America's Militia Problem is Growing, Fast

We hear a lot about Tea Parties these days, but they are just that — parties — compared to the nationwide militia movements that have roots going back over a decade, and continue to gain momentum as the economy stagnates and political polarization becomes evermore rampant.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports that right-wing extremist groups have gained in popularity ever since the early 1990s.

"The militia movement is a relatively new right-wing extremist movement consisting of armed paramilitary groups, both formal and informal, with an anti-government, conspiracy-oriented ideology. Militia groups began to form not long after the deadly standoff at Waco, Texas, in 1993; by the spring of 1995, they had spread to almost every state," says the ADL. "Many members of militia groups have been arrested since then, usually on weapons, explosives and conspiracy charges ... it remains an active movement, especially in the Midwest, and continues to cause a number of problems for law enforcement and the communities in which militia groups are active."

David Letterman once joked in his nightly list, "Top Ten Signs You're Watching a Bad Disney Movie," that "It's called 'The Little Right-Wing Militia That Could'." But America's militia's problem is no joking matter anymore, and no longer relatively new, as the ADL's brief history claims.

America's militias are rapidly increasing their memberships, getting better and bigger guns and explosives, and they're pointing them at their government and non-militia-members, and the only thing keeping them from shooting so far seems to be the FBI. Just this week, federal prosecutors filed additional weapons charges against several Midwest militia members who are accused of conspiring to wage war against the United States.

How these aggressive, armed, often military-trained (U.S. military and/or National Guard) anti-government militia members do not fall under the category of terrorists is nonsensical to me. And why the government isn't doing more to stop them before they join forces with the radical's radicals in the Tea Party movement itself is beyond me. Already, a clear link can be made with the Oath Keepers, who ironically present themselves as a peacekeeping organization.

Oath Keepers was founded in March 2009 by Stewart Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate, former U.S. Army paratrooper, and former staffer of Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas).  The mission of Oath Keepers is to encourage members (current and former military and law enforcement) to uphold and protect the Constitution of the United States by refusing to carry out unlawful orders, including any that violate the enumerated powers granted to the federal government in the Constitution.

A close comparison between America's current militias and the Squadristi or Blackshirt paramilitary groups in Italy between World War I and II is appropriate, and we all know how that worked out. The only major difference is that the nationwide Italian militia operations then were under the centralized direction of one person, Benito Mussolini, whose American militia counterpart with equal organization and mobilization skills has not yet emerged. Or has he?

Among the most prominent militia groups are the Kentucky State Militia, Ohio Unorganized Militia Assistance and Advisory Committee, Southeastern Ohio Defense Force, Michigan Militia (two factions using the same name), Southern Indiana Regional Militia, and the Southern California High Desert Militia. Among their prominent leaders are John Trochmann (Montana), Ron Gaydosh (Michigan), Randy Miller (Texas), Charlie Puckett (Kentucky), Mark Koernke (Michigan), Carl Worden (Oregon), Gib Ingwer (Ohio).

As they say on the busses and trains repeatedly to the point of paranoia here in Chicago: "If you see something, say something." But do not do anything, because they will shoot you.

Photo credit: The National Guard