During his inaugural address, President Ronald Reagan declared:
Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.
The former president’s declaration, made 42 years ago, was nothing new, and today’s Republican party’s mantra continues to repeat Reagan’s sentiment. However, some GOP members adopted an extremist position akin to the anti-government movement.
For example, these extremists took over and changed the Conservative Action Political Conference (CPAC): Instead of being “the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world,” it is a platform used to attack imagined enemies and proliferate lies.
This week, Republican activists and elected officials attended CPAC 2023 in Washington, D.C. Unlike the CPAC of bygone years, this year’s speakers included notorious election deniers, conspiracy theorists, antisemites, and anti-government proponents. According to the event’s website, the speakers are:
2024 presidential hopefuls Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, and Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas)
Senators Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee), Mike Braun (Indiana), Bill Hagerty (Tennessee), Rick Scott (Florida), Eric Schmitt (Missouri), John Kennedy (Louisiana), and J.D. Vance (Ohio)
Representatives Elise Stefanik (New York), Matt Gaetz (Florida), Mark Green (Tennessee), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Georgia), Lauren Boebert (Colorado), Kat Cammack (Florida), Diana Harshbarger (Tennessee), Ralph Norman (South Carolina), Ronny Jackson (Texas), Dan Bishop (North Carolina), Byron Donalds (Florida), Wesley Hunt (Texas), Warren Davidson (Ohio), Scott Perry (Pennsylvania), Greg Stube (Florida), and Ryan Zinke (Montana).
Others include Mike Lindell, Donald Trump, Jr., Kimberly Guilfoyle, conservative authors, radio hosts, and several former President Trump’s administration members.
During a boisterous lie-laden speech, Green warned CPAC attendees about the left “coming for our kids,” she whined, “they [the left] are like bullies, and they won’t leave us alone.”
Interestingly, Greene feels threatened since she bullies everyone who does not believe as she does. She is relentless in her ongoing rant against the left.
As a result, she should feel bullied. America will never forget that Greene supported the attack on the U.S. Capitol and refused to certify the 2020 Presidential Election.
Furthermore, on January 6, 2021, Rep. Greene revealed her integrity deficit when she tweeted about submitting articles of impeachment against President-elect Joe Biden while Congress members cowered for their lives.
Why would the left ignore MTG’s animosity and that of her Congressional buddies? It would be stupid not to pay attention to their rhetoric.
Greene poked at Democrats’ support of Ukriane during the conference. She does not believe Americans should support Ukraine in its defense against Russia’s invasion. MTG belligerently reminded the CPAC crowd of her pledge to end military aid to Ukraine.
She falsely asserted that Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked American soldiers to help win the war.
“No money to Ukraine, and that country needs to find peace, war.” But, then, Greene dramatically stated: “And while I will look at a camera and directly tell Zelenskyy, you better leave your hands off our sons and daughters because they’re not dying over there.”
Apparently, being a bully is perfectly acceptable for Trump’s buddy. So MTG whines about being picked on by the left while supporting Vladamir Putin’s aggressive and unwarranted military invasion of Ukraine.
Moreover, it seems that she forgot Putin suspended Russia’s participation in the New START treaty. As a result, on February 21, 2023, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States ended.
Remember, the Russian president threatened serval times to use nuclear weapons if Zelenskyy did not end his defense against oppression. As an American, Greene should be concerned about Putin ending the treaty, not encouraging his war crimes.
Anti-Government Extremist Organizations
Collectively, the tax protest, sovereign citizen, and militia movements are often called the Patriot movement. Dr. Pitcavage states, “the Patriot movement became increasingly important in the far-right after the end of the Cold War.” Today, only a tiny portion of its members subscribes to white supremacy.
The Tax Protest Movement originated in the 1950s and 1960s and believes income taxes are unlawful. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), their reasoning includes: the 16th Amendment was never ratified, filing tax returns violates 5th Amendment rights, and wages are not income. Moreover, “income taxes apply to Washington D.C. residents and other limited areas.”
Sovereign Citizen Movement: Sovereigns believe that every government entity in the U.S. is illegitimate. Specifically, the government has no authority over them. Therefore, they want to restore a fictional minimal version of the government.
The Militia Movement was initially formed in the 1990s to protest federal gun control measures. This far-right extremist organization comprises armed paramilitary groups whose members subscribe to anti-government and conspiracy-laden ideologies. For example, such as their claim that there is a shadow government they call the New World Order that will strip Americans from their rights.
The Republican Party should be included in the list of extremists. It certainly falls under the anti-government movement category — its members oppose the big brother-style government. Instead, they typically want federal legislation turned over to the states. In addition, many far-right GOP congresspersons aligned themselves with Nativism, Christian Identity, Replacement Theory, and Anti-Immigrant ideologies.
Next: Part III of Dangerous Discourse discusses far-left extremists.