“We’re in a moment of critical mass. We have so many anti-government groups who believe the federal government is working against them, who believe Obama is secretly a Muslim, a communist, or not even an American.” That’s the money shot from Ryan Lenz of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) in thinkprogress.com’s post Meet The Militia Rushing To Cliven Bundy’s Defense. Clearly, the statist left has citizen militias in their sights, working from Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals playbook. Specifically, Rule 12 . . .
Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions. (This is cruel, but very effective. Direct, personalized criticism and ridicule works.)
Guess who thinkprogress’ Christie Thompson isolates? None other than James “I’m going to start killing people” Yeager. And yeah, she’s put that quote in there. Along with Yeager’s backpedalling. But the damage is done and the point is clear: the American militia movement consists of a bunch of trigger-happy losers with a few trigger-happy psycho losers. Like this:
[Professor Jack Kay of Eastern Michigan University] sees militia members who actually intend to use violence as a “very, very small minority,” he says. “Most of them are just weekend warriors who go out in the woods and do some paramilitary activity and some camouflage painting.”
Bundy’s supporters are also adamant that they love America — they just don’t agree with (or in many cases, even recognize as legitimate) its government or the laws it passes.
In other words, [Kay’s saying] the militia members are an armed, untrained rabble who consider themselves above the law. Bumbling bozos – except for the ones who “intend to use violence.” Quite the Patriot portrait eh? And while we’re reading between the lines – drawn with big, bright crayon colors – Kay intimates that the BLM’s decision not to fire on the self-styled freedom fighters was a mistake.
“Now that the government stood down on this one i think they’re going to claim this as a huge victory. It really is to me the perfect storm for the militia to increase their attention and increase their recruitment and get ready for the next standoff.”
Kay’s certainly right about the militia marketing aspect of the Bundy Ranch confrontation. And their timing is just so. As Nick pointed out over a pint of Alchemy last night, a large part of America is itching for a showdown. A battle where they can draw a line in the sand against America’s bloated, bureaucratic, unconstitutional federal government – and begin to roll back Uncle Sam’s endless incursions into personal liberty.
I prey that battle happens at the ballot box. And respect those who understand the need for a plan B like, say, America’s founding fathers. Meanwhile and in any case, this article was written the day before Cliven Bundy’s racist remarks hit the net. Imagine how it would have looked after. And expect more of the same in the weeks ahead.