supremacy often ratives in the Patriot and armed Militia tia and Patriot Movement leaders, openly flows from the way some members of the Movements are influenced by and drawn fought against recruitment efforts by the Patriot Movement utilize what are called from historic antisemitic claims of an inter- Extreme Right, including organized White constitutionalist legal arguments. Some national Jewish banking conspiracy. Most

THE PUBLIC EYE 10 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Christian Identity adherents circulate these were actually members of a Militia unit. arrested, and the milder activists theories. Yet many in the Patriot Movement They interacted with Militia members at dropped out. But when they did not do not see the anti-Jewish roots of con- sales tables they set up at gun shows and other take the next step, the inaction led the spiracist theories that do not specifically events. McVeigh had nurtured his White more radical to resign or get kicked mention Jews. They do not recognize that supremacist views until they bloomed into out for calling for illegal action. An given historic prejudice, even generic con- neonazi ideology. Nichols flirted with Con- example of this was the failure of the spiracism creates an atmosphere where stitutionalism, but while both he and his Militias to support the Montana antisemitic scapegoating can flourish.58 brother James were clearly enmeshed in the Freemen or the Republic of Texas. It Again, this is different from the naked and Patriot Movement, Terry Nichols’ connec- was an insolvable dilemma.”66 overt antisemitism of neonazi and other tion to the Militia Movement was peripheral, Extreme Right groups. Again, objection- while his brother had closer ties with it. Safety Valves able, but different. Contrary to popular belief, the Militias uch of the anger in the Patriot and As Green explains, “A lot of negative ideas continued to grow after the Oklahoma MMilitia Movement was diverted into are picked up from common experience, City bombing. The number of units reached the anti-Clinton campaign. It became the and sometimes people pick them up with- a peak at 858 in 1996, according to the major focus for Patriot institutions such as out knowing their pedigree.” And in some SPLC. Thereafter, yearly totals dropped, and the Free Republic website. “Clinton pro- cases the pedigree does not directly track by 2000 there were only 194 units.61 “The vided a high profile target,” Green observes. back to antisemitism. Many Patriot Move- Oklahoma City bombing simultaneously “The attempt to remove him from office ment members draw their anti-elite narra- created both a sense of horror and a sense failed, but it almost succeeded. The Clintons tive from a set of conspiracist theories about of attraction,” explains Green.62 Pitcavage as an issue were something that could draw plots by Freemasons or the Illuminati. This suspects that “gun rights activists were the all these different people together.” is the basic conspiracist narrative promoted Militia members who tended to drop out “There were broader dynamics as well,” by the John Birch Society. These Freema- first after the Oklahoma City bombing.”63 says Green “On economic issues, the coun- son conspiracy theories arose in the 1790s, While these and other moderate members while in the United States the antisemitic of the Militias were running out the back hoax document, “The Protocols of the door of the Militia Movement, a number Why the Militias Collapsed Learned Elders of Zion,” did not popular- of new recruits were running in the front • The economy improved for many ize the antisemitic conspiracy theory of door. These tended to be more militant and who had joined militias due to Jewish global control until after WWI. ideologically closer to the Extreme Right. economic concerns. After that, the two strands of conspiracy Although the Militias initially grew after • Law enforcement activity made many theory intertwined, and the result was a the Oklahoma City bombing, they soon in the militias more cautious. continuum of conspiracism ranging from started to collapse. The list of factors behind • The militias did not institutionalize their movement. generic to vividly antisemitic.59 the collapse of the Militia Movement is long • Splits and feuds continuously weak- (see sidebar). Increased government atten- ened the militia movement. End Game tion clearly reduced political opportunities • Anticipated government repression hat explains the demise of the armed for Militia organizers to exploit. “The risks and tyranny never materialized in a citizens Militias? Green argues that went up,” Green says. “It’s a lot less fun if dramatic confrontational form, and it W was impossible for militia leaders to as a social movement the Militias managed the sheriff is watching you and the guy next sustain an unending defensive posture. to survive several buffeting events. In to you might be an informer.” Still, he • The cooling of apocalyptic and mil- November 1994, “the Republican Con- observes “a movement can take a lot of hits lennialist fervor, especially after the gress provided a sort of safety valve, even if it has successfully built institutions to sus- year 2000. though it was a legislative failure and did not tain it.”64 The Militias, however, failed to • The lack of disruption caused by the largely-resolved Y2K computer extend to the state and local level. But this build lasting institutions. Pitcavage points programming glitch. was not enough to divert the growth in the to a specific internal problem. He says the • Anger was channeled into the Patriot and Militia Movements.”60 Then Militias “did not succeed in proposing anti-Clinton campaign. came the Oklahoma City bombing in April solutions to take the movement to the next • Politics in the United States shifted to 1995. The Militias gained national attention level without engaging in illegal acts, such the right, opening political opportu- nities through electoral reform. after the Oklahoma City bombing, but as stockpiling weapons.”65 He explains: • Militia members were recruited into while the two persons convicted of the “If they took it to the next step, by libertarian, antiregulatory, gun rights, bombing interacted with the Militias, nei- stockpiling weapons for instance, and antiglobalization projects. ther Timothy McVeigh nor Terry Nichols they exposed themselves to getting

THE PUBLIC EYE 11 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye try did, in fact, shift to the right in the 1990s. within the Extreme Right. Betty Dobratz thing different. They are separating This was true across the board. Perot, the explains: themselves off from the mainstream Reform Party, Gingrich, even Clinton “The old segregationist model and not wanting to participate in the moved to the right.”67 There were two prevalent into the 1960s still placed mainstream culture. Some even call themes that were widely shared: An unwill- White supremacists within the main- for the establishment of a separate ingness to see the government grow, and stream culture. They were in the nation.” 70 renewed support for free market solutions mainstream trying to keep minorities According to Dobratz, “the move into and privatization. separate from the mainstream. So separatism by White supremacists results in Green sees in the Extreme Right, the White supremacists saw themselves as part from pressure from various anti-racist Patriot and Militia Movements, and in sec- groups that have forced this change by tions of the Christian Right, “a shared hos- exposing the full agendas of various indi- tility to the government and regulations. But viduals and groups.”71 At the same time, the this was also present in the broader body Much of the anger in the level of xenophobia and White supremacy politic, and became the position of the in more mainstream institutions has political Center.” Specifically, this translated Patriot and Militia move- increased. Even as the Extreme Right into such things as “support for vouchers became more marginalized, mainstream and suspicion of the FBI.” And as the ment was diverted into politicians using populist appeals were broader Electoral Right achieved a series of the anti-Clinton cam- echoing some of the Extreme Right’s legislative and ideological successes, “it no historic themes. longer seemed that nothing could change.” paign. It became the For the Militia Movement, “it was like let- Uncommon Grounds, Common ting the air out of a balloon slowly, rather major focus for Patriot Threads than popping it.”68 Demographics: Who, and Where, Because the Militias were part of the Dis- institutions such as the are these People? sident Right rather than the insurgent ometimes different sectors of the Hard Extreme Right, it was easier for organizers Free Republic website. SRight have different demographics. For to lure Militia activists back toward the Elec- example the Christian Right is populated toral Right. For some Militia members this “Clinton provided a high largely by people with above average income, meant simply folding back into pre-exist- education, and social status.72 Many are ing Patriot Movement groups, while voting profile target,” Green managers and small business owners.73 On Republican. Others became active in Main- observes. “The attempt to the other hand, Nella Van Dyke and Sarah stream Conservative groups tied to the A. Soule found a significant correlation Republican Party. A few went the other remove him from office between the location of Militia units and direction, and joined Extreme Right groups. areas suffering hard economic times.74 A failed, but it almost suc- study by Deborah Kaplan found members Pressure Cookers of a Patriot group in California had good s groups on the Hard Right shifted and ceeded. The Clintons as reasons to fear downward mobility: Asifted their membership, the forces “Many of the adherents . . . did on the Extreme Right became even more an issue were something suffer reversals, and as a direct result marginal. Some formed underground cells of corporate restructuring strategies. while others acted as “Lone Wolves.” Klan that could draw all these As many as 49.3 percent, compared leader Louis Beam promoted such tactics in different people together.” to 28.0 percent in a national news a 1983 essay titled, “Leaderless Resistance.”69 survey, said they had been ‘personally In the most extreme cases there were hor- affected’ by business downsizing.”75 rific acts of violence such as the Oklahoma Urban areas saw similar themes. One City bombing, the attacks by still part of the system, and sometimes suburban New York Militia included a Furrow, the dragging murder of were used by the system. Now White downsized IBM executive and others who James Byrd, Jr., and a shooting spree in Illi- supremacists are seeing themselves envisioned themselves as threatened nois and Indiana by Church of the Creator as distinct from the mainstream, and economically.76 devotee Benjamin Nathaniel Smith. There even distinct from the White main- While there is little reliable data for the were also profound organizational changes stream. They are advocating some- United States, Hans–Georg Betz, in his

THE PUBLIC EYE 12 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye study Radical Right–wing Populism in West- figure was only 19 percent for big businesses, against what are portrayed as government ern Europe, noted that one common theme and 8 percent for the federal government. elites who have become corrupt or indif- among the contemporary right–wing pop- The same poll found 60 percent favored ferent. Catherine McNicol Stock argues ulist movements in Europe was xenopho- restricting government–provided social ser- that the two key themes in these historic pop- bia and racist scapegoating of immigrants vices to “illegal immigrants.”79 ulist movements are “the politics of rural pro- and asylum–seekers.77 Betz argues that gen- Sometimes these electoral constituencies ducer radicalism and the culture of vigilante erally, the right-wing populists in Europe span different sectors of the Right. There violence.”82 Stock notes that, “the roots of distanced themselves from open affiliation are far more voters angry with big govern- violence, racism, and hatred can be and with the violent Extreme Right groups ment, bloated corporate leaders, and blus- have been nourished in the same soil and such as neonazis, avoided obvious and overt tering politicians than participants in the from the same experiences that generate rural racism, and presented themselves as willing Patriot Movement.80 In fact, much of the movements for democracy and equality.”83 to make “a fundamental transformation of middle class has been primed to be what While the Militia Movement was strong in the existing socioeconomic and sociopo- Barbara Ehrenriech has called a “Bludgeon rural areas, there were also urban and sub- litical system,” while still remaining within for the Right.”81 urban Militias. reformism and claiming to represent “demo- Populism is a rhetorical style that seeks cratic alternatives to the prevailing sys- Populist Anti-Elitism to mobilize “the people” as a social or polit- tem.” Betz, however, did not examine the he central motif of right-wing Dissident ical force. Populism can move to the left or other side of the equation, where Extreme TMovements in the United States is pop- right. It can be tolerant or intolerant. It can Right movements (including fascists) inter- ulist anti-elitism. Populist rhetoric flourishes promote civil discourse and political par- act with Dissident Right populist groups, in the Christian Right, Patriot Movement, ticipation or promote scapegoating, dem- engage in recruitment, and make right- and the Extreme Right, but plays different agoguery, and conspiracism. Populism can wing populist demands seem more rea- chords in each sector. The armed citizens oppose the status quo and challenge elites sonable in comparison. Militias are just one of a series of populist to promote change, or support the status quo Betz’s review of voting demographics in movements that have arisen periodically to defend “the people” against a perceived Europe reveals that Dissident Right populist throughout U.S. history to mobilize people threat by elites or subversive outsiders. parties attract disproportionate numbers of men, persons employed in the private sec- tor, and younger voters. In terms of social The Underlying Currents of Populism base, two versions of Dissident Right pop- Populism draws themes from several historic currents with potentially negative consequences, ulism emerge: one centered around “get the including: government off my back” economic liber- tarianism coupled with a rejection of main- Anti–elitism—a suspicion of politicians, powerful people, the wealthy, and high stream political parties (more attractive to culture...sometimes leading to conspiracist allegations about control of the world by secret the upper middle class and small entrepre- elites, especially the scapegoating of Jews as sinister and powerful manipulators of the economy or media; neurs); the other based on xenophobia and ethnocentric nationalism (more attractive Anti–intellectualism—a distrust of those pointy-headed professors in their Ivory to the lower middle class and wage work- Towers...sometimes undercutting rational debate by discarding logic and factual evidence in ers); although there is an attraction across favor of following the emotional appeals of demagogues; many sectors.78 This is similar to the main Majoritarianism—the notion that the will of the majority of people has absolute primacy in themes of right–wing populism in the matters of governance... sacrificing rights for minorities, especially people of color; United States. Moralism—evangelical–style campaigns rooted in Protestant revivalism...sometimes leading These different constituencies can unite to authoritarian and theocratic attempts to impose orthodoxy, especially relating to gender; behind candidates that attack the current regime since both constituencies identify an Americanism—a form of jingoism that twists patriotism into aggressive nationalism...often promoting ethnocentric, nativist, or xenophobic fears that immigrants bring alien ideas and intrusive and incompetent government as customs that are toxic to our culture; the cause of their grievances. Anecdotal evi- dence suggests a similar constituency for Producerism—the idea that the real Americans are hard–working people who create goods xenophobic right-wing populists in the and wealth while fighting against parasites at the top and bottom of society who pick our pocket...sometimes promoting scapegoating and the blurring of issues of class and economic United States. One 1995 Harris poll found justice, and with a history of assuming proper citizenship as defined by White males. that while 42 percent of citizens had a great deal of confidence in small businesses, the

THE PUBLIC EYE 13 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Michael Kazin argues that populism in the United States today is “a persistent yet mutable style of political rhetoric with roots deep in the nineteenth century.”84 In the late 1800s an agrarian-based popular mass revolt swept much of the country, and helped launch the electoral Populist Party. The Populist Party fought against giant monopolies and trusts that concentrated wealth in the hands of a few powerful fam- ilies and corporations in a way that unbalanced the democratic process. They demanded many economic and political reforms that we enjoy today. The Populist Movement of this period started out progressive, and even made some attempts to bridge racial divides between Blacks and Whites. Some populist groups, however, later turned toward conspiracism, adopting immigration, tax, or education policies. Society and the Liberty Lobby played a sig- antisemitism, and making White racist Non-Christian religions, women, gay men nificant role in promoting producerism appeals. and lesbians, youth, students, reproductive and helping it transform into populist anti- Conservative analyst Kevin Phillips com- rights activists, and environmentalists also government conspiracist themes during pared the populist resurgence in the 1990s are scapegoated. Sometimes populists use the 1960s and 1970s. Populism in the to previous examples in the 1890s and the producerist narrative framework to tar- Christian Right centers on mobilizing 1930s and found many of the same ele- get those persons who organize on behalf Godly people against secularized elites seen ments: of impoverished and marginalized com- as controlling the government and media, “Economic anguish and populist munities, especially progressive social but the grievances are frequently related to resentment; mild–to–serious class change activists. gender—abortion, homosexuality, and the rhetoric aimed at the rich and fash- As the right-wing populist sectors grow, feminist movement. ionable; exaltation of the ordinary politicians and activists within electoral Right-wing populism can act as both a American against abusive, affluent reform movements try to recruit the pop- precursor and a building block of fascism, and educated elites; contempt for ulists toward participation within electoral with anti-elitist conspiracism and reac- Washington; rising ethnic, racial and political frameworks. As they seek votes, tionary scapegoating as shared elements. religious animosities; fear of immi- some politicians begin to use populist Peter Fritzsche showed that distressed mid- grants and foreigners, and a desire to rhetoric and pander to the scapegoating. dle-class populists in Weimar launched turn away from internationalism and Producerism facilitated the shift from bitter attacks against both the government concentrate on rebuilding America the main early mode of right-wing and big business. The Nazis later exploited and American lives.”85 populist conspiracism that defended the this populist surge by parasitizing the forms Right-wing populism diverts attention status quo against a mob of “outsiders,” and themes of the populists, and moving from inherent White supremacism by using historically framed as a conspiracy of middle-class constituencies far to the right coded language to reframe racism as a con- Freemasons or Catholics, or Jews, or com- through ideological appeals involving dem- cern about specific issues, such as welfare, munists, or immigrants. The John Birch agoguery, scapegoating, and conspiracism.86

THE PUBLIC EYE 14 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Conspiratorial allegations about parasitic ments of the 1980s and 1990s was a gender- the militias, it in turn draws its mem- elites seen as manipulating society, lead to driven male identity crisis.87 Durham argues bers from a large and growing num- anger being directed upwards. The list of that the situation is far more complex than ber of U.S. citizens disaffected from scapegoats among the alleged elite parasites can be explained by just blaming angry and alienated by a government that includes international bankers, Freemasons, White men.88 Yet, when placed in a larger seems indifferent, if not hostile, to Jews, globalists, liberal secular humanists, and context of economic, social, and political their interests.” government bureaucrats. The parasites grievances, it is precisely angry straight White “This predominantly white, male, below are stereotyped as lazy or sinful, men who comprise the main pool of poten- and middle- and working-class sector draining the economic resources of the tial recruits for the Patriot Movement. has been buffeted by global economic productive middle, or poisoning the culture Dan Junas, in one of the earliest pub- restructuring, with its attendant job with their sinful sexuality. Among those lished reports on the Militia Movement losses, declining real wages and social scapegoated as lazy are Blacks and other before the Oklahoma City bombing, put it dislocations. While under economic people of color, immigrants, and welfare this way: stress, this sector has also seen its tra- mothers. The sinful are abortionists, ditional privileges and status homosexuals, and feminists. A challenged by 1960s-style social repressive force is directed down- movements, such as feminism, wards toward people seen through In the early 1990s there was a tremen- minority rights, and environ- stereotyping and prejudice. In this mentalism. Someone must be context, conspiracy theories that dous sense of alienation in certain middle to blame. But in the current often accompany producerism are political context, serious pro- a narrative form of scapegoating; class and working class sectors. Politicians gressive analysis is virtually and they overlap with some demo- invisible, while the Patriot nizing versions of Christian mil- have been eager to focus this growing movement provides plenty of lennialist end times scenarios that answers. Unfortunately, they watch for betrayal in high places and alienation on the usual suspects: welfare are dangerously wrong-headed a population turning from God ones.”89 and drifting into laziness and sin. mothers, crime, immigration, feminists, Ted Arrington studied Patriot The overall outcome of the pro- groups in North Carolina and ducerist model of populism is a and homosexuals. This scapegoating concluded that, “The Patriot broad social and political move- movement is made up mainly of ment some analysts call “Middle involved issues of race, class, gender, alienated white men who yearn for American Nationalism” or “The and sexuality. A significant factor in their lost dominance.”90 He asserts: Radical Center” or “Middle Amer- “The working guy hasn’t seen his ican Radicals.” Whatever the label, shaping the backlash movements of the lot improved in a long time. He this form of repressive populism feels betrayed. The American with a producerist narrative is a 1980s and 1990s was a gender-driven Dream doesn’t include him. It’s a central feature of right-wing orga- myth so far as he is concerned. nizing across the Hard Right. This male identity crisis. Something’s gone wrong.”91 is not a recent phenomena, but part Michael Kimmel and Abby of a long historic tradition. Ferber argue persuasively that right-wing Militias are seeking Alienation & Gender “For over 40 years, the ‘interna- “restoration of Rural American Mas- n the early 1990s there was a tremendous tional communist conspiracy’ held culinity.” This is true even for suburban Isense of alienation in certain middle class plot-minded Americans in thrall. But and urban participants in the Militia and working class sectors. Politicians have with the collapse of the Soviet empire, Movement, since one aspect of their been eager to focus this growing alienation their search for enemies turned toward identity is bound up in longing for the on the usual suspects: welfare mothers, the federal government, long an romanticized terrain of rural frontier crime, immigration, feminists, and homo- object of simmering resentment. The America. According to them, Militias are sexuals. This scapegoating involved issues of other factors are economic and social. “both fiercely patriotic and simultane- race, class, gender, and sexuality. A signifi- While the Patriot movement pro- ously anti-capitalist and anti-democratic cant factor in shaping the backlash move- vides a pool of potential recruits for government.”92

THE PUBLIC EYE 15 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

They continue that, “To negotiate that military hero fought all of America’s In this form it is a projective “future mythol- apparent contradiction, the militias, like enemies—terrorists, drug dealers, ogy” which Pitcavage says transcends its reli- other groups, employ a gendered discourse mobsters and, above all, communists gious roots and “becomes a form of secular about masculinity to both explain the who organized these villains into a vast prophecy. There is a nuclear version, and one baffling set of structural forces arrayed demonic network.” involving race riots. For the Patriot Move- against them, and to provide a set of ‘oth- “Paramilitary culture celebrated ment, the myth revolved around fears of a ers’ against which a unifying ideology can man as warrior and combat as the only New World Order and chaos caused by the be projected.”93 life worth living.”97 Y2K computer bug. The idea of a secular Barbara Ehrenreich, in Blood Rites, argues Part of this narrative of alienation was a apocalypse motivates whole sectors of the that warrior culture originally developed story of betrayal by leaders in high places right,” he explains. “It is the idea of the from the need to defend the tribe from of the foot soldiers in Vietnam (and later, immanent destruction of all you hold dear. external threats. Now, at a time when some working stiffs back home). This in part This is what is behind the fear of invading men feel unable to fulfill traditional roles accounts for the fixation of many veterans foreign troops or government concentra- as provider and defender, a reversion to on locating soldiers missing in action and tion camps.”104 This form of apocalyptic aggressive paramilitary behavior is not sur- still supposedly being held captive in Viet- demonization is a masculinist narrative prising.94 In Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary nam.98 This was the basis of the popularity that engenders confrontation; and as Culture in Post Viet Nam America, James of the Rambo genre of films where callous Linda Kintz has noted, “The linkage William Gibson writes about a broader government elites use soldiers as pawns, and between God, the Constitution, and mas- paramilitary culture that emerged in the the antihero has to fight both internal and culinity provides a powerful foundation early and mid-1970s.95 In a later article tying external enemies.99 This is a classic right- of emotion.”105 his theories to the Militia Movement, he wing populist narrative. Given this context, Michael Barkun says the suspicion of big notes how they grew “at the same time it is not surprising that the first Militia government fostered by the Patriot brand that a series of social changes shook the foun- organizing efforts were aimed at blocking of “radical localism” readily blends with dations of American society.”96 According federal laws regulating the use of firearms, apocalyptic conspiracy narratives ranging to Gibson: which Militias believed were needed to from secular, to Christian fundamentalist, “First, we lost the Vietnam War, defend against government tyranny. to Christian Identity.106 He has put forward creating something of an identity cri- the concept of “stigmatized knowledge” as sis for men who had been shaped by Apocalypse Again an effective organizing device, especially our country’s long history of he concern in paramilitary gun-cul- when linked to fears about a New World victory in warfare. These men felt fur- Tture with government betrayal over- Order. Barkun sees this as supplying a ther besieged by the changing roles of lapped with the central apocalyptic bridge between several movements: women, increased opportunities for narrative of the Militias: the New World “New World Order ideas can per- ethnic and racial minorities and the Order conspiracy.100 Pitcavage says this form this bridging function in part beginnings of deindustrialization, all appealed to a wide audience of conspir- because they have an open concep- of which they perceived as decreasing acists like those “people who think the X- tion of the ‘other.’ They agree on the opportunities for white men.” Files TV program is non-fiction or who existence of what many call a ‘secret “Threatened by these changes, listen to Art Bell” on his syndicated government,’ but exactly who runs many men began to dream, to fanta- national radio program. He notes that this it is the subject of vigorous dis- size about remaking the world and milieu inherits the legacy of “400 years of agreement. Indeed, as one surveys returning to a time before Vietnam, susceptibility to conspiracy theories, New World Order literature, the before women’s roles changed, before including strains in Puritanism and only common element among can- the races started to become more Republicanism.”101 According to Akins, didates for the role of master manip- equal. A new hero emerged, a warrior it is “Fundamentalist thinking [that] pro- ulators is an alleged gift for secrecy who fought outside the chain of mil- vides the dualistic, conspiratorial, and and dissimulation.” itary or police command, outside the millenarian perspective necessary to accept “As a result, all of the usual suspects ‘self-imposed restraints’ liberal politi- the Militia Movement’s synthetic con- are present, and one is struck by the cians were thought to have forced on spiracy theory.”102 extent to which New World Order fighting men, and which conservative Grounded in apocalyptic narratives from writers bring back the villains of critics contended led to defeat in a particular reading of the Bible’s Book of nineteenth-century nativism: Jew- Vietnam and rampant crime at home. Revelation, apocalyptic conspiracism is ish international bankers, Jesuits, Freed from bureaucracy, the para- widespread throughout the Hard Right.103 and Masons, alongside Trilateralists,

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Bilderbergers, and the Council on ologies include electoral reform and tradi- dent movements include apocalypticism, Foreign Relations.” tional lobbying, dissident mobilization and conspiracism, populist anti-elitism, and “The danger of these developments organizing to force reform outside of elec- domination. These four “master” frames lies in their fusion of three factors: a tions and legislation, civil disobedience, vig- often appear like a nested set of Russian belief in an imminent apocalypse, a ilantism (both aggressive and defensive), and dolls. Apocalypticism is a regular compo- theory that purports to explain all of insurgency (up to and including attempts nent of conspiracism. Conspiracism is a the world’s evil, and an identification to overthrow the government).109 common component of populist anti-elit- of that evil with concealed or invisi- Methodological distinctions are espe- ism. And apocalyptic populist anti-elite ble forces. Since the malefactors of the cially important in an era when under conspiracism is often found in insurgent New World Order are initially face- Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Justice groups. less, conspiratorialists can fill in what- Department has written legislation and If a core narrative of the political Right ever features they wish, and in a guidelines that make little or no distinction is that straight White Christian men have conspiracy so allegedly vast, there is, among nonviolent civil disobedience, van- been dispossessed, to use a concept proposed unfortunately, room for everyone’s dalism, terrorism, and armed revolution. by Durham, then several questions arise. favorite villain.”107 Who are the agents of dispossession? From This is one way that right-wing populists whom is America to be taken back? To and Extreme Right activists seek to recruit DISCRIMINATION whom is it to be restored? We can easily people from the political Left. There was a SEPARATION round up the usual villainous suspects: plethora of conspiracy theories in the anti- INTIMIDATION Blacks, Jews, immigrants, liberals, welfare elite “stigmatized knowledge” mode after the mothers, secular humanists, corrupt politi- terrorist attacks on 9/11, and while most VIOLENCE cians, government bureaucrats, feminists, came from the political Right, the posts EXPULSION gays and lesbians, etc. These targeted scape- sometimes jumped to Internet discussion goats often overlap, yet there is usually lists on the political Left. MURDER some central villain or some hierarchy to the GENOCIDE alleged villainy depending on the social or Setting Boundaries political movement. f the Christian Right, Patriot Movement, If we chart the three major right-wing Iand Extreme Right all share common In terms of ethnic or race relations, movement sectors for their primary targets, elements, what tools can be used to estab- methodologies can range from the domi- secondary targets, major methodologies, lish the boundaries between them? Pitcav- nant group engaging in discrimination to and major frames of reference ranked by age argues that, “When trying to figure out committing genocide. Dominance in this importance, there is considerable, albeit social and political movements it is impor- case is not necessarily numerical but stems nuanced, variation. (see chart on next page) tant to see multiple axes.”108 To start with, from wielding power. For instance, White- All three sectors cobble together their ide- he lists three main divisions: ness in the context of institutionalized ologies from the same basic materials, but racism affords members of the “White using slightly different priorities. In the left --- right race” dominance in settings as different as Extreme Right, for example, populist anti- authoritarian --- anti-authoritarian the contemporary United States and elitism is a rhetorical style used to mask populism --- elitism apartheid South Africa. (Note that preju- underlying authoritarian goals. While there dice is an ideology, with its rhetoric, except is a subtle form of White Eurocentric racial- Another set of variables involves the in narrow circumstances, protected by the ism in the Christian Right, its major form methodologies used or promoted by social First Amendment). See below. of supremacy is founded upon notions of movements, which range from passive to Overarching ideological frames of ref- heteropatriarchal dominance. active. In the civic sphere, these method- erence important in U.S. right-wing dissi- How different forms of oppression man- ifest themselves in different movements is another way to establish boundaries. Is the Reform: Political Reform: Social Insurgent prejudice or supremacy in the movement Movements Movements Movements being studied conscious or unconscious, Major Third Parties Dissident Civil Aggressive Armed intentional or unintentional, overt or covert? Electoral Mobilization Disobedience Vigilantism Revolt The following holds true for all varieties Parties of prejudice and oppression. Replace [anti- semitism] with any form of oppression

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Major Frames of Movement Sector Primary Target Secondary Targets Major Methodologies Reference by Rank

Domination Insurgent: Race Government Violence Conspiracism Extreme Right Gender Armed Struggle Apocalypticism Racist Right Populist Anti-Elitism

Populist Anti-Elitism Dissident: Government Gender Reform Conspiracism Patriot Movement Race Defensive Vigilantism Apocalypticism Armed Militias Domination

Apocalypticism Dissident: Gender Government Reform Conspiracism Christian Right Race Electoral Domination Populist Anti-Elitism such as [racism] or [sexism] to see the uni- community in which the attack took place Christian Right sympathized with calls to versal validity of the argument. With dif- suffers. The negative outcome of a public rethink their pragmatic relationship with the ferent forms of oppression, the example act or utterance that spreads prejudiced or Republican Party, “they ended up more groups or individuals would also change. hateful ideas is the same no matter what the open to broader coalitions. After all, they ➘ People can be consciously [antise- intent. This is why there is a need for visi- have been at this for 20 years and haven’t mitic] and overt about it. Example: ble and forceful public displays of disap- succeeded. So most of them decided they [White Aryan Resistance]. proval and attempts at healing by leaders in had to support Bush as a compromise.” ➘ People can be consciously political, religious, ethnic, business, and Further, Green says that from the per- [antisemitic] but covert about it. labor sectors. spective of most groups on the Hard Right, Example: [Liberty Lobby and the the “system is deeply flawed. . . . But for the Spotlight newspaper].111 Ripples in the Mainstream Christian Right the system is not intrinsi- ➘ People can be unconsciously issident populist movements interact cally antagonistic. Being mean-spirited and [antisemitic], but fail to see it and Don the reform side with electoral pol- just walking away from electoral politics is deny it. Example: [Pat Buchanan]. itics and on the insurgent side with the not just counter-productive, but un-Chris- ➘ People can be unintentionally Extreme Right. Mainstream politicians sel- tian.” Even critics of pragmatism such as Ed [antisemitic] by promoting ideas or dom directly interact with the Extreme Dobson and Cal Thomas (who argued for policies that have the effect of per- Right, but since they frequently pander to more emphasis on proselytizing and soul- petuating [antisemitism] or citing large dissident populist movements, the saving) thought that “evangelicals should be material that is not recognized as influence of the Extreme Right on the good Christians and vote.”113 [antisemitic]. Example: [Pat populist movements in the Dissident Right As for Pat Buchanan, who acts as a Robertson]. can indirectly influence mainstream politics bridge between the Republican Party and For analytical purposes and for activists by pulling the whole political system to the Hard Right, jumping to the Reform trying to prevent future occurrences, gaug- the right. Party was problematic: ing the intent or motivation of an act or As Dissident Right movements are pulled “So many of his supporters had utterance is important. As Joe R. Feagin in both directions—toward reform and become card-carrying Republicans. points out, however, it does not matter if insurgency, they sometimes split into fac- His support might have been differ- racism is conscious or unconscious, verbal tions. The Christian Right is divided into ent if he had stayed through the pri- or violent; “oppression is not less serious several factions ranging from the pragma- maries, but because he did not, he was because it is more subtle.”112 Even if an orga- tism of Ralph Reed, to the Culture War seen as opportunistic. The Buchanan nized hate group is small in number, or an politics of Paul Weyrich, to the insurgent synthesis was appealing, but he found act of ethnoviolence is carried out by a theocratic authoritarianism of the Christ- it too difficult to take traditional handful of unaffiliated vandals, the direct ian Reconstructionists. social values and wed them to eco- victims feel the same pain, and the whole Green explains that while many in the nomic nationalism. The Christian

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Right is largely made up of free mar- Bush and his allies built an effective coali- anti-elite conspiracism, which still provides keteers, even though they are critical tion that included a variety of sectors, not a major frame of reference for people with of materialism at large. This fits with just the Christian Right. This alleviated a grievances. This means there is a potential their religious individualism. The lot of frustrations on the political right. for Hard Right activism to revive at any time. battle for control of the Reform Party Things looked much brighter.”116 This Green admits that, “We may not know the had negative repercussions and the helped redirect the energy in the Patriot exact mechanism. . . . Getting inside these popular attitude was that the Reform Movement, and helped deflate the hot air people’s heads is very hard. They are guarded. Party was finished.”114 balloon that had risen so swiftly as the They don’t see academics as their allies.”117 Green observes that Bush benefited from Militia Movement. Pitcavage agrees, “the Militia Movement Buchanan’s miscalculations, and the collapse has stumbled, but these people are still out of the Forbes candidacy, which had received Why the Continued Concern there. What was exciting and a novelty in strong support from some factions in the About the Hard Right? 1994 is not in 2001. . . but new issues or Christian Right. “Bush handled the Chris- reen thinks the Patriot Movement and incidents could re-ignite their passions.”118 tian Right very well. In part this is because GExtreme Right “are still out there, The Patriot Movement needs to be “Bush grew up in Texas and had a born again largely undiminished. Both sectors could see opposed because it breeds demonization, experience . . . so even though he is a main- in Bush and a Republican Congress some scapegoating, and conspiracism that are line denominational Protestant, he speaks things they liked, and they could vote for him toxic to democracy. The Extreme Right and understands the language of evangel- from a critical perspective. [But they still] recruits from the Patriot Movement, and icalism.”115 feel cheated. Who is supposed to enforce the takes pre-existing prejudice and inflames it In the 2000 campaign, Bush “made real social contract? The government!” So right- into an ideology that encourages intimi- concessions to the Christian Right [but] wing populism breeds antigovernment and dation and threats against people perceived Reprinted with the kind permission of the artist.

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bilitation. Uncritical support of hate crimes rhetoric and prose- cution is problematic given the overall attack on civil liberties being launched by the Bush administration under Ashcroft. We need to reach out to and organize all sorts of people, but without compromising princi- ples for pragmatism. Populism needs to be seen as a historic style of organizing that transcends political boundaries. Fear of all forms of populism by some intel- lectuals is dismissive of the demo- cratic capability of the majority of citizens. At the same time, the idea that populism is always good, and that “The People” are always right, ignores the history of such Reprinted with the kind permission of the artist. claims. Too often this attitude leads to infringement of minor- ity rights by the majority. Populist conspiracism from anywhere on to be members of the scapegoated group. complexity of supremacist and authoritar- the political spectrum can lure mainstream Sometimes these explode into physical ian ideas that include race, gender, sexual- politicians to adopt their scapegoating attacks ranging from vandalism of property, ity, and class, and involve individuals, narratives in order to attract voters. to savage beatings, to murder. institutions, and the government. At a time Throughout U.S. history, repressive Activists groups challenging the Extreme when not all critiques of the government populist movements have used demoniz- Right and the Patriot Movement remain on and elite power are progressive, it will be ing rhetoric that encouraged acts of dis- the front line while news reports about more effective to challenge social oppression crimination and violence. A lynching is as brutal attacks are often buried in the back and government repression as part of one much a form of populism as is a demon- pages. Progressive activist groups such as the broad agenda. And by asserting that race, stration against racist police brutality. Center for Democratic Renewal, The Cen- gender, sexuality, and class are inextricably Like most tools, populism can be used for ter for New Community, the Northwest intertwined in the United States, we offer good or bad purposes. Coalition for Human Dignity, the South- a better vision of not just the oppressions Kazin suggests that, “When a new breed ern Catalyst Network, and on the state we oppose, but the equalities we desire. of inclusive grassroots movements does level, groups such as the Montana Human At the same time we need to resist arise, intellectuals should contribute their Rights Network, the Colorado Anti-Vio- defending civil rights at the expense of civil time, their money, and their passion for jus- lence Program, the Rural Organizing Pro- liberties and social justice. Not all right- tice. They should work to stress the har- ject (in Oregon), and Equality Illinois wing groups are hate groups, and not all monious, hopeful, and pragmatic aspects continue to provide assistance to commu- members of hate groups commit crimes. of populist language and to disparage the nities under attack by the forces of organized Groups such as the American Friends Ser- meaner ones.”120 hate and mobilized resentment.119 vice Committee and the Audre Lorde Pro- The formula for democracy involves a To make the broad struggle for social and ject have raised legitimate criticisms of process. It is the faith that over time, the economic justice more effective, we need to how certain applications of hate crimes laws majority of citizens, given enough accurate name the forms of supremacy and oppres- replicate the worst aspects of a punitive information, and the ability to participate sion. White supremacy and White nation- criminal justice system, especially by stress- in an open public debate, reach the right alism are major factors in the U.S. political ing vindictive extensions of prison sentences decisions to preserve liberty, defend free- Right. But these terms alone are not suffi- rather than alternative programs stressing dom, and extend equality. cient to explain to a public audience the community service, education, and reha-

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17 Madison Grant, The Passing of the Great Race: or The Racial 38 Durham, The Christian Right, p. 146. Basis of European History, 4th ed., (New York: Charles End Notes 39 Mark S. Hamm, Apocalypse in Oklahoma: Waco and 1 Scribner’s Sons, 1923), p. xx. Portions of this article are adapted from Chip Berlet and Ruby Ridge Revenged (Boston: Northeastern University Matthew N. Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America: Too 18 Ibid., p. xxii. Press, 1997). Close for Comfort (New York: Guilford, 2000), and Chip Berlet, “Throwing Stones from Glass Towers: Increasing 19 Ibid. 40 Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Rise and Decline of the ‘Patriots’,” Intelligence Report (2001), p. 8. the Nuance in Critiques of Race and Gender Oppression 20 Ibid., p. 28. found in Different Right-Wing Movements,” (Annual 41 Kenneth S. Stern, A Force Upon the Plain: The American 21 Jack Levin and Jack McDevitt, Hate Crimes: The Rising Meeting of the American Sociological Association (ASA): Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate (New York: Anaheim, CA, 2001). Tide of Bigotry and Bloodshed (New York: Plenum Press, 1993). Simon & Schuster, 1996), p. 109. 2 Berlet and Lyons, Right-Wing Populism in America; 42 22 Sarah Elizabeth Mahan, “A Dramatistic Analysis of the Martin Durham, The Christian Right, the Far Right and Michael Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right: The Ori- gins of the Christian Identity Movement (Chapel Hill: Uni- Video Rhetoric of the Militia of Montana,” (Ph.D. dis- the Boundaries of American Conservatism (Manchester, Eng- sertation, Ohio University, 1997), p. 186. land: Manchester University Press, 2000). versity of North Carolina Press, 1994), pp. 103, 107; Leonard Zeskind, The “Christian Identity” Movement 43 John Keith Akins, “God, Guns, and Guts: Religion and 3 In Berlet and Lyons the term Far Right is used instead of (Atlanta, GA: Center for Democratic Renewal; New York: Violence in Florida Militias,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Uni- the term Extreme Right. Division of Church and Society, National Council of versity of Florida, 1998), pp. 144-145. 4 Churches, 1987). Berlet and Lyons, Right-Wing Populism, p. 16. 44 James Aho, “Sociology and the Mobilization of Marquette 5 Gordon W. Allport, The Nature of Prejudice (Cambridge, 23 Richard Kelly Hoskins, Our Nordic Race, pamphlet, Park,” in Betty A. Dobratz, Lisa K. Walder, and Timo- MA: Addison-Wesley, 1954), pp. 363-366. republished (Reedy, W. Virginia: Liberty Bell, (1966 thy Buzzell, eds., The Politics of Social Inequality, vol. 9 [1958]). Hoskins cites de Gobineau and Grant. (2001), pp. 167-172; Blee, Inside Organized Racism, pp. 6 As suggested by Howard Ehrlich. See: “FactSheet: What 52-53, 75-78, 188-192. is Ethnoviolence?” The Prejudice Institute, online at 24 Ibid., Foreword. 45 John Goetz, “Missionaries’ Leader calls for Armed Mili- http://www.prejudiceinstitute.org/factsheets.html. See 25 Ibid., p. 27. also, Fred L. Pincus, and Howard J. Ehrlich, eds., Race and tias,” Front Lines Research, vol. 1, no. 2 (August 1994), 26 Ethnic Conflict: Contending Views on Prejudice, Discrim- Ibid., p. 38. pp. 1-5. ination, and Ethnoviolence (Boulder, CO: Westview, 27 Ibid., p. 39. 46 Stern, A Force Upon the Plain, pp. 36-37. 1999). 28 Kathleen Blee, Inside Organized Racism: Women in the Hate 47 Pitcavage interview. 7 Jerome L. Himmelstein, “All But Sleeping with the Movement (Berkeley: University of California Press, 48 Enemy: Studying the Radical Right Up Close,” (Annual 2002); Kathleen Blee, Women of the Klan: Racism and Gen- Ibid. Meeting of the ASA: San Francisco, 1998), p. 7. der in the 1920s (Berkeley: University of California Press, 49 Ibid. 1991). 8 Sara Diamond, “The Personal Is Political: The Role of Cul- 50 Southern Poverty Law Center, “False Patriots,” Intelli- tural Projects in the Mobilization of the Christian Right,” 29 Betty A. Dobratz and Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile, “White gence Report (2001), p. 9. in Amy E. Ansell, ed., Unraveling the Right: The New Con- Power, White Pride!” The White Separatist Movement in the 51 Pitcavage interview. servatism in American Thought and Politics (Boulder, CO: United States (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1997). Westview, 1998), pp. 41-55. Diamond argues that pro- 52 Ibid. 30 E. M. Beck, “Guess Who’s Coming to Town,” Sociolog- jects, a form of parallel work less formal than actual coali- ical Focus, vol. 33, no. 2 (May 2000), pp. 153-174, 169. 53 Ibid. tions, allow for different sectors of the Right to work together without acknowledging any relationship. See also 31 For a more detailed discussion of centrism/extremism see 54 Stern, A Force Upon the Plain, pp. 61-63. Diamond on social movements: Sara Diamond, Roads to Berlet and Lyons, Right-Wing Populism, pp. 14-15, 286. 55 Affidavit of Al Thompson dated January 19, 1995, Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in Michael Kazin, “The Grass-Roots Right: New Histories filed in Thompson v. Carto, Marion County, IN, the United States (New York: Guilford Press, 1998), pp. of U.S. Conservatism in the Twentieth Century,” The Case No. 49D019410 CT 1178, online at 1-16; Sara Diamond, Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring American Historical Review, vol. 97, no. 1 (February http://www2.ca.nizkor.org/ftp.cgi/people/c/carto.willis/th Influence of the Christian Right (New York: Guilford Press, 1992), pp. 140-141. ompson-vrs-carto, retrieved January 29, 2002. 1998). 32 Abby L. Ferber, “Reconceptualizing the Racist Right,” in 56 Durham, The Christian Right, p. 138. 9 For a look at changing trends in social movement theory, Eric Ward, ed., Conspiracies: Real Grievances, Paranoia, see: Steven M. Buechler, Social Movements in Advanced and Mass Movements (Seattle: Northwest Coalition 57 Daniel Levitas, “Paramilitary Progenitors: White Capitalism: The Political Economy and Cultural Construc- Against Malicious Harassment, Peanut Butter Publish- Supremacy, Home Rule and the Roots of the Posse tion of Social Activism (New York: Oxford University ing, 1996), pp. 113-126, 121; see also Abby L. Ferber, Comitatus,” in Eric Ward, ed., The Second Revolution: Press, 2000), pp. 3-57; Roberta Garner and John Tenuto, White Man Falling: Race, Gender, and White Supremacy States’ Rights, Sovereignty, and Power of the County Social Movement Theory and Research: An Annotated (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998), pp. 9-12, (Seattle: Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harass- Guide, Magill Bibliographies (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow 156. ment, Peanut Butter Publishing, 1997), pp. 77-115. Press and Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1997), pp. 1-48; 33 Raphael S. Ezekiel, The Racist Mind: Portraits of Ameri- 58 Berlet and Lyons, Right-Wing Populism, pp. 36-38, 175- William B. Hixson, Jr., Search for the American Right Wing: can Neo-Nazis and Klansmen (New York: Viking, 1995), 198, 287-304. An Analysis of the Social Science Record, 1955–1987 p. 321. 59 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992). Green interview. Berlet and Lyons, Right-Wing Populism, 34 James A. Aho, “A Library of Infamy,” Idaho Librarian, vol. pp. 105-107. 10 Durham, The Christian Right, p. 182. 41, no. 4 (1989), pp. 86–88, 86; see also, James A. Aho, 60 Green interview. 11 Ibid., p. 181. The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism 61 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1990), pp. 68-82, Southern Poverty Law Center, “The Rise and Decline,” 12 Interview with Kathleen Blee, December 17, 2001. 185-226. pp. 6-8. SPLC uses the term “Patriot” to describe both 13 Interview with Betty Dobratz, January 23, 2002. the Militias and closely related Christian Patriot groups. 35 Green interview. In this article I use the term Patriot Movement to describe 14 Interview with John C. Green, June 13, 2001. 36 Osha Gray Davidson, Broken Heartland: The Rise of Amer- a broader milieu typified by groups such as the John Birch 15 Interview with Mark Pitcavage, June 16, 2001. ica’s Rural Ghetto (Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, Society. 16 Barry Mehler, “Foundation for Fascism: The New Eugen- 1996); Joel Dyer, Harvest of Rage: Why Oklahoma City is 62 Green interview. Only the Beginning (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1997); ics Movement in the United States,” Patterns of Prejudice, 63 Pitcavage interview. vol. 23, no. 4 (1989), pp. 17–25; Barry Mehler, “In Genes David A. Neiwert, In God’s Country: The Patriot Move- We Trust: When Science Bows to Racism,” Reform ment and the Pacific Northwest (Pullman, WA: Washing- 64 Green interview. ton State University Press, 1999). Judaism, vol. 23 (1994), pp. 10–13, 77–79; Barry Mehler, 65 Pitcavage interview. “Race and ‘Reason’: Academic Ideas a Pillar of Racist 37 Maggie Roche, Terre Roche, and Suzzy Roche. “Weeded 66 Thought,” Intelligence Report (Montgomery, AL: South- Out,” Another World (Warner Brothers, 1985). Lyrics Ibid. ern Poverty Law Center, Winter 1999), pp. 27–32. copyright 1985, DeShufflin Inc., ASCAP. 67 Green interview.

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68 Ibid. in Right-Wing America (Durham, NC: Duke University Nation;” Linda Kintz, Between Jesus and the Market, Press, 1997); Lee Quinby, “Coercive Purity: The Dan- p. 257. 69 Louis Beam, “Leaderless Resistance,” Inter-Klan Newslet- gerous Promise of Apocalyptic Masculinity,” in Charles ter & Survival Alert, undated, circa May 1983, pages not 106 Barkun, Religion and the Racist Right, pp. 217-223. numbered, on file at PRA. B. Strozier and Michael Flynn, eds., The Year 2000: Essays on the End (New York: New York University Press, 1997), 107 Michael Barkun, “The Apocalyptic Other,” (Annual 70 Dobratz interview. pp.154-165; Ferber, White Man Falling. Conference, Center for Millennial Studies, Boston Uni- versity, November 4, 1997, online). Barkun expanded 71 Ibid. See also, Stephanie Shanks-Meile, “The Changing 88 Durham, The Christian Right, pp. 24-42. on this thesis in “Conspiracy Theories as Stigmatized Faces of the White Power Movement and the Anti- 89 Racist Resistance,” in Betty A. Dobratz, Lisa K. Walder, Daniel Junas, “The Rise of Citizen Militias: Angry White Knowledge: The Basis for a New Age Racism?” in Jef- and Timothy Buzzell, eds., The Politics of Social Inequal- Guys with Guns,” CovertAction Quarterly (Spring 1995), frey Kaplan and Tore Bjørgo, eds., Nation and Race: The ity, vol. 9 (2001), pp. 191-195. online at http://www.publiceye.org/rightist/dj_mili.html. Developing Euro-American Racist Subculture (Boston: 90 Northeastern University Press, 1998), pp. 58-72. 72 Ted Arrington, quoted in Susan Ladd and Stan Swofford, John C. Green, James L. Guth, and Kevin Hill, “Faith 108 and Election: The Christian Right in Congressional “Patriot Aims/The Militias,” News & Record, Greensboro, Pitcavage interview. NC, June 25-27, 1995, online edition. Campaigns 1978–1988,” The Journal of Politics, vol. 55, 109 Nicholas N. Kittrie, Rebels With a Cause: The Minds and no. 1 (February 1993), pp. 80–91; Christian Smith, with 91 Ibid. Morality of Political Offenders (Boulder, CO: Westview Sally Gallagher, Michael Emerson, Paul Kennedy, and Press, 2000); Nicholas N. Kittrie, The War Against 92 Michael Kimmel and Abby Ferber, “White Men Are This David Sikkink, American Evangelicalism: Embattled and Authority: From the Crisis of Legitimacy to a New Social Nation: Right Wing Militias and the Restoration of Thriving (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998), Contract (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, Rural American Masculinity,” Rural Sociology, vol. 65, no. pp. 75-84; Richard Morin and Scott Wilson, “Men 1995). Kittrie observes that not all participants in social 4 (2000), pp. 582-604, quoted from conference paper. Were Driven to ‘Confess Their Sins’: In Survey, Atten- movements break laws or engage in violence, and that dees Say They Also Are Concerned About Women, Pol- 93 Ibid. in democratic societies, such distinctions are important. itics” Washington Post, October 5, 1997, p. A1. 94 Barbara Ehrenreich, Blood Rites: Origins and History of 110 Stephanie L. Shanks-Meile and Betty A. Dobratz, 73 Val Burris, “Small Business, Status Politics, and the the Passions of War (New York: Henry Holt, 1997). “Linkages of Hatred: Hierarchies of Oppression and Vio- Social Base of New Christian Right Activism,” Critical 95 James William Gibson, Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary Cul- lence among Contemporary White Supremacists,” Sociology, vol. 27, no.1 (2001), pp. 29-55. ture in Post-Viet Nam America (New York: Hill and (Unpublished paper, n.d., on file at PRA). 74 Nella Van Dyke and Sarah A. Soule, “The Mobilizing Wang, 1994), 111 The Liberty Lobby and its newspaper The Spotlight were Effect of Social Strain: Explaining the Variation in Lev- 96 James William Gibson, “The Blast that Finished Off closed through legal action resulting from a civil lawsuit els of Patriot and Militia Organizing,” (Annual Meeting Militia Culture,” Los Angeles Times, May 13, 2001, filed by former affiliated organizations. The successor of the ASA: Washington, DC, 2000). online edition. newspaper is the American Free Press. 75 112 Deborah Kaplan, “Republic of Rage: A Look Inside the 97 Ibid. Joe R. Feagin, Racist America: Roots, Current Realities, Patriot Movement,” (Annual Meeting of the ASA, San and Future Reparation (New York: Routledge, 2001), Francisco, 1998) p. 33. 98 H. Bruce Franklin, M.I.A. or Mythmaking in America pp. 139-140. (Brooklyn, NY: Lawrence Hill Books, 1992). 76 Christopher Mele, “The Militias Stand Up,” Sunday 113 Green interview. 99 Gibson, Warrior Dreams, pp. 9-10, 161-165, 298-309; Record, Middletown, NY, February 12, 1995. 114 Philip Lamy, Millennium Rage: Survivalists, White Ibid. 77 Hans–Georg Betz, Radical Right–wing Populism in West- Supremacists, and the Doomsday Prophecy (New York: 115 Ibid.. ern Europe (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1994), p. 106. Plenum, 1996), pp. 85-89. 116 78 Ibid. Ibid., pp. 106-108, 174. 100 Stern, A Force Upon the Plain, pp. 137-162; James 117 Ibid. 79 “Portrait of an Anxious Public,” article in special report William Gibson, “Is the Apocalypse Coming? on “The New Populism,” Business Week, March 13, Paramilitary Culture after the Cold War,” in Strozier and 118 Pitcavage interview. Flynn, eds., The Year 2000, pp. 180-189; Lamy, 1995, p. 80. 119 For a more extensive list of such groups see the resources Millennium Rage, pp. 153-191; Berlet and Lyons, 80 Susan J. Tolchin, The Angry American: How Voter Rage is section of the PRA website http://www.publiceye.org Right-Wing Populism, pp. 287-304. Changing the Nation (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1996). 120 Kazin, Populist Persuasion, p. 284. 101 Pitcavage interview. 81 Barbara Ehrenreich, Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class (New York: Harper Perennial, 1989), pp. 102 Akins, “God, Guns, and Guts,” p. 161 144-195. 103 Chip Berlet, “Dances with Devils: How Apocalyptic and 82 Catherine McNicol Stock, Rural Radicals: Righteous Rage Millennialist Themes Influence Right Wing Scape- in the American Grain (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University goating and Conspiracism,” The Public Eye, vol. 12, nos. Press, 1996), p. ix. 2 & 3 (Fall 1998); Susan DeCamp, “Locking the Doors to the Kingdom: an Examination of Religion in Extrem- 83 Ibid., p. 148. ist Organizing and Public Policy,” in Eric Ward, ed., 84 Michael Kazin, The Populist Persuasion: An American His- American Armageddon: Religion, Revolution, and the tory (New York: Basic Books, 1995), p. 5. Right (Seattle: Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment, Peanut Butter Publishing, 1998); Lamy, 85 Kevin Phillips, “The Politics of Frustration,” The New York Times Magazine, April 12, 1992, pp. 38–42, quote Millennium Rage; Charles B. Strozier, “Apocalyptic Vio- is from p. 41. See also, Kevin Phillips, Boiling Point: Repub- lence and the Politics of Waco,” in Strozier and Flynn, licans, Democrats, and the Decline of Middle-Class Pros- eds., The Year 2000, pp. 97-111; Michael Barkun, perity (New York: Random House, 1993); Kevin Phillips, “Racist Apocalypse,” pp. 190-205. For background on Arrogant Capital: Washington, Wall Street, and the Frus- apocalypticism, see Paul Boyer, When Time Shall Be No tration of American Politics (Boston: Little & Brown, 1994). More: Prophecy Belief in Modern American Culture (Cam- bridge, MA: Belknap/Harvard University Press, 1992); 86 Peter Fritzsche, Rehearsals for Fascism: Populism and Stephen D. O’Leary, Arguing the Apocalypse: A Theory Political Mobilization in Weimar Germany (New York: of Millennial Rhetoric (New York: Oxford University Press, Oxford University Press, 1990); Peter Fritzsche, Germans 1994); Damian Thompson, The End of Time: Faith and into Nazis (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, Fear in the Shadow of the Millennium (Hanover, NH: Uni- 1998). versity Press of New England, 1998). 87 Susan Faludi, Stiffed: The Betrayal of the American Man 104 Pitcavage interview.

(New York: William Morrow, 1999); Didi Herman, The 105 Antigay Agenda: Orthodox Vision and the Christian Right Lee Quinby, Anti-Apocalypse: Exercises in Genealogical (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997); Linda Kintz, Criticism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, Between Jesus and the Market: The Emotions that Matter 1994); Kimmel and Ferber, “White Men Are This

THE PUBLIC EYE 22 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye Book Review Lisa McGirr essay will first examine each work separately. Unfortunately, in light of the nearly 40-year- old events the text describes, Before the Storm Suburban Warriors: The Origins of Before the Storm begins by noting the consen- is only a definitive account of the Goldwater the New American Right sus among commentators of the early 1960s insurgency. Written as a piece of political jour- that liberalism had established itself as the dom- (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University nalism, the work is focused on the kinds of inant fact of American politics after the 1964 Press, 2001), hb, 416 pp, with notes, names, dates, conversations, and events that can elections, particularly President Lyndon John- bibliography, and index. be established, confirmed, and sourced. What son’s smashing defeat of Barry Goldwater in is missing are a number of contextualizing the presidential campaign. This consensus, Rick Perlstein factors that would more fully demonstrate its Perlstein argues, “was one of the most dramatic thesis and make it relevant today. There is, for Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater failures of collective discernment in the history example, no discussion of conservatism in and the Unmaking of the American of American journalism.”1 Instead, the subse- American political history. After all, Goldwa- Consensus quent elections of conservative Republicans— ter and his supporters did not make up the (New York: Hill and Wang, 2001), including Ronald Reagan—as governors terms of their ideologies out of whole cloth; hb, 671 pp, with notes, selected nationwide in 1966, and Reagan’s election as there was a context of previously existing right- president in 1980, is presented as proof that lib- bibliography, and index. wing movements and ideas from which they eralism was anything but dominant post- drew life.3 Similarly, the text ends with Gold- Lane Crothers 1964. Perlstein then insists that his is “a book Lane Crothers is Associate Professor in the water’s defeat—as if Goldwater to Reagan about how that story [the rise of conservative Department of Politics and Government, Illi- were an unbroken line of political history. dominance of the Republican Party and Amer- nois State University, Normal, IL. ican politics] began.”2 The absence of a broad analysis of Goldwater’s These two books, focused on the rise to power ideology in the context of American politics Given its assumption—that the Goldwater of the conservative wing of the Republican is problematic in a number of areas. As Perl- takeover of the Republican Party in 1964 set Party starting in the 1960s, share common stein makes clear, for example, the Goldwater in motion the chain of events that led to con- strengths and common weaknesses. Both use- nomination victory was the result of superior servative dominance in contemporary polit- fully chronicle the stunning and rapid repu- organizing on the part of Goldwater’s sup- ical life—Before the Storm focuses largely on diation of liberal politics that, at the outset of porters at a time when the Republican Party the choices, leaders, strategies, and issues lead- the 1960s, seemed likely to dominate Amer- elite, not voters at large, chose the party’s ing to Goldwater’s nomination as the Repub- ican politics for years to come. Yet, both are nominees. Thus, it became possible for a party lican candidate that year. Perlstein does an limited by their inattention to the place of con- to choose a nominee who seemed, to a sweep- impressive job identifying key individuals like temporary conservatism in the broad history ing majority of voters in a national election, Clarence “Pat” Manion, Herb Kohler, and oth- of American political life, as well as by their totally out of touch with their preferences and ers who were dissatisfied with the dominance unarticulated assumption that the events of the hopes. Yet, in Perlstein’s book, Goldwater’s liberals and moderates enjoyed in Republican 1960s led, inevitably, to the Reagan Revolu- crushing defeat is presented as the result of Party politics in the 1950s and early 1960s. tion and the dominance of conservatism in superior tactics by Johnson’s staff in the face Individuals like Manion and Kohler believed American politics. of Goldwater staff incompetence. This expla- that moderates allowed Communism to nation is unconvincing, and at the least misses The books go about their tasks in very differ- expand both overseas and at home even as they an understanding of why it was possible for the ent ways. Before the Storm focuses on the burdened American business with unnecessary Johnson campaign to paint Goldwater’s posi- insurgent politics that identified Barry Gold- taxes. Perlstein exhaustively chronicles the tions as extreme. An understanding of the water as the leader of the conservative move- many meetings, strategy sessions, and proce- nature of conservative ideology over time ment in the Republican Party and then led to dures these proconservative actors used to would help establish the context in which his takeover of the presidential nominating turn Republican Party rules to their advantage Johnson’s campaign was able in convincing a process for the Party in 1964. Suburban War- in pushing for Goldwater’s nomination in substantial majority of voters that Goldwater’s riors examines the political, economic, ideo- 1964. He also tells the story of Barry Gold- ideas were “frightening.” logical, and social conditions that shaped water’s rise from a relatively obscure Senator Orange County, California’s position as the to the leader of a new wing of the party in a Further, the lack of an understanding of Gold- heart of contemporary Republican conser- thoughtful way. Cumulatively, Perlstein’s text water’s ideology in context implies that there vatism from the late 1950s through the pre- stands as a definitive account of the Goldwa- is a direct, unchanged connection between the sent. Before addressing the common themes ter insurgency. terms on which Goldwater ran for office and and perspectives these books introduce, this the issues on which Ronald Reagan won office

THE PUBLIC EYE 23 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

16 years later. While there were certainly many its dominance by conspiracy-minded John national Democratic Party began advocating shared positions between the two campaigns, Birch society members to a more nuanced, civil rights for African Americans. While Reagan offered a much less extreme version of sophisticated critique of liberal politics embod- McGirr acknowledges that race politics played conservatism—at least in terms of issues like ied in the New Deal and the Great Society. a part in the spread of conservatism in Orange the use of nuclear weapons—than did Gold- Central to her analysis is the way western County, as well as in the Republican Party, the water. Likewise, Reagan was able to link 16 years U.S. traditions of individualism and antista- virulence of anti-Black racism that was com- of problems like riots, crime, and Soviet expan- tism promoted a libertarian laissez-faire busi- mon in the South rarely expressed itself in sionism with liberal politics, an opportunity ness sense at the same time that new, Orange County. Indeed, McGirr makes it Goldwater never had. Further, even the cir- predominantly Protestant religious leaders clear that much of the racism extant in Orange cumstances under which Reagan won his like Robert Schuller advocated restrictive County was antisemitic, not anti-Black.6 Such party’s nomination—in primaries controlled moral codes enforced with government power. an antisemitic ideology could not dominate by voters, not party insiders—differed from the This combination of probusiness libertari- in the South, however. Similarly, Southern reli- Goldwater campaign.4 Reagan’s victory, like anism and social authoritarianism would even- gious conservatism included an emphasis on that of the conservative Republicans in Con- tually serve as the foundation of the Reagan the traditional role of women as homemakers gress in 1994, came after years of events, victory in 1980 and the conservative takeover and child-raisers. Accordingly, while Orange choices, and outcomes across an array of issues of Congress in 1994. Accordingly, McGirr’s County may have been ground zero for the rise and through a series of campaigns. analysis of how this ideology formed and of modern conservatism, the shape of that developed in Orange County in the 1960s and movement has certainly been much changed Ultimately, because Perlstein concludes his text 1970s serves as a useful tool with which to from its foundation. with the end of the Goldwater campaign, it is understand the broader rise of conservatism impossible for him to demonstrate his claim Another ideological dilemma that McGirr nationwide. that the conservative revolution “began” in the acknowledges but largely glosses over deserves Goldwater campaign. Perhaps the most direct Additionally, the fact that McGirr is more attention that is far more careful if modern con- link between Goldwater’s insurgency and attuned to ideology and other social forces servatism is to be understood. As McGirr Reagan’s victory was the discovery of Ronald rather than personalities means that her book notes, Orange County’s wealth and opportu- Reagan as a powerful political force. Indeed, is tighter and more focused than is Perlstein’s. nity were grounded on the government-funded Perlstein implies as much by the amount of Her focus on broad social categories like military building boom of the 1940s and attention he pays to Ronald Reagan at the end demographics, economics, and political ideas, 1950s. A similar process occurred throughout of his text, noting that Reagan drew the pub- makes her work more applicable outside the much of the South. Yet in the face of their direct lic’s attention as he toured the country giving context of its analysis than Perlstein’s. Put experience, indeed often of their own pock- what came to be known as “The Speech” on another way, McGirr’s work raises a host of etbooks, conservatives developed an antigov- Goldwater’s behalf, late in the campaign. questions that might be applied in other con- ernment ideology that insisted on the moral Other connections are, at best, assumed. texts where ideology interacts with religion in superiority of the independent businessman conditions of social and political change to working to create jobs and best left largely Suburban Warriors is a much more satisfying either promote or resist conservative expan- unfettered by restrictions like taxation and reg- book, although it, too, is limited by its scope. sionism. This is particularly valuable in light ulation. This moment of ideological cognitive Focused on the development of conservative of the growth of conservatism among White dissonance finds continuing expression in politics in Orange County, CA—a Los Ange- Southerners in the 1970s and 1980s. And to favored conservative programs like increased les suburban area arguably the epicenter of con- the degree that conditions in the South par- defense spending and tax subsidies for busi- temporary American conservatism—the work alleled those of Orange County, a broader nesses, which even conservatives regularly jus- examines the cultural, demographic, eco- understanding of why and how the modern tify in terms of the economic opportunities nomic, social, and political factors that led conservative movement came to dominate they offer local constituents. Such ideological Orange County to become “the ground forces Republican Party politics and those of the inconsistencies beg for sophisticated expla- of a conservative revival—one that trans- nation at large can be attained. nations if the rich dynamic of contemporary formed conservatism from a marginal force American conservatism is to be understood. preoccupied with communism in the early Importantly, the link between the rise of con- 1960s into a viable electoral contender by the servatism in Orange County with the con- McGirr is to be commended for at least briefly decade’s end.”5 servative movement in the South raises tracing the Orange County story over time, problems with McGirr’s analysis that her however. In at least one chapter, she explores As an academic, McGirr focuses her work exclusive focus in Southern California does not the roles that the social protests of the 1960s, very differently than does Perlstein. McGirr easily admit. For example, White Southern- the rise of new social issues like abortion, concentrates less on personalities and more on ers, who had traditionally voted Democrat even women’s rights, and prayer in school, pornog- contending ideas over time. Thus, an impres- as they engaged in racist politics, only began raphy, and evangelical Christianity played in sive strength of her work is the careful way she voting Republican in large numbers after the the development of modern conservatism traces the development of conservatism from

THE PUBLIC EYE 24 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye after the failed Goldwater campaign of 1964 meaning as political contexts differ. Without at the desert staging area south of Tehran. Had and Ronald Reagan’s successful gubernatorial understanding how ideologies change over the attempt succeeded, it is possible that Pres- run in 1966. She also tells the story of Orange time, it is not possible to finally prove what ident Jimmy Carter might have been reelected, County’s bankruptcy in the 1990s. Unfortu- both texts assume—that the rise of modern and Ronald Reagan might have been dis- nately, both these analyses are brief and under- conservatism in the 1960s led to contempo- missed as another radical Republican rejected developed: the question of how and why rary dominance of conservative values in the by a moderate voting American majority. It Orange County leaders continued to believe United States today. Conservatism in the does not follow that any one of these changes in free market, libertarian principles after 1980s, 1990s, and into the 2000s is related to would have prevented a conservative takeover experiencing the largest municipal bankruptcy conservatism in the 1960s, but it is not the of American politics, of course. But it does not in U.S. history in 1994 is barely explored, for same. No conservative today could echo Gold- follow that the conservative victories were example. Similarly, recent Orange County water's easy acceptance of the utility of nuclear inevitable either. policies aimed at slowing growth and pro- weapons and expect to win office, for exam- Paying serious attention to political history is moting environmental protection are described ple. Similarly, contemporary conservatives an important corrective to any sweeping expla- more than analyzed and explained. have to work hard to insulate their ideology nation for political developments. Both from charges of racism and sexism through the Ultimately, then, both books are excellent McGirr and Perlstein are to be commended for adoption of language promoting states' rights examinations of the question of why conser- their work exploring the reasons many people and economic opportunity. Tracing these dis- vatives like conservatism and dislike liberalism. came to support conservatism in its contem- tinctions is a crucial component of any pro- Perlstein’s focus on one specific time period, porary shape. However, coming to a full ject that seeks to link the rise of modern and McGirr’s attention to the politics of one understanding of how and why conservatives conservatism to its contemporary practices. county, allows each to explore multiple issues came to dominate the Republican Party first, in a logical, consistent way. McGirr’s is a Finally, both these texts assume that the Rea- and then national politics generally, requires broader analysis, whereas Perlstein’s is narrower, gan Revolution and the dominance of con- substantial development beyond the founda- but each provides unique insights into the servatism in contemporary U.S. politics were tions laid in these works. Moreover, paying dynamics of the rise of modern conservatism inevitable. While it is true that conservative val- close attention to political history is equally in the United States. ues have dominated political life in the United important for those who hope that the con- States over the last 20 years—clearly evident servative dominance might be countered—if An important thing that both books lack, when President Clinton, a Democrat, pro- circumstances had to be constructed to pro- however, is a sophisticated analysis of con- moted and signed a bill eliminating welfare for mote conservatism, opportunities can arise for temporary conservative ideology in the con- the poor as an entitlement in 1994—it is a mis- the advance of progressive points of view. As text of historic American conservatism. The take to assume that what happened had to hap- such, both books should provide lessons of Goldwater, Reagan, and Congressional con- pen. Imagine, for example, a politics in which value for progressives and conservatives: events servative movements of the last 40 years Lyndon Johnson chose not to escalate the are political, choices matter, and change happens. (among others) rest on an accumulated con- war in Vietnam beyond the point it exhausted text of ideas, conspiracies, religious assump- the nation’s economy and led to massive deficit tions, ethnic and racial biases, economic financing. Imagine a politics in which the classes, and social and political values that both Chicago Democratic convention of 1968 did End Notes shape the terms of modern conservatism and not unfold as an advertisement for the collapse 1 Perlstein, p. xi. influence why some individuals and groups of the Democratic Party. Imagine a politics in 2 find that conservatism “makes sense” in con- Ibid., p. xii. which Gerald Ford won election in 1976, 3 temporary life. Thus, when McGirr titles By contrast, two recent works do an excellent job of trac- leading to a condition in which the economic ing the evolution of conservative ideology over time: chapter five of her text “The Birth of Populist Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons, Right-Wing Pop- chaos of the late 1970s was predominantly Conservatism,” she misses the historical exis- ulism in America: Too Close for Comfort (New York: Guil- associated with Republican Party control of the ford, 2000); and Sara Diamond, Roads to Dominion: tence and political influence of many right- Presidency. Or, as a final example, imagine that Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United wing populist movements that have existed in States (New York: Guilford, 1995). Readers of Perlstein’s the Iran hostage rescue attempt in September the United States at least since the 1830s and work who are familiar with texts like Berlet's and 1980—just two months before the election Lyons’, and Diamond’s, will be able to locate the dimen- are insightfully examined in Berlet and Lyons, that brought Reagan to office—had worked. sions of Goldwater’s ideology as they interact with and Diamond, among others.7 Perlstein’s text conservatism in American history. Unfortunately, Perl- None of these possibilities—or any of hun- stein does not establish such linkages in his own work. presents Goldwater’s conservatism in virtually dreds more that might be imagined—is far- 4 isolated terms, barely relating it to ideological Perlstein, p. xi. fetched: the hostage rescue attempt might 5 currents existing at the time, much less broader McGirr, p. 4. have succeeded, for example, had one more 6 traditions in American political history. Ibid., pp. 183-84. helicopter flown on the mission, meaning 7 Berlet and Lyons, 2000; Diamond, 1995. This analytical hole undermines both texts that the attempt would not have to be aborted because ideology is dynamic. Its terms change

THE PUBLIC EYE 25 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye Eyes RIGHT OPRAH VISION RATTLESHAKE Tim Wildmon, vice president of the Amer- More than 20 different antichoice groups ican Family Association, apparently does including Focus on the Family, the Center NOSTRADAMUS REDUX not believe in veering off the beaten path. He for Reclaiming America, Concerned Women Alice Smith forecasted world events in a insists: for America, and the American Family Asso- guest commentary on the Christian Broad- “We need to get serious about our faith. ciation have been sending rattles to U.S. sen- casting Network. Smith wrote that, “Sept. 11 We need to understand the differences ators since last Fall as part of a campaign was a wake-up call to the church [but] we hit between a biblical belief system, or worldview, against women’s right to choose. Janet Fol- the snooze button and rolled over.” She and the belief systems of humanism, rela- ger, director of the Center for Reclaiming warns that, “the day for compromise is over.” tivism, paganism, new age, Islam and others. America asserts, “[w]e will shake this nation Here’s a peek at her apocalyptic crystal ball. Then we will appreciate how and why Chris- back to life, and this historic campaign is only “Alice says the Lord has impressed upon tianity is superior to all other religions, the beginning.” her the following: worldviews and belief systems and how we Source: Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson 1. There will not be peace for Israel for can earnestly contend for the faith in the January 2002, pp. 20-21. 2002. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Oprah Winfrey world of ‘all roads lead to 2. China will make a power move on Tai- God.’” wan this year. Source: American Family Association Alert, 1/4/02 3. 2002 is the beginning of the resur- gence of Russia as a superpower. BUCHANAN BOMB[L]AST 4. In the days to come, there will be riots Pat Buchanan is at it again. A bruising pres- EyeLASHES in our streets and internal civil upris- ings in our land. idential campaign apparently has not taken 5. If President Bush negotiates to take the the wind out of his sails, evident in a column When contemplating land from Israel and give it to Palestine, he wrote recently for Pravda’s English version. natural disasters in the U.S. will increase “If belief is decisive, Islam is militant, college“ liberals, you really Christianity milquetoast. In population, and be far worse. God’s covenant to regret once again that John Abraham and Israel has never changed. Islam is exploding, the West dying. Islamic 6. The demons behind the Shiite Muslims warriors are willing to suffer defeat and Walker is not getting the death, the West recoils at casualties. They are have yet to be felt in this nation. death penalty. We need to 7. It is time for the church to stop com- full of grievance; we, full of guilt. Where Islam plaining about the things we permit. prevails, it asserts a right to impose its dogma, execute people like John while the West preaches equality. Islam is Pray and see change. Walker in order to physi- 8. Never has there been a more important assertive, the West apologetic—about its time to get out of debt. Then sow your crusaders, conquerors and empires. . . . cally intimidate liberals, by Don’t count Islam out. It is the fastest seed (money) into ministries and making them realize that churches where souls are being saved. growing faith in Europe and has surpassed Always remember, never eat your seed. Catholicism worldwide. And as Christian- they can be killed too. ity expires in the West and the churches You seed does not look like the harvest. Otherwise they will turn Don’t waste your seed. Don’t spend empty out, the mosques are going up. . . . your seed. Plant your seed and harvest To defeat a faith, you need a faith. What out to be outright traitors. will come multiplied many times over!” is ours? Individualism, democracy, pluralism, la dolce vita? Can they overcome a fighting Ann Coulter, at the Conservative Source: Christian Broadcasting Network ” Political Action Conference, 1/27/02. http://www.cbn.com/700club/features/Alice_Smith.asp faith, 16 centuries old, and rising again?” Source: Bill Berkowitz, “Buchanan’s Apocalypse Now,” Source: http://www.andrewsullivan.com/index.php? http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=12609 dish_inc=archives/2002_01_27_dish_archive.html #9314168

THE PUBLIC EYE 26 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

cal Year 1998 budget $341,463] a family Seeking to achieve “biblical submission,” she IT’S NOT CHRISTIAN policy council in California, to defeat AB 1338 yields to his will. But after years of such com- Thomas Fleming, editor, Chronicles: A Mag- [which was a civil unions bill]. The combined pliance, she is depressed and having suicidal azine of American Culture, certainly knows activity generated a grass roots wave. . . .” thoughts. With counseling and motherhood, what’s Christian and what’s not: Connor went on to say that “[f]or the sake Parker achieves a new understanding of sub- “We must work toward the recreation of of marriage as we know it, it’s imperative that mission, teaching her husband his role within Christendom in North America and Europe. Californians remain vigilant to see to it that the household. She finds ways to get him to This has been and continues to be the primary the will of their vote is not overturned by fulfill her needs—by helping with the chil- goal of both Chronicles and The Rockford homosexual activists.” dren’s homework, carpooling and repairs. Institute. A people that thinks dinner consists Source: Family Research Council Press Release 1/15/02 She concludes, “. . . Pat and I had learned a of eating a deli sandwich from Arby’s while http://www.frc.org/get/p02a02.cfm wonderful lesson in love: Life is not just watching Friends is neither Christian nor Budget sources for organizations: Derek Arend Wilcox, ed., vanilla! Love and marriage can be any flavor civilized. A public that pays top dollar for tick- The Right Guide: A Guide to Conservative, Free Market, you choose. . .” and Right-of-Center Organizations (Ann Arbor, MI: ets to see Barbra Streisand or Michael Jack- Source: Focus on the Family, vol. 26, no. 2 (February 2002). Economic America Inc., 2000). son should probably have its collective eardrums punctured. . . .” JUSTICE UNDER COVER Source: “Cultural Revolutions,” Chronicles: A Magazine DOMINANCE AND of American Culture (January 2002), pp. 6-7. Attorney-General John Ashcroft recently SUBMISSION, FOCUS ON gave a new spin to undercover operations at THE FAMILY STYLE the Justice Dept. Apparently, the AG, uncom- GRASSROOTS WAVE OR BIG Dalene Vickery Parker explores the nuances fortable at being juxtaposed with “Minnie MONEY TSUNAMI? of submission in “Not Just Vanilla! Finding Lou’s” bosom in Department photo-ops, has According to Ken Connor, president of the the true flavor of submission in marriage.” She decided to drape the statue of the “Spirit of Family Research Council [Fiscal Year 1998 describes an argument over ice cream with her Justice,” a.k.a. Minnie Lou, and her com- budget $14,618,789], “FRC and its sister husband during their honeymoon: she wants panion, the “Majesty of Justice,” in more mod- lobby organization American Renewal, a sundae, but he insists on vanilla. She writes, est garb. As far as undercover operations go, [which spent $439,788 on programs in 1997] “‘Thought you were on a diet’ Pat admon- this one is not immodest. Only $8,000! worked closely with Focus on the Family ished. ‘On our honeymoon?’ I asked. ‘Surely Source: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/HallsOfJustice/ [Fiscal Year 1998 budget $110,890,180 and we don’t have to think about calories on our hallsofjustice.html that spent $88,156,142 on programs that honeymoon.’ ‘You better think about them Compiled by Nikhil Aziz and Mitra Rastegar same year] and Capitol resource Institute, [Fis- all the time or they’ll sneak up on you.’”

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THE PUBLIC EYE 27 SPRING 2002 The Public Eye

Order your copy of Defending Immigrant Rights an Activist Resource Kit available from PRA Defending Immigrant • Inflammatory TV and newspaper ads by the Right Rights blame immigrants for overpopulation and sprawl. AN ACTIVIST RESOURCE KIT • The Right’s armed vigilantes “protect” our borders.

S SOCIATE RCH AS L RESEA PRA POLITICA • New anti-immigrant “security” measures target Order by mail, phone or fax people of color and “foreigners.” Cost: $15, low income $10 (includes postage). Visa/Mastercard accepted. MA residents add 5% sales tax. Immigrant Rights on the Line Since September 11th, immigrant scapegoating has increased, whether in the form of hate crimes, racial profiling, or federal legislation. This is the newest Name example of a long history of anti-immigrant activity.

Address Defending Immigrant Rights – A Resource to Help You Defending Immigrant Rights, PRA’s latest Activist Resource Kit, City/State/Zip will help you:

Phone E-mail Understand the anti-immigrant movement Check enclosed (payable to Political Research Associates) Organize against right-wing campaigns Please charge my VISA Mastercard #______Expiration Date______Respond to anti-immigrant arguments

Defending Immigrant Rights is part of a series of Activist Resource Identify important opponents and allies Kits produced by PRA. If you would like information on other kits, please write to the address below or visit us at www.publiceye.org. Political Research Associates A very timely guide for all activists concerned about the attack on 1310 Broadway, Suite 201, Somerville, MA 02144 immigrant rights. User friendly and full of information and resources. Phone: 617-666-5300 Fax: 617-666-6622 “ – Catherine Tactaquin, Director, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights ” Web: www.publiceye.org

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