I’m certainly not the expert on Outer Wingnutteria (hat tip to David for the phrase) like David Neiwert is, but I know enough to start really beginning to worry that the hardest of the hard right are going to go on a self-immolation and violence-causing spree like they did in the 90s, except this time it may be worse, because the President whose authority they’re symbolically rejecting is a black man with a funny name. If Outer Wingnutteria—-who escalated abortion clinic violence, who bombed Oklahoma City, who racked up shootouts with the Feds (such as Waco, Ruby Ridge, and the Republic of Texas)—-rejected Bill Clinton, then what on earth are they going to do with Barack Obama in office? Clinton had a number of things about him that probably cooled some hysteria, perhaps limiting the number of wingnut fence-sitters who were attracted to the militia movements but decided it wasn’t worth it to actually start shit, and preferred just to sit at home grumbling. Or, at worst, they’d join a local militia and play soldier on the weekends, but never take it too seriously. Clinton was a bubba, a white guy who had Astroturf in the back of his truck, a burger chomper with a “I just want to be loved” attitude. He had a normal name. Obama is more of a smartass, an urbanite, a health food nut, and of course, he’s a black man with a funny name. I fear that these elements are going to make it easier for Outer Wingnutteria to recruit some people who sat it out last round.
Reading this post on the latest machinations of the Birther movement is educational, because it frames their paranoia in the larger schemes, paranoias, and ridiculous folk beliefs held by the black helicopter set. One of the overriding themes in the black helicopter world is that it should be easy to reject federal and state authority. In their mind, it’s just a matter of finding exactly the right legalese to exploit, and voila! They’ve created an airtight argument for why they get to quit the U.S. and form their own governments, where they get to be minor kings over their faux manors, instead of Bob the Nobody Middle Manager.* If you read Orcinus regularly, and especially if you read David’s books, you get a pretty good idea of how many cranks are out there, and how inventive their schemes get. But they all go back to this common idea that they could find the right legalese that would justify separation, and if they do that, they can feel good about themselves when their criminal behavior leads to a shootout with the feds. And by criminal behavior, I don’t mean setting up in your house and declaring yourself separate from the government. Usually they back up their sudden belief in independence by breaking the law, the favorites being counterfeiting or building up a stash of largely illegal weapons. The justifications vary wildly—-you have the basic religious cranks, the guys who concoct schemes to declare themselves Native Americans so they can have reservation rights, and the idiots who dwell on the belief that states, especially Texas, have a right to secede. (Never mind that the people who “seceded” to create the Republic of Texas didn’t consult the rest of Texans about their scheme.) The schemes are stupid, but inventive, an interesting combo that would be delightful if it weren’t for the potential for violence.