Tuesday, April 14, 2009

You Might Be a Right Wing Extremist If...

-- You are pro-life.

-- You believe in the Second Amendment.

-- You believe in federalism.

-- You believe immigration laws should be enforced.

-- You are a veteran.

-- You are interested in/believe in end times prophecy.


That's all according to a nine-page report from the Department of Homeland Security, warning of "a rise in rightwing activity." Without, of course, citing any actual rise in rightwing activity.



I promised Aphrael that I wouldn't compare Barack Obama to Josef Stalin, so here's a poster of Lenin, instead.

I can't help but think that those who were so concerned about the exploitation of "the threat of terrorism and engaged in rank fear-mongering in order to expressly claim the power to act without any checks or limits at all" should be speaking out against calling people a national threat because they think the federal government should be limited in scope and power.

But are the left-leaning blogs covering this outrage? Only to the extent that they agree with it (see here) or gloat about it (see here).

Of course, we can't expect those on the Left to distinguish between political opposition to bad policies and terrorism. That's too nuanced. But you would think they would consider the hypocrisy of desiring the persecution of political enemies. Then again, maybe not.

CORRECTION: I previously included a reference to "third party bumper stickers" as a sign that you are a right wing extremist. This came, not from the DHS report of today, but from a Missouri Information Analysis Center report, which warned law enforcement officials,
to watch for suspicious individuals who may have bumper stickers for third-party political candidates such as Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin.

It further warned law enforcement to watch out for individuals with "radical" ideologies based on Christian views, such as opposing illegal immigration, abortion and federal taxes.


UPDATE: Janet Napolitano responds.

McQ at Right Wing News makes a point I made repeatedly in the comments of this cross-posted item at CSPT: the report is so vague and overly broad that half of America qualify as "right wing extremists." We should be careful about such language, particularly in today's hysterical political climate.