Patriot Movement

Origins

Right-wing extremists in the United States have had a long history of domestic terrorism, as well as other ideologically based criminal activity. Much of this activity originated from white supremacist convictions, ranging from Klan violence during the civil rights era to neo-Nazi and skinhead violence in later decades. The rise of the Patriot movement in the United States is significant in that, though the movement cannot be divorced from white supremacy, its ideology is primarily antigovernment rather than racist in nature. Its adherents believe that the U.S. government (federal, state, and local) is illegitimate and they rationalize taking action, including violent action.

The Patriot movement began in the 1950s and 1960s, stemming from right-wing opposition to the federal income tax. Tax protesters did not merely want income tax laws reformed or repealed, they believed the government was taxing individuals selectively and unfairly, and that they could rightfully avoid paying taxes. Tax protesters generated a number of justifications for their claims of immunity, believing that the judicial system was also corrupt for not upholding their arguments in court.

The first group to popularize the notion of the government illegitimacy due to its income tax policy, and which was in large part responsible for the birth of the Patriot movement, was the Posse Comitatus. The Posse was created in 1970 by Henry “Mike” Beach in Oregon and William Potter Gale in California (each claimed to have originated the idea) and spread across the country during the following decade. Initially it was most popular in the Pacific Northwest and in Wisconsin, but by the early 1980s, much Posse activity occurred in the Great Plains. The Posse Comitatus (Latin for “power of the county”) claimed that the county level of government—because it was closest to the people—was preeminent, and that counties could essentially ignore federal and state laws, taxes, regulations, and court orders with which they did not agree. The county sheriff was the key authority within the county, but the sheriff's role was not so much to enforce the law as to obstruct it, insuring that “unconstitutional” state and federal laws were not enforced. Any sheriff who enforced those laws could be hanged by the Posse.

The Farm Crisis and the 1980s

Throughout the 1970s, the Posse Comitatus exhibited low levels of activity, with only occasional standoffs (to oppose a repossession, for instance) or assaults on public officials. In the 1980s, however, the Posse swelled in popularity because of the serious farm crisis that gripped the country. Right-wing extremists targeted desperate farmers for recruitment at the same time that the government was largely indifferent to their plight. The Posse received national attention in 1983, when Posse activist Gordon Kahl killed two U.S. marshals attempting to arrest him. A nationwide manhunt ensued, which ended several months later in Arkansas with another gun battle that killed Kahl and a local sheriff. The Kahl shootouts, however, were only two of a number of violent incidents that occurred around the country, especially in the farm belt.

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