Crossposted from SmokeyMonkey.org
This should probably be filed in the obvious category, but it is nice to see my government get it right for a change. From the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, DHS/I&A, issued this unclassified assessment:
DHS/I&A assesses that lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent rightwing extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States. Information from law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations indicates lone wolves and small terrorist cells have shown intent—and, in some cases, the capability—to commit violent acts. [emphasis mine]
Perhaps Glenn Beck and his roving bands of tea-waving lunatics are more than idiots. They would seem to be dangerous idiots.
Introduction
By comparison, here is a perspective on leftwing domestic terrorism from the Bush administration's U.S. Department of Energy Office of Safeguards and Security (2001):
Although the current domestic terrorist threat within the United States is focused on right-wing extremists and white supremacists, left-wing extremists are alive and well and have several objectives. [emphasis mine]
The report goes on to list a couple of irrelevent groups and some South American terrorists. If you'd care to see what a nonsense comparison it would be, please feel free to contact me. Suffice it to say, that although there was a report written by a rightwing cabal about leftwing terrorists, such terrorists are largely irrelevent. It is the rightwing variety of domestic terrorists that usually succeed in acts of violence. Need I mention the Oklahoma City bombing and Timothy McVeigh's militia ideology? If you are in need of such a reminder, please read this diary by kossack Devilstower.
So while the teabaggers on the right slap their sacks around, I'd like to point out that this is no joke. Real intelligence assessments, real past tragedies, real current political movements suggest that the fascist right is more than politically dissatisfied about their electoral slaughter. This is not like a riot following a college football game; this is a real attempt by the rightwing of this nation to continue their destruction of the American way of life that I grew up respecting and willing to fight for. I, for one, will not stand for these violent, racist idiots taking over my country again.
Eliminationism
David Neiwert, author of The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, defined eliminationism thusly (h/t to SusanG for the book review):
Eliminationism: a politics and a culture that shuns dialogue and the democratic exchange of ideas in favor of the pursuit of outright elimination of the opposing side, either through suppression, exile, and ejection, or extermination.
The combination of this premise of political methodology and a dominionist ideology have always been dangerous. The Ku Klux Klan is the most obvious example, being both eliminationist and ideologically exclusive and dominionist. The KKK is known not for its effective protests of government policy but for its intimidation by violence at the least and for its murderous conspiracies at the worst.
The same elements exist today in the form of other blatantly racist organizations. While some would complain about the socialism infesting our country today -- for which there is actually no evidence, as just one socialist, Bernie Sanders, sits in national office today -- these same ignore, and often even embrace, the policies and talking points of the National Socialist (or Nazi) Party. Can a neo-Nazi, eliminationist, anarchistic anti-government ideology really be embraced by a major political party in this country at this time in history?
Indeed, such an ideology has been embraced by conservative, tax-cutting republicans for over 30 years.
Summary
From torture to religious idiocy to embracing a racist fascism, today's republican party and its underlying conservative ideology should be considered dangerous. Marginalizing the teabaggers or KKK parades is a great technique. It is important, though, to remember that these people do take themselves seriously, and they are, therefore, actually dangerous.