tfp22

"THE FINE PRINT"

The musings of Michael Schrader

                   MILITIAS AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE
(Written under the psuedonym, "George Steinkrueger",and published in the Neighborhood Journal 7 August 1996. Posted in toto with Preface and Epilogue 3 September 2001)

PREFACE -- The really fun thing about writing under a pseudonym is that it provided me the freedom to write from a different viewpoint than Michael Schrader’s viewpoint. This column was the second of the Steinkrueger columns.
       There were three political columnists in the Journal: Joe Starr, an ultra right-wing Republican; Johnny Dollar, a left-wing Democrat (although not as far to the left as Joe was to the right); and myself, or should I say George, who followed a more Libertarian philosophy. Johnny Dollar, in his previous column, had referred to the members of some of the self-styled militias as “morons”. This column was a follow-up (or if you dare say it, a response) to his, but from a different viewpoint.

        As a result of recent incidents such as the bombing of the Alfred Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, the Freemen standoff in Montana, and the Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta, paramilitary groups and right-wing extremists have come under increasing scrutiny, and increasing attack, by the media. Members of these groups are called "radicals", "morons", "wackos", and "idiots", just to name a few. The impression given by the media is that these "militias" are a relatively new phenomenon, an outgrowth of the twelve years of conservatism of the Reagan-Bush administration and the increasing influence of conservative and often hateful personalities such as Rush Limbaugh. However, these types of private armies have been in existence since the American Revolution.
       When Paul Revere made his famous nighttime right through the Massachusetts countryside, who exactly was he calling to arms? The local militia. There was no standing army, no National Guard; only militias. Militias were independent units; they organized themselves, armed themselves, and many times would fight by themselves. In the eyes of the Americans, the militias were necessary to defend themselves against the tyranny and oppression of government. In the eyes of the British, militiamen were subversive extremists.
       Parallels can be made to the Irish war of independence going on today. The members of Irish Republican Army consider themselves as patriots involved in a struggle to free themselves from an oppressive government; the British, as well as much of the world, consider the IRA to be terrorists and extremists. After all, is not Great Britain a democratic country? Is not Northern Ireland a part of Great Britain? How then, could a democracy be tyrannical as claimed by the IRA? Everyone knows that a democracy cannot by oppressive (as we citizens give the government its power and can take it away). Or can it?
       In 1794, some Pennsylvania farmers formed an army to revolt against what they perceived as the tyranny of the United States government, the tyranny being a tax on liquor. In the eyes of the government, these farmers were insurgents and subversives, and a 15,000 man army was sent to crush the Whiskey Rebellion.
       In 1859, John Brown led a small army to the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, (West) Virginia, in the hopes of capturing the arsenal and its weapons. His plan? To create an army for the purpose of the overthrow of the government, which he considered to be oppressive by allowing slavery in the Southern states. The government hung Brown for treason, yet many viewed Brown as a hero for his attempt to fight the government.
       Throughout our history, then, there have been armed militias, sometimes extremist, that have existed outside of the government and military. These groups firmly believe that they had been wronged by the government and that the only way to right the wrong was through the use of force. Why should we be surprised that such groups exist today? Are we so arrogant to believe that no American citizens feel disenfranchised by the government? Obviously, the members of these militias feel disenfranchised, or they would not be members of these militias.
        Are these militiamen wackos, morons, and idiots? Or are they just frustrated? Are their complaints about the government just some Oliver Stone-like fabrication of the truth, or do they have some validity? I don't know, but I do know that the way to find out is not by hurling insults, but rather listening and trying to understand a different point of view. It may be crazy or insane or ludicrous, but listening never hurts.
       The Whiskey Rebellion, while not successful, did cause Washington to reevaluate the tax on liquor. The rebels got heard. John Brown was executed for his efforts, but his attempt caused a national introspection, which ultimately resulted of the division of the country for four bloody years and the establishment of the supremacy of the Union, as well as the elimination of the "peculiar institution." John Brown did not die in vain; his voice was heard.
        Many of the paramilitary and reactionary organizations around the country want their voices heard, and thus they resort to violence to ensure that we, as a nation, will listen. The increase in domestic terrorism is our hearing check; it's time to listen, America. It's time to reevaluate ourselves. It's time to change what is not working with our government.
       We still have time. Johnny Dollar described the members of these groups are "morons". Luckily, he's right, and that's good. It's not the morons I'm worried about. It's the smart ones, as they could engulf our country in anarchy, much like Hitler and the National Socialists did in Germany before his rise to power as the man to restore "law and order". Some law and order.

EPILOGUE -- I don't know if you have noticed by now, but if you have read the Farmington columns, you will notice a previous reference to Oliver Stone. Let me just say for the record that I do not understand what all the fuss is about, that his movies have not particularly impressed me, and that JFK has to be one the most ludicrous, far-fetched, and completely ridiculous movies I have ever watched. Watching water go down the drain would have been a better use of my time.