Talk radio and conservative blogs — and even the mainstream media — have been abuzz with reports and commentary on a paper from the Department of Homeland Security, “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.” You can see the whole thing here.
I’m not going to do a thorough commentary on the thing; many others have covered it, including Power Line. I want to point out how the government is targeting people like me and Ann, who have done nothing but exercise our free speech by writing this blog. A disclaimer at the beginning says that the government has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists are planning acts of violence. (Unlike leftwing ones such as radical animal-rights and environmentalist groups, which actually have carried out such acts.) But that’s okay, it’s the possibility that counts. Here’s one:
Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages.
A pretty good perception, seeing that it’s backed up by academic studies like this one from the Center for Immigration Studies. (That’s just one of many.) Here’s their disclaimer; are you convinced that anti-immigration groups are not being monitored?
Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent.
This isn’t too serious a threat, though:
DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremist groups’ frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence. If such violence were to occur, it likely would be isolated, small-scale, and directed at specific immigration-related targets.
Another potential threat comes from Americans who “perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms.” They’re stockpiling guns and ammunition. No, really? Why would anybody feel threatened by gun control legislation? Check us off on that, Janet; we perceive that threat too.
Then there are the New World Order paranoids. DHS is a little behind the curve on what the perceived threat is. Many of us are deeply concerned about the apparent willingness of the Obama administration to cede parts of our sovereignty to world bodies, and the eagerness of some judges to apply foreign laws and legal decisions to domestic cases. Pretty extremist stuff, to want American judges to follow the American Constitution rather than Zimbabwe’s, huh?
Okay, I’ve gotten off the main topic. Just wanted to make sure Ann and I got on the list, if they’re making a list. When I was on the radical left a long time ago, the FBI had a file on me; I got it through a Freedom of Information Act request in the 1980s. Will I get a new file now?
