I don’t want to go into a huge thing right now. My feelings on American fascism have been addressed here frequently. But I did want to bring to everyone’s attention The Oath Keepers. Comprised largely of former military and police officers (rut-roh, Shaggy!) they use the most American symbolism possible and couch their opposition to legitimately elected civilian government in (what else) “Constitutionalism.”
On the surface, their “Declaration of Orders We Will Not Obey” seems rather innocuous. However, one should take a close, careful look at the choice of words. The Oath Keepers will not “subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.” This is clearly a thinly-veiled reference to the alleged “right” of states to secede. There are also numerous references to “foreign troops” and “American citizens” which lay bare the social chauvinist character of the movement. The group has been identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “a particularly worrisome example of the Patriot revival.”
This group is armed and apparently comprised of the same type of scum which make up Blackwater and your local police force. Keep an eye out, particularly as they consider the legitimately elected President to be a “domestic enemy of the Constitution.”
UPDATE: Apparently the Secret Service is currently so overburdened by threats on the lives of public officials that they are considering ending their role in such affairs investigating financial crimes. Some may remember that a ways back the Secret Service reported a 400% increase in the level of threats on President Obama. For those confused about whose side the cops are on, one need only remember that while right-wing loons are allowed to carry assault rifles around the current President, the former Asshole-in-Chief couldn’t be burdened with seeing certain t-shirts. Even sitting Congresmen are getting into the act.
While individual liberals (particularly those with the most to lose by a dictatorship) may be useful as allies in combating the (potential) coming coup d’etat, the Democrats can be expected to perform as their usual, wet-noodle selves. Watch for them to try and “compromise” when tanks roll down the street for a “reasonable” and “bipartisan” solution.
Start getting scared, but more importantly, start getting organized.
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that article doesn’t say they’re ending their involvement in investigating death threats. it says they are considering dropping all focus on financial crime to focus entirely on investigating death threats and doing security detail.
if obama gets dead, this country will snap like a twig.
| October 20, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
Honestly, I’m more worried about tanks rolling down the street.
| October 20, 2009 @ 12:22 pm
The leader of the Oath Keepers is being interviewed on Chris Matthews on MSNC it will be re-airing at 6 PM Central Time.
| October 20, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
Is it too much to ask that a measely five-paragraph essay be generally free of glaring spelling and grammatical errors? Am I being unreasonable?
The increase in death threats was to be expected, in all honesty. I doubt the secret service is really that surprised and we shouldn’t be either.
Also, their list orders they will not obey doesn’t make them sound that fascist, to be honest:
1. We will NOT obey any order to disarm the American people.
2. We will NOT obey any order to conduct warrantless searches of the American people, their homes, vehicles, papers, or effects — such as warrantless house-to house searches for weapons or persons.
3. We will NOT obey any order to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to trial by military tribunal.
4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state, or to enter with force into a state, without the express consent and invitation of that state’s legislature and governor.
5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty and declares the national government to be in violation of the compact by which that state entered the Union.
6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control” during any emergency, or under any other pretext. We will consider such use of foreign troops against our people to be an invasion and an act of war.
9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies, under any emergency pretext whatsoever.
10. We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.
| October 20, 2009 @ 5:14 pm
the list is pure projection. there is no rational reason to assume the administration is planning to round people up into concentration camps. there just isn’t. this kind of talk is textbook militia hysteria and was floating around all over the clinton years. i recall pat robertson yammering about his FEMA fever dreams on sunday-morning network television. you heard murmurs of this kind of stuff somewhat during the bush years, but the right has not been interested in organizing around it until now. the right is foments this kind of talk because they know that democrats buckle in the face of it. the problem is the spillover violence, but these people don’t care about that either.
the sustained focus on protecting American citizens implies they don’t feel the principles outlined in the constitution apply necessarily to anyone else. it would be interesting to find out how they feel about concentration camps for noncitizens.
| October 20, 2009 @ 6:57 pm
Ah. Grammatical corrections. The first refuge of the mentally deficient. I’ll be glad to fix things that I wrote for free at 1am at the end of a 10 hour shift with no break as soon as I get home. However, I would state that if all you have to contribute is petty proofreading as counterargument and block quotes of things I link to you are more than welcome to read and comment on another blog. I assure you, no one will miss you.
I’m not surprised at the increase in death threats, though I am at the degree of increase. Then again, I’m not surprised that Obama has basically been as bad as Bush. Won’t stop me from screaming bloody murder about it.
If one buys into Alex Jones style conspiracy theories about FEMA camps and NWOs the OK orders seem reasonable. Those of us with a reality based method of analysis are able to see the frame of their orders as what they are. Namely, an attempt at undermining and even threatening legitimate civilian government. Given the increasing defiance of civilian government by military brass currently, and the social base of fascism among right-wing veterans historically, the list of orders (as well as the broader rhetorical frame) should be of concern.
As has been stated here earlier many times, fascism in America will not look like fascism in Europe. The cultural and political context is vastly different. FWIW, I don’t think there’s a more American as apple pie symbol of fascism than a fucking Minuteman.
You’re not the brightest bulb in the drawer, are you, Buster?
| October 20, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
Easy kid, correct grammar and spelling are hallmarks of someone who is willing to take time and cleary express what he/she wants to express (or someone who has an editor, alternatively). Poor spelling and grammar can indicate laziness or poor education, neither of which will fill your audience with confidence. Spare me excuses, I don’t know anything about your life. I only know what you type, and we’d all be wise to say exactly what we mean to say very clearly.
You say you’re surprised at the degree of increase; why is that? What degree were you expecting? What numbers are we talking about here?
Furthermore, well, yes, obviously there is mention of defiance of civilian government by a militant group (extra-legal militant group, it should be noted). That is sort of their whole point. Your “reality based method of analysis” (pretty glib, eh?) reads their manifesto as a call to arms against a legitimate civilian government, although the the orders they say they will not obey will, in all likelihood, never ever be given.
And what are you refering to when you say there’s been “increasing defiance of civilian government by military brass”? What events? Which part of the civilian government? State government? Federal government? The court systems? What military brass? What officers? Which level, and what sort of defiance? You’re using a lot of blanket terms here. I don’t know anything about Alex Jones or NWOs or that sort of thing. Give me a hand here. How is this different from the bullshit posturing of any militia group?
| October 21, 2009 @ 12:27 am
CLEARY
| October 21, 2009 @ 10:11 am
The increasing defiance is documented on this website elsewhere. Take ten seconds to acquaint yourself with the rest of the site.
| October 21, 2009 @ 10:46 am
search for “oath keepers” at orcinus (dneiwert.blogspot.com), i see they got a mention over at “united states of earth”:
The powderkeg had a short fuse, which Obama was more than happy to light. American citizens were not sheep like the citizens of Britain, who allowed their government to take away their right to bear arms, and Americans would not go quietly into the night. Even before Barack Obama was elected, the destruction of America was well-planned by the global Marxists and N.W.O. proponents. American citizens were also well-prepared and the Revolution turned out to be one of the bloodiest any nation would ever see. With literally millions of Americans taking to the streets and even facing down Federal troops in Michigan, New York, California, Texas, and Illinois, Obama knew his days were numbered. Admiral Mullen of the Joint Chiefs finally recalled all Federal troops from their remaining posts in American cities after 4,000 soldiers in Michigan, most of them Oathkeepers, turned on and killed the commander Obama had hand-picked for them. This was the 8th incident across America where American Soldiers or Marines dared to follow the Constitution and not obey the Un-Constitutional orders given to them by Obama’s appointed commanders. The Joint Chiefs decided not to be on the wrong side of history and declared that the military would stand aside and guard against any foreign threats during the remaining days of the crisis.
| October 20, 2009 @ 6:20 pm
I can’t imagine what possible use the above post could serve. Maybe I’m missing something; is it in vogue here to post meaningless bullshit in place of actual thinking and deliberate consideration?
| October 20, 2009 @ 10:19 pm
I am an agent, of the tuna. But not regular tuna, tuna with ghosts.
My purpose here is to piss off the people who ask completely retarded questions. Occasionally, I will give a legitimate answer to a good question. But mostly the pissing people off thing.
My favorite sections include:
• LGBT
• Beauty & Style (All those “Am I pretty?” questions are hilarious.)
• Tattoos
• Singles & Dating (That section probably gets the stupidest questions.)
• And occasionally, R&S.
Also, be warned: If you have poor spelling and/or grammar, I do not like you.
| October 21, 2009 @ 6:31 am
the quote is from “united states of earth,” an online massively multiplayer which has users wargame a military insurgency against the federal government. I’m indicating a tribal affiliation.
| October 21, 2009 @ 6:46 am
but to be more specific: yes, you are missing something.
| October 21, 2009 @ 6:49 am
Obvious troll is obvious.
| October 21, 2009 @ 10:46 am
Fascism will come to the United States in the guise of Americanism. At least that’s what I.F. Stones said… and what’s more American than the constitution. And the most right-wing d-bags believe that the constitution is frozen in 1789 and unchangable even if that means we’d still have slaves, woman couldn’t vote and impediants to voting like having to own property or pay a poll would be still legal. The constitution is a living document and should evolve and recognize more liberties for the individual and fewer for the state. The biggest threats imaginable to the Founders were bears, witches and the pot-bellied Apache helicopter – Bill Maher
| October 21, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the very definition of fascism the marrying of government and corporations? What were the bank bailouts, the taking over of GM and Chrysler? The government (taxpayer) controls their shares and pay scales! These actions were ALL blatantly un-Constitutional! It seems to me that asking the guys with the guns (police and military) to KEEP their Oath to the Constitution is EXACTLY what we need to save this country! It amazes me when people lash out without looking at facts AND history. What was going on when police in New Orleans would NOT let citizens leave the city during Katrina? People were shot trying to leave over freeway overpasses! What was going on when police and national guard went door-to-door to confiscate weapons from citizens trying to protect their homes? Were they honoring their Oaths or just “following orders”?
| October 28, 2009 @ 9:09 am
Fascism is a distinct poltical ideology and to just say this or that alone equals fascism I think would be wrong. Just like labeling Obama a Marxist is laughable. The links between corporations and the state are disturbing, but In my own view the relationship between say Haliburton and the government is a better example. Haliburton is building infrastructure and contributing to the war effort in Iraq which is helping bolster the power of the state and in exchange it gains access to a new market and a resource – OIL. This is more symbotic relationship. A win-win profits and power. In the bank bailouts the large financial instutions are getting more out of the deal and the goverment is being attacked for the giveaway. Capital is the winner bolstering falling profits, while it’s lapdogs in the government are losing power to a growing opposition. As far as GM that’s politics Obama wins because helps the auto industry and helps the UAW a Democratic Party stalwart. I’m working on a multi-part article for the site on things that I see as example of fascism and what might be a potential fascist movement in this country.
| October 28, 2009 @ 5:12 pm
What gets me is how much their logo looks like a beer label.
| October 22, 2009 @ 8:06 am
shit! I didn’t think about that. We’re doomed! (Which is to say that, yes I read through the links above, and find this all very troublesome.)
| October 22, 2009 @ 10:47 am
http://oathkeepers.org/oath/2009/10/07/active-duty-troops-in-iraq-are-wearing-oath-keeper-tabs-what-we-are-wearing-while-over-here-in-iraq/
| October 22, 2009 @ 2:23 pm
Wow.. guess I should be really afraid that the military is taking oaths not to participate in a descent into fascism… because that’s actually a descent into fascism in disguise.
God forbid that the military would disobey an order to put me into a concentration camp… imagine if those soldiers in Hitler’s Germany had actually done the same thing and CHOSE NOT TO OBEY THEIR FEDERAL GOVERNMENT?
Wondering what that ‘Oath’ means? It means the oath to preserve and protect the constitution, which is the highest law in the land above and beyond the federal government. It’s our duty to resist laws and orders that defy the constitution, period. Even if the federal government is fairly elected.
But hey I know I’m just being a jerk, I see your reality based point here, that these people are crazy and possibly racist because they actually believe that Obama would ever do such a thing as block off a city into a concentration camp.
Or maybe you are just dealing with your own cognitive dissonance here, insofar as you are unable to put together the reality of robo-cop police using soundguns to squash our constitutional right of free speech, Obama continuing Bush era policies of spying and torture, and meanwhile the country is being raped financially, with your left-right paradigm.
Yeah, most of them probably come from a right-wing background. That makes very little sense considering that its the military and police we are talking about here. God forbid that a right-winger or police or military officer would ever do the right thing.
May the force be with you.
Rob Meade
| October 22, 2009 @ 7:07 pm
As Klint pointed out at Mutateweb.com- why aren’t they disobeying orders in Afghanistan and Iraq or on the streets of America prosecuting the drug war? Read about how they glorify the “three percent” who are going to rise up against (once again) legitimate civilian government.
It’s not about what background they come from, nor is it about “doing the right thing.” It’s about the fact that these people are part of a broader movement which inflames race hatred, and was not engaged in the same anti-government rhetoric when Bush was gutting the Constitution or sending people off to a phony war in Iraq.
Seriously, dude. Where the FUCK were they then?
| October 22, 2009 @ 7:14 pm
Again, where in your links describing the ‘three percenters’ is any rhetoric about rising up against legitimate civilian government?
The comparison is with the revolutionary era, and the portion of the population who opposed an illegitimate tyranny. Not only that, but they did not take up arms until that tyranny took steps to systematically disarm them.
You and I might rely on non-violence and proactive non-compliance to thwart fascism, but I for one am not high-and-mighty enough to say to someone that they don’t have a right to self-defense of owning a firearm while their military is arming itself to the teeth with ray guns and drone hunter killers, and openly preparing itself for domestic warfare and suppression and drilling for it. You want to dispute those facts? Go ahead.
I’m not buying your argument that this is part of a greater movement inflaming race hatred. Not only that, but your argument seems to be copied and pasted off CNN. This is false, because if you are talking about the Patriot movement who lined up behind Ron Paul (who is against the drug war and Iraq war) and come from diverse backgrounds, I know for a fact they were just as opposed to Bush and the war in Iraq. And yes, now the right-winger robots are all coming out for a party.
Your rhetoric is all about basically lumping people in with white supremacists, it pretty much boils down to that. It’s exactly the same thing that the government and media are spouting.
| October 23, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
You ready to to do some research to refute yourself? I looked up Stewart Rhodes blogs and articles and he continuously railed the Bush Administration for the illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, prisoner torture, illegal wiretaps and surveillance, the bogus Patriot Act, the bogus Military Commissions Act with its dissolution of habeus corpus. Do yourself a favor and look it up!
| October 28, 2009 @ 8:56 am
I just remember going to all sorts of anti-war demos and protests and I never saw any off these guys. I saw democrats, hippies, socialist, communists, liberals, veterans and even a couple guys from the ACLU. But oddly none of these guys. Hmmm and there rhetoric sounds oddly familar to Clinton-era one world government conspiracists vowing to fight UN troops when Slick Willy handed them the country. Socialism, federal government, multiculturalsim, new world order, and globalism were their rallying cry ten years ago now they are back. I’m an anarchist but not everyone who is against the government is hero! Should we throw in with the Mafia? or al-Qaeda? or neo-Nazis? Just don’t see what’s so hard to see here. Why haven’t they mentioned anything about AWOL soldiers living in Canada? If they believe these wars are illegal where is the effort to help these guys. What is the ultimate vision the Oathkeepers promise an Ayn Randian capitalist utopia of just enough government to safeguard private property, with liberty and justice to those who can afford it?
| October 28, 2009 @ 5:33 pm
“Start getting scared, but more importantly, start getting organized.”
Fuck that. “Getting scared” isn’t helping us, at all. They want us scared. When we are scared we are paralyzed, unable to act. When we are scared we are much more likely to take orders, abdicating all responsibility to government authorities.
Start getting INFORMED (start getting angry, perhaps) and then start getting organized.
| October 24, 2009 @ 7:09 am