Incited by the likes of former Alabama militiaman, anti-government agitator, and Social Security Disability recipient, Mike Vanderboegh, angry opponents of the Health Care Reform Bill took to the streets armed with bricks and other projectiles in order to break a few windows and attempt to intimidate Democratic members of Congress. Sounding a bit like an al Qaeda operative, Vanderboegh hastened to take credit for instigating at least some of the attacks in interviews.
The first thing that came to my mind was the infamous Kristallnacht of 1938 Germany during which a coordinated attack (pogrom) on Jewish people by the Hitler Youth, the Gestapo and the SS, resulted in the murders of 91 Jews and arrest and internment of 25,000 to 30,000 others. As many as 267 synagogues were destroyed, and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. While no such catastrophe is likely to transpire present day, the drum beat for anarchy is increasingly palpable.
The fact that the most excitable elements among the disaffected tea-bagger types are being egged on by GOP members of Congress, Right-Wing talkers, and the likes of Sarah Palin is most disturbing because, like fire, social hysteria is much easier to ignite than it is to extinguish. It doesn’t take much these days to whip people into a frenzy. The false notion that Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi are going to systematically confiscate firearms and ammunition have, in a predictable reactionary manner, stimulated gun sales and emptied the shelve of bullets. The afore-mentioned Mr. Vanderboegh has urged his followers to pay attention to their larders, their arsenals, and their physical fitness. He states that rifles are being taken out of closets and cleaned at this very moment.
Back in the late eighties, I thought of the militia movement as a bunch of disaffected, tobacco-chewing, pot-bellied rednecks in camo, spending weekends eating squirrels and MREs in the damp Arkansas woods. But out of that seemingly harmless ilk came Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. Then came the Minutemen who spent endless hours sitting in lawn chairs with their night-vision scopes, or riding their ATVs, guarding the Mexican border. I often worried that it was just a matter of time before the child of an illegal immigrant was gunned down by some well-intended "patriot." Today, we have groups of posturing malcontents, some of whom are delusional and many of whom are heavily armed.
I, for one, would like to know if the FBI and DHS are on the case and if they are up to the challenge of ensuring domestic tranquility. If their management of the terror threat over the last decade is any indication, I’m not feeling very confident in their ability or dedication to containment, or even acknowledgment, of the presently-brewing hostility.