Extremism or "Where Everybody Knows Your Name"

by: Rob Kailey

Wed Jun 22, 2011 at 15:37:56 PM MST

It might have something to do with AP articles like the one that broke today. "Extremists finding fertile ground in Northwest US".  Dateline Kalispell.  Lovely.  Gawker, of course, pokes their fun at what Montanans are all too aware of.  I don't have a problem with any particular fact in the article, or even that it was written.  The reality of where we live is what it is.  Montana has a tradition of at least the illusion of letting people make there way as best they can.  It's ironically humorous in the extreme that in the midst of a Google search for this article, one finds the Daily Interlake going on about horse races.  In fact, the only Montana newspaper touching on what has been widely published across the nation is the Missoulian.  That might change, but I'm cynical enough not to count on it.

One of the people I ran into at NN11 was David Neiwert.  It was such a whirlwind of an event that when I talked with him on Thursday night, I didn't even recognize the man, truly to my shame.  David is the online authority of western militia movements and domestic terrorism, founder of the award winning website Orcinus, and now a blogger at Crooks and Liars, author of In God's Country: The Patriot Movement and the Pacific Northwest and The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right.  If it sounds like I'm going out of my way to promote David's work, I really kind of am.  He is that informative, he knows the mountain west intimately and he clearly sees the name Montana and Idaho will bare into our futures, that name which colors our progressives as something ... different?  We briefly discussed the ongoing Bergert incident.  David posited that if Bergert were smart, he would head for an urban area and blend into the diverse crowding.  I don't see a man that ambushes police officers doing that for very long.  He wants his war, and he'll have it.  Bergert simply can't contain his angry racism, and David and I probably agree on that.  We also briefly discussed the progressive online in Montana.  He likes Montana Cowgirl, as I have grown to do as well. One thing you have to admit.  The Cowgirl (or they) have pulled no punches when calling out the racism and xenophobia coming out of the northwest in this state.

Still, this is the brand we get to wear. Every single person I talked with at NN11 has seen Brian Schweitzer brand bills with his VETO irons, and yet almost none know what bills were branded.  Thank you YouTube.  What they also know is that there is a really white cancer growing in Montana, and they fear it.  They should.  We should.  A guy who used to comment at DailyKos was a Native American who moved east.  In every thread tagged "Montana" he would decry the state as racist.  An African American at Kos, in a post about the racism in San Fransisco, posted a comment about how the most racist place he'd ever lived was the year he spent in Missoula, Montana.  Everybody seems to know our name, and it isn't a good one.  I call that "room for improvement".

UPDATE:  It was noted in the first breakout session I attended at NN11 that the strength of the Tea Party rise was it's populist sentiment blended with the acceptance of racism.  The seeds of this go back to the Reagan revolution.  'One needn't feel ashamed of being angry at welfare queens, because those dark takers of your effort are ruining the country.'  It's not hard to figure out where those folks are acquiring the support for their awful ideas:

Obama has a big problem with white women.  

Koopman's purity tests for legislators

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 13:49:33 PM MST

In a repeat of 2008, former Bozeman Rep. Roger Koopman has set his sights on state Republicans who he accuses of being too liberal, or RINOs (Republicans in Name Only). Koopman, the chairman of the newly formed Montana Conservative Alliance, says his group is mailing questionnaires to every GOP candidate and, based on their results, will identify who will be supported and who will be targeted.

In the last legislative election, Koopman and his cronies dislodged three moderate Republicans in primaries.

I know there are leftys out there who would apply the same Koopman-esque tactics to the Democratic party - and certainly I heartily support running good progressive candidates against bad candidates - but Koopman's style demands strict ideological adherence to a narrow set of simplistic "principles" under all conditions. What you get from that kind of process is a pack of simplistic, narrow-minded legislators applying simplistic cookie-cutter policies to complex problems with monomaniacal fury.

That's not a good thing.

I will say that pundits and media outlets have an irrational love of "independents." There's a romanticized vision out there that an "independent" is somehow a fierce, pragmatic thinker free from the pull and tug of mindless partisanship, bravely inhabiting the small strip of no-man's land between the two political parties. But in reality, independent voters are anything but a homogenous bloc. Maoist lefties and white supremacist righties both consider themselves "independent." Others are independent because of a single issue. Abortion, for example, may push a economic progressive, say, to vote for a rightwing pro-life Republican. Others are partisan, but call themselves independent to foil pollsters or because they like the idea of being independent. Others are partisan, but switch their vote to punish a politician for not upholding her party's values - like in the case of the recent Massachusetts special Senatorial election.

That's a long way of saying that "moderates" don't really represent "independent" voters. But a moderate politician does make sure that constituents from both sides of the political divide are represented - which isn't a bad thing. (In the national health care debate, for example, Blue Dog Democrats did bring legitimate concerns about the effects health care legislation would have on state budgets and small businesses.)

In the case of the Montana Republican party, that's crucial. That's because efforts of folks like Koopman have transformed the state Republican party into a truly radical political movement that seeks to advance the interests of a tiny faction of the state's voters.

Citizen's Grand Jury: an idea whose time has come

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Dec 15, 2009 at 11:59:57 AM MST

Just imagine! As soon as the law's passed, we can start convening these things to use against the right-wing zealots behind this thing! Duane Sipe, the initiative's sponsor; Richard Stevens of "Freedom Action Rally"; and Sen. Verdell Jackson of Kalispell. Constitution Party members, Tea Baggers. It wouldn't be hard to drum up some reasons, right? After all, these people believe the income tax is illegal, that most kinds of government activity is illegal, etc & co. I think we can confidently say their tax returns probably could use a good looking-over, right?

But, whoa! I'm getting wa-a-a-a-a-y ahead of myself here. You don't actually need a reason to convene a citizen's grand jury, you just need signatures from half of one percent of a county's registered voters! There'll be time enough after the signatures are gathered to figure out what the grand jury should investigate, because it's the jury that has "sole control" over the "length and depth" of investigations.

And the best thing? You don't even need an indictment to do damage! Isn't that great? Because the proceedings of the grand jury are completely public! That's right! And because of a grand jury's broad powers to call up evidence and testimony (and no sneaky hiding behind the 5th amendment for the accused in a grand jury!), all sorts of irrelevant evidence can be brought up to damage the investigated's reputation. Heck! And you can present all kinds of weak evidence that makes the defendant look guilty in the court of public opinion!

And think about all the costs someone under endless investigation would have to bear! All those trips to Missoula - on work days, of course - toting a lawyer along, the endless depositions, examination of evidence, research, etc & co. Really, if the costs of being investigated by a politically-motivated grand jury doesn't drive these people out of Montana...

And why stop there? How difficult would it be to, say, gather enough signatures to call a citizen's grand jury to look into Dennis Rehberg's role in the Flathead Lake Boat Crash? An afternoon at the Missoula Farmer's Market? And while we're looking into Rehberg's drinking habits, we can examine his finances, his connections with lobbyists (like Leo Giaocometto!), hell! We can check out his family, make sure they're on the up-and-up, right?

And we can do the same to whoever opts to run against Tester in '12. Or to current legislators. Krayton Kerns! Scott Sales! Just to name a few. And some old names from the past - Marc Racicot! Tim Fox! Judy Martz!

Clever name, isn't it? "Citizens" grand jury? Because, really, it's just a means for a small group of radicals to terrorize their neighbors. Like the "Committee of Public Safety"! Or the local "citizens councils" (or "Soviets" in Russian)! It's a slap to democracy. In fact, all through the report, the brain trust behind these grand juries derides democratic institutions - appointed judges and elected leaders, the entire legal system.

But it's your system. You vote, you have the power to make and change the rules. So, make no mistake, it's not the government these people can't stand, it's you.

National expert to discuss the resurgent right wing, tonight in Helena

by: Jamee Greer

Fri Nov 13, 2009 at 11:35:15 AM MST

Senior analyst at the Massachusetts-based Political Research Associates, Berlet will give a presentation titled "Obama, Right-Wing Populism, and White Rage:  How Race, Class and Gender Anxiety Fuel Demonization and Scapegoating."  Berlet said his presentation will examine how "racial fears, economic anxieties, and gender panics" are triggers of a right-wing backlash that targets the Obama Administration.  The Right, he continued, is mobilizing resentment among a large number of middle-class and working-class whites who are convinced to support efforts that go against their own economic self interest and defend existing power structures.

Mr. Berlet is co-author of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. He's written for the Boston Globe, New York Times, The Progressive and Amnesty Now, and blogs on the Huffington Post, and Religion Dispatches.  

Does Tea Bagging represent the resurgence of right-wing extremism?

by: Jay Stevens

Wed Aug 19, 2009 at 05:49:30 AM MST

What does that mean? Well, it could mean "Heil Hitler, you Jew, you are a subhuman blood-sucker," a sentiment common to right-wing extremists who actively seek the violent overthrow of the federal government. Or it could mean, "By supporting government-run healthcare, sir, you may as well be shouting 'Heil Hitler,' because you are supporting Barack Obama, who is a Nazi"-a sentiment also common to right-wing extremists who actively seek the violent overthrow of the federal government. You see the problem? The feverish, paranoid snake that is contemporary right-wing political thought has begun to eat its own tail, and the swamp is full of anti-Semites and Nazi-haters who both seek the same thing-a return to the "real America."

Thing is, this kind of paranoid, extremist, hate-filled rhetoric appears to be common at Tea-Bagging events. As Greer's first-hand accounts, white supremacists were present at the Montana town hall meeting, and Tea-Baggers with ties to militia groups were prominent at the Arizona town hall. When will the media explore and uncover the roots of the Tea Baggers? Because I suspect GOP politicos and the insurance industry has woken up right-wing radicalism...not that it needed much nudging...

The problem is religious extremism

by: Jay Stevens

Tue Jun 02, 2009 at 11:30:21 AM MST

The suspect, Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, 24, had changed his name from Carlos Leon Bledsoe after converting to the Muslim faith....

It was not known what path Muhammad, a U.S. citizen who is a recent convert to Islam, had followed to radicalization.

My thoughts and condolences go out to the family and friends of the slain soldiers, William Long and Quinton Ezeagwula. Ezeagwula was 18.

Obviously, these killings were no less a terrorist act than the shooting of Tiller.

The lesson to take away here is that religious extremism is the problem, not any particular religion, whether it's Christianity or Islam. And just as commenters are quick to damn the mullahs that filled Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammed with the hatred that led him to take the lives of two men, so should we be decrying those that fuel the hatred and violence within the extremist wing of the anti-abortion movement.

Still, you read stuff like William Saletan's piece in Slate, "Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?" or Operation Rescue's Randall Terry's statement on Tiller's murder, and you realize just deeply embedded the double-standard on right-wing terror is for many conservatives. Can you imagine how a defense of Muhammad's murders would sound if written in the same logic? That the soldiers deserved to die because of..well...choose your rhetorical hyperbole. (For an antidote to the Saletan op-ed, check out Feministe's Jill reminding us that Tiller provided legal, legitimate health care, and the AmPro's Michelle Goldberg's piece on what late-term abortion is really like.)

This may be news for some, but we are a democratic society governed by law. Those that seek to dismantle our social structure and community standards with a gun deserve neither encouragement nor support. Period.