Ideologues Call for Post-Election Militia Revival

As the anti-Obama backlash continues to play out, with new reports of effigy lynchings, racist graffiti and other disturbing incidents surfacing daily, a number of voices on the far-right fringe are calling for a revival of the militia movement, a loose confederation of hyper-survivalist paramilitary groups that claim legitimacy under the Militia Clause of the Second Amendment.

Characterized by “black helicopter” paranoia and militant opposition to government regulation, especially concerning the purchase and possession of firearms, the militia movement has dramatically declined since peaking in 1996. Law enforcement crackdowns, arrests for weapons violations, and frustration among those waiting for the revolution that never came all contributed to that collapse.

But now, with the election of the nation’s first black president, some conspiracy theorists and fringe “Patriot” radio hosts are seeking to reverse that course by calling on their friends and countrymen to arm themselves, organize and head for the hills in preparation for a fast-approaching second Civil War. Their language is remarkably similar to that employed by the more notorious militia leaders of the 1990s.

“My fellow patriots, constitutionalists and citizens of the failing Republic, HELL is staring you in the eyeballs,” said Greg Evensen, a militia sympathizer and former Kansas state trooper whose essays and radio broadcasts are widely disseminated on apocalyptic Christian and militia websites, as well as the nominally mainstream right-wing Web forum NewsWithViews.

“We will no longer argue amicably about politics,” Evensen said. “Those of you who have anointed this socialist, Muslim sympathizing, gun rights hating, Mexican illegals embracing, abortion loving charmer POTUS [President of the United States] … I see you as my enemy. Am I picking a fight? Pretty much. Might as well, one’s coming down the street anyway. You have been warned.”

Evensen’s screed, which first appeared online Oct. 31, five days before the election, concluded with an outright call to arms: “American patriots you need to decide what your battle plans are. You cannot wait any longer. Are you stored up? Are you prayed up? Have you stayed up all night figuring it out? Have you decided that the time has come? Will you stand firm when they shut off your supplies? Will you resist in the cold and the dark? Will you go all the way to constitutional victory? Minuteman and militias were responsible for their own arms, ammunition and supplies. Can you muster with others and provide the essentials? Can you sleep with your back to a tree on cold, wet ground? Can you shoot and then seek good cover so you can survive another shot? When martial law is declared, can you and will you do these things or will you be rounded up by the hundreds of thousands each day? This is the new reality, friends.”

Another prominent “constitutionalist’ and NewsWithViews contributor, Devvy Kidd, declared in a column dated Nov. 10 that “Barack Hussein Obama is dangerous to freedom and liberty,” “Barrack Hussein Obama spits on God’s laws,” and “Our very survival depends on the states of the Union revitalizing the constitutional militias.”

“Forget states like California and New York. Real Americans in those states are outnumbered by the lazy, ignorant mobs who demand more and more from the public treasury,” Kidd said. She identified the states to “concentrate on” as: Arizona, North and South Dakota, Kentucky, Idaho, Montana, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. “I would also like to include New Hampshire whose state motto is Live Free or Die, but over 50% of the voters in that state allegedly voted for Obama,” Kidd said. “Is their motto dead or are there enough real patriots left in that state to get the job done?”

The omission of Michigan from Kidd’s list seems to be a glaring oversight, considering that state is home to a half-dozen of the largest and most active Patriot groups in the country, including the Michigan Volunteer Militia, which posted this message to its homepage last week: “Let it be known that the day after the election, we began the reforming and strengthening of a lawful Constitutional militia, dedicated to preserving our freedom, our Constitution, and our way of life.”

Meanwhile, sales of firearms and ammunition are reportedly skyrocketing nationwide as gun stores hold “Obama sales,” and the survivalist chatter on some right-wing blogs is heating up, exemplified by this post to “Moonbattery,” dated Nov. 9 and signed, “Glenn M. Cassel AMH1(AW) USN RET.”: “One in the belt, one in the hand, one over the shoulder. ATV’s ready to roll, gear packed, food, fuel, ammo stashed in various hillside hideaways. What’s the expression ... ‘guns, gold, gas, grain’? Multiply that by two. But the daily Rosary will do more than all others combined. Pray to prevent formation of The Brown Shirts. I don’t care where your families live, they’d better have plans.”