Guardians of the Free Republics & Armed March on Washington 4/19

Saffron · Sat Apr 03, 2010 8:40 am

What is going on in the USA? First we have the Christian militia group threatening to kill cops and now the Guardians of the Free Repbulics threating our goveners. NPR did a piece on the Christian militia group the other day. Apparently, after the Oklahoma City bombing they went quiet for 15 years and are now getting noisy again. In fact, there is an armed march on Washington planned for Arpil 19, 2010. It is all over the internet. Is it time to be afraid?

I think I will skip posting the link to the march info -- it is getting around enough on its own. Here are clips from two news reports on the Christian militia group and the threats mailed to 30 governers across the US.

Feds: Militia members sought to spark uprising
By COREY WILLIAMS and DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press Writers Corey Williams And Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writers – Mon Mar 29, 7:43 pm ET
DETROIT – Nine alleged members of a Christian militia group that was girding for battle with the Antichrist were charged Monday with plotting to kill a police officer and slaughter scores more by bombing the funeral — all in hopes of touching off an uprising against the U.S. government.

30-plus governors told to quit in letters from Guardians of the Free Republics

By Anita Kumar
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 3, 2010; A03

More than 30 governors, including Robert F. McDonnell (R) of Virginia, received letters from an anti-government group this week demanding that they resign within three days or face removal from office.

The letters from the group, Guardians of the Free Republics, do not threaten violence, according to officials in Richmond and Washington. No arrests have been made.

NPR piece on this story:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =125488547

etudiant · Sun Apr 04, 2010 4:41 pm

I think what’s happening is a combination of ignorance and cultural myth. It’s a combination that can get pretty ugly if individuals take it too seriously.

I don’t think the US is alone in this; most countries have their historical myths. Britain saw itself as the great civilizer in the days of its empire, but today a more balanced view prevails. Germany and Japan had their own brutal versions of cultural beliefs during the mid- twentieth century, but both have come clean and taken a look at themselves in the hard light of day. The French had a long running myth that downplayed collaboration with the axis during WW2; today this has been dropped for the most part.

In the US there is the myth of the rugged individual who needs no help from anyone. He is self-sufficient, and indeed becomes incensed at the though of anyone telling him to comply with any sort of community regulation. The idea of self-sufficiency had some modest application during the time of the frontier in North America, but in terms of today’s integrated, developed, overpopulated world, it is absurd. Those that argue that it is outrageous for governments to be doing things like raising taxes, regulating banks, paying pensions, or insisting on licensing drivers, need only look at places like Somalia to see what life is like with no government. Which brings up the second point.

I would be willing to bet money that a great many in these “militias” would not know what or where Somalia is, or why it is being held out as an example. Those that lack knowledge risk loosing that very characteristic that they prize so much: self-sufficiency. Without a knowledge base to draw on, people can become vulnerable to manipulation, and to being drawn up into extreme and irrational enterprises. Foolish ideas can be accepted if one just doesn’t know enough about a given subject to make an informed decision. In today’s world it is exactly knowledge that can provide independence and self-sufficiency, although ironically this is something likely distained by many in these groups.

The trick Obama will have to pull off in order to have a reasonably successful shift at the helm will be to strip away some of these myths, and inject a few facts, but also to do it in a way that doesn’t get the Sarah Palins, and the Tea enthusiasts pulling on their camouflage gear, and loading up their rifles.

DWill · Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:35 am

I always try to make the best from movements like this one--what else can I do? It's my hope that these groups will actually serve to keep moderate those people who get pissed off at government, usually when they have to pay more for something. I still have faith that Americans are by national character a moderate people. Splinter groups will continue to crop up, but they will mostly serve to illustrate, for the majority, where not to go.

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