Publicola

The Federal Government has been targeting 'domestic terrorists' & with some success.

"The federal government has had remarkable success in (the past year) getting rid of many of the most vocal leadership' of homegrown extremist groups, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism in San Bernardino, Calif.
Last week, David Duke started serving a 15-month prison stint for fraud. Last July, William Pierce, whose book The Turner Diaries is believed to have inspired Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, died of a heart attack. In January, World Church of the Creator leader Matt Hale was charged with soliciting a federal judge's murder."

Let me point out something:

"The federal government has had remarkable success in (the past year) getting rid of many of the most vocal leadership' of homegrown extremist groups...William Pierce...died of a heart attack..."

Are they insinuating that Mr. Pierce's heart attack was part of their success? I'm hoping that was just a poor choice of editing, but as it is written it either proclaims joy over someones fatal heart attack or it implies that the heart attack was caused by the Government.

"The old guard has collapsed; there is a void in (extreme right) movement,' Levin said. Law enforcement has targeted leaders on tangential criminal charges to damage those groups.'The idea is that any time we can nail someone who is potentially dangerous, we do it,' he said. 'It's now a prevention, however you can do it. The heightened response to international terrorism has ensnared domestic terrorists in their net. It's one of the byproducts of 9/11."

It is clear that Mr. Levin believes the ends justify the means. However this is troubling for two reasons: the first being that an abuse of power even against those who deserve it can threaten us all, & the second being that the Feds have been known to view people who merely have strong beliefs about the Constitution generally & the Right to Arms specifically as 'right-wing extremists', which means I'm potentially a target even though I have never committed any crimes.

I'm not a racial supremacist nor do I believe in any separatist ideaology, but because of my beliefs about the Right to Arms, some people would group me in with the previously mentioned groups. That's aggrevating enough when it's just a person at a resteraunt, but when that person carries a badge it becomes a whole 'nother level of inconvenience. This should be a concern to all, but probably won't be noticed by most unless they are the targets of the anti-rightwing extremist efforts.