Home-Grown, Right-Wing Terrorism: The Hate the GOP Refuses to See
Remember in 2009, right at the start of the Obama era, when
then-Secretary of Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano
issued a report (PDF)
entitled: “Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate
Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment”? The report was
truly prescient. It alerted us to the rise of right-wing extremism, such
as from white supremacist groups, and warned that unchecked, it could
lead to violence.
How did Republicans respond? They went ballistic attacking the report. John Boehner was especially upset that
Napolitano would use the term “terrorist” to “describe American
citizens who disagree with the direction Washington Democrats are taking
our nation,” adding, “using such broad-based generalizations about the
American people is simply outrageous.”
Well,
what have we seen since 2010? An explosion in the number of hate groups
and a rash of domestic terrorist acts committed by those very
right-wing groups Napolitano warned us about. Per the Southern Poverty
Law Center, since 2010, there have been 32 instances of terrorism by
far-right groups—that equals eight attacks per year. (Of course, citing
the SPLC won’t move many on the right because they continually tell me
on Twitter that the SPLC is biased. They’re correct, the SPLC is biased.
Against bigotry.)
The
attacks include a plot in 2011 by members of a Georgia militia group to
bomb a federal building and release deadly ricin in Atlanta; an attack
by a white supremacist on a Sikh temple in Wisconsin that killed six
people; another white supremacist planting bombs at a Martin Luther King
parade in Seattle; and numerous plots against or actual killings of law
enforcement officers. And this list doesn’t even include the
anti-government LAX gunman who killed a TSA officer and wounded another in November 2013, or the attack we saw this past weekend by Jerad and Amanda Miller, who executed two Las Vegas policemen and then tossed the Gadsden flag used by the Tea Party onto the dead officers’ bodies.
So
how have Republicans responded to the rise of attacks by right-wing
groups? By ignoring it and keeping their focus on foreign terrorists and
Muslim-Americans. Perhaps the Republican members of Congress would find
it instructive to reread the oath they
took upon being sworn into office that provides in part: “I do solemnly
swear to defend the United States…against all enemies, foreign and
domestic.”
Republicans won’t investigate right-wing extremists because it would not only anger their base, it would actually indict some parts of it.
I’m sure they are fully aware of these words. The actual reason
Republicans won’t investigate right-wing extremists is that it would not
only anger their base, it would actually indict some parts of it. Let’s
be honest: In a time when establishment Republicans are concerned about
getting challenged in primaries by more conservative Tea Party types,
calling for hearings to investigate right-wing organizations could be
political suicide.
So instead, in 2011 and 2012 we saw Rep. Peter King hold five sets of hearings about
the radicalization of Muslims when he was chair of the House Homeland
Security Committee. I attended the first of these hearings and listened
as Democratic members of the committee urged King to broaden his
investigation to look at radicalization of Americans regardless of
faith. They cited studies warning of a record number of right-wing hate
groups and resurgence of anti-government chatter. But King wouldn’t have
any of it.
We
have seen similar tactics by Republicans in state legislatures. Instead
of focusing on potential far-right groups in their state, they have
passed laws intended to demonize Muslims because it plays to their base.
In fact, just last month in Florida, an anti-sharia measure was signed
into law by Gov. Rick Scott even though supporters admitted there hadn’t
been even one instance of
Muslims in Florida trying to impose Islamic law. Yet, in Florida there
has been a documented upsurge in the Ku Klux Klan, with the group now
boasting more than 1,000 members.
And
some Republican elected officials have even implicitly given their
blessings to the right-wing view that weapons may be needed to fight off
an overreaching federal government. We saw this during the recent
standoff between Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and federal officers. Rand
Paul and other GOP officialspraised Bundy with
full knowledge that there was in essence an armed militia of private
citizens who had their guns trained on federal officers.
The
threat of right-wing domestic terrorism is very real. In fact, just
last week, the Department of Justice announced that it was reviving its
domestic terrorism taskforce. As Attorney General Eric Holder
explained, we must be vigilant in protecting Americans against the
“danger we face from individuals within our own borders who may be
motivated by a variety of other causes from anti-government animus to
racial prejudice.”
It’s
time that the GOP join in the fight against the threats posed to our
nation by right-wing extremists. True, this could cause them problems
with parts of their own political base, but saving American lives must
trump politics.
In
a perfect world, the GOP would address the threats posed by these
extremists with the same zeal they’re investigating the “truth”
surrounding Benghazi. But they won’t. The hard truth is that the GOP
can’t lose any of its shrinking base by alienating the lunatic fringe
and their supporters, from the Ted Nugents to the Cliven Bundys to the
white supremacists. You see, what we view as radicals, the GOP views as
their last, best hope. http://www.thedailybeast.com/
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