From the KKK to the Tea Party and Sarah Palin
Posted on January 11th, 2011 by iwaller
America For Purchase
Terrorism is the systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population in order to bring about a particular political objective. It has been practiced Republicans, the religious right and right wingers for more than 100 years in the U.S.
And for more than 100 years America sadly has a very long history of hate, racism, and bigotry all authored by white militant people beginning in 1866 with the establishment in the South by the Ku Klux Klan, a white supremacist organization which was composed entirely of white, Anglo-Saxon, protestant ‘Christians’ male and female who believed the white race and their form of ‘Christianity’ were superior to those of every other ethnicities and religions in America. This organization used acts of terrorism including murder, lynching, arson, rape, and bombings to oppose the granting of civil rights to African Americans. They were anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, and opposed the immigration of every race they did not view as “racially pure.”This group was brutally corrupt and immoral using the tactics of intimidation and fear and Biblical quotes to justify segregation or extermination of so-called “lesser races. They were all mostly white men and a few white women who hid under the cover of darkness and dressed in ‘drag’ of white sheets to cowardly hiding their identities to terrorize ‘blacks.’ They believed all non-Caucasian people were inferior and had no place in America.
They also believed that whites must maintain racial control of America and keep all people of other races and religions from gaining power. They elected representatives to Congress and were responsible for securing the first KKK member, Hugo Black, to the US Supreme Court in 1939.
After Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Act on April 20, 1871, the Klan continued its terrorism but over time and after some Klan members were finally prosecuted for murder, rape and extortion, their membership began to slightly decline.
White Protestant nativist groups revived the Klan in the early 20th century, burning crosses and staging rallies, parades and marches denouncing immigrants, Catholics, Jews, blacks and organized labor.
During the civil rights movement for equality in the1960’s, there was a surge of Klan activity including bombings of ‘black’ schools and churches and against black and white activists in the South.
Rising from the ashes of the KKK, white militia groups sprang up continuing the terrorism and buying into a pure white race mentality.
In the dawn of the 21st century, millionaire radicals like Dick Armey, Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and a host of other right wing activists launched the Tea Party groups. The Tea Party Express, Americans for Prosperity and other groups bill themselves as a grass roots movement however they have been bankrolled and supported by some of the most radical anti-American ‘Republicans’ this country has ever seen. Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has funneled money into political campaigns that run as teabaggers supporting the Tea Party agenda.
The Tea Party supports racial oppression and inequality, it is a modern day KKK without the white robes, but who disguise themselves behind shadowy internet walls avoiding their multi-million dollar financial disclosure, preying on the ignorant, uneducated and uninformed which is the exact same logic the KKK used in recruiting poor farmers and rural white families throughout the South in building Klan membership. Many of the teabaggers’ families had roots in the KKK and have continued from one generation to the next.
As with the KKK, the Tea Party at most uses violence and at the very least incites violence to enforce their beliefs and fill the coffers of the wealthy who organize and fund these hate groups. Their goals are the same as the KKK, to implement racial control, inequality, erode the rule of law and instill terror as a key component to accomplish their end game which is complete power and control and to influence elections.
Another commonality between the Ku Klux Klan and the Tea Party include the use of the American flag, a cross and a Bible, all tools of their manipulative trade. Much like the plantation owners who selectively read the bible to justify slavery, the Conservative selective interpretations of our founding documents unsurprisingly tries to validate their Teabagger ideology.
The not-so-on-the-fringes of the Tea Party are religious right groups lead by Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, D. James Kennedy, Rod Parsley, Jimmy Swaggart, John Hagee, Franklin Graham, Tony Perkins, Ted Haggard, Rick Warren and many others. Their goal, in concert with the Tea Party is to create a theocracy to establish dominion, or control over society in the name of God. In past years the religious right has used the Republican Party as the vehicle to advance their agenda on American, just as the Tea Party uses the Republican Party today.
It wasn’t that long ago that Rev. Steven Anderson called on God to kill Barack Obama, and encouraged a member of his congregation to protest an Obama speech by carrying an assault rifle outside the venue.
The Tea Party rhetoric is further fueled by some of the highest judges in the land, Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia and Sam Alito who, in violation of their ‘oaths’ attend right-wing fund raisers and support Tea Party candidates.
The Tea Party has expanded the hate and bigotry of the KKK, even though they still hold the KKK mantra being racist, bigoted, anti-black, anti-Jew and anti-Catholic; they are now anti-gay, anti-Hispanic, anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, homophobic and Islamophobic and incite violence into the political discourse in the U.S.
These are the true characteristics of the modern day KKK, the Tea Party. They are not the god-loving group they purport to be, they do not believe in God’s message of loving all people nor do they believe in the U.S. Constitution that ‘all men are created equal.” David Neiwert wrote a telling article title “We are at War”: How Militias, Racists and Anti-Semites Found a Home in the Tea Party.
Tea Party Leaders include some of the following:
Sarah Palin is the queen of vitriolic, hate-filled rhetoric, a vicious bigoted racist who described Barack Obama’s win over Hillary Clinton “So Sambo beat the bitch!”
Sarah Palin’s continuation of inciting violence included a “target map,” she released in March of 2010, which featured gun crosshairs superimposed over her target’s districts on a United States map. Ironically U.S. Rep Gabrielle Gifford and 14 others were gunned down at the ‘target’ Palin highlighted on her ‘map’ of crosshairs. With a righteous uproar from ‘the people’ for Palin’s reckless actions, white supremacist Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, emailed his Klan to blame ‘leftists’ for the Arizona shooting, defending Palin and the Tea Party.
Andrew Sullivan recently penned “One of the constants in Sarah Palin’s worldview is violence. You see it in her reality show where most wildlife is immediately identified as a threat to be guarded against or killed. You see it in her inflammatory language, and the ways in which she corrals supporters to sometimes shockingly violent threats. You see it even in completely innocuous Facebook postings on sports. Just check out this Palin stream-of-consciousness on, yes, March Madness.”
Gabrielle Gifford’s recent teabagger Republican opponent, Jesse Kelly, held a campaign to “shoot a fully automatic M16” to “get on target” and “remove Gabrielle Giffords .John McCain supports this type of rhetoric saying “Those are fine. They’re used all the time.” (But only by Republicans and Teabaggers). Palin has become so out of control with inciting violence even the US Secret Service blamed her over the death threats against the President of the United States.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, Liz Cheney, Michele Bachmann, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Eric Cantor, Glenn Beck, John Boehner, John Cornyn, John Kyl, Lamar Alexander and a host of Republican politicians and right wing pundits all supported Palin’s violence inciting gun crosshair picture; all are Tea Party supporters!
Rep. Michele Bachmann when opposing legislation compared Washington, D.C. to “enemy lines” and urged her supporters to become “armed and dangerous” and fight a “revolution”. These types of extremist statements from Tea Party Republicans can only lead to more of these very sad events which occurred in Arizona with the shooting of Rep. Giffords just as they did with the KKK.
Who can forget Republican Tea Party Sharon Angle said “If we don’t get our way politically, let’s start shooting!”
John Boehner said that Rep. Steve Dreihaus (D-Ohio) “may be a dead man” because he voted in favor of President Obama’s health-care overhaul. “He can’t go home to the west side of Cincinnati,” Boehner told The National Review.
Republican Tea Party candidate Jerry McNerney from District 11 in CA posted on Facebook in May 2010 “If I could issue hunting permits, I would officially declare today opening day for liberals. The season would extend through November 2 and have no limits on how many taken as we desperately need to ‘thin’ the herd.”
“I tell people don’t kill all the liberals. Leave enough so we can have two on every campus – living fossils – so we will never forget what these people stood for.” – Rush Limbaugh, Denver Post, 12-29-95.
“We’re going to keep building the party until we’re hunting Democrats with dogs.” – Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX), Mother Jones, 08-95.
A classic comment fomenting the KKK platform: “Two things made this country great: White men & Christianity the degree these two have diminished is in direct proportion to the corruption and fall of the nation. Every problem that has arisen (sic) can be directly traced back to our departure from God’s Law and the disenfranchisement of White men.“ – State Rep. Don Davis (R-NC), emailed to every member of the North Carolina House and Senate, and reported by the Fayetteville Observer, 08-22-01.
See the Violence timeline from the past two years after the activist right wing majority U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2008 in favor of the National Rifle Association saying individuals have the right to take violent action against our own U.S. Government; radical judges encouraging the overthrow of America.
Make no mistake today’s Tea Party and Republican allies, like their KKK predecessors before them, are actively engaged in a class war with the aim of creating a modern state of serfs and white lords by tearing down the U.S. Government at all costs, using the same tactics of the KKK and white militia organizations.
When members of Congress encourage extreme rhetoric, and where Rupert Murdoch’s stable of demagogues at Fox News use code to whip up racial hatred and violence, they heavily influence vigilante and mob violence by people who are easily manipulated. Remember in February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with attorneys for Fox News that “there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States” and the U.S. Supreme Court agreed. Ironic that teabaggers and the rightwing refer to all news organizations as ‘liberal media’ but Fox News admits in court they distort and falsify the news! Too prove this point, Fox News chief Roger Ailes told his newscasters to “shut up, tone it down” and “make your argument intellectually” immediately after the Arizona shooting.
For more than two years, sensible people have been pleading with their fellow Americans to tone down the rhetoric, to quit with the demonizing, to end the fear-mongering.
In what kind of country, the sensible people ask, do political leaders across the board not condemn a sign at a rally that reads: “We left our guns at home this time”?
In what kind of country do people show up at presidential speeches with guns on their hips?
In what kind of a country do callers to radio shows routinely smear those with whom they disagree, beginning with our president, as “traitors” and “un-American,” while pandering hosts say only, “Thanks for the call.” Why in this country does main stream media such as CNN and MSNBC pander to ideologues that spew hate and racism and are allowed to do so without any ethical code to call them out. (Fox news entertainment does this daily for its Tea Party followers). Why does CNN join hands with the extremist Tea Party Express for the 2012 elections which nullifies CNN’s claim they are ‘fair and balanced’?
America must be reminded about the little mentioned and ugly aspects of the real Tea Party Movement and the threat they represent to all Americans who believe in an inclusive Democracy where all are equal, and all have a voice.
Overwhelmingly today, the fear-mongering and demonizing flow from the right wingers aided and abetted by cable TV and talk-radio hosts. They may represent only the irresponsible fringe of conservatism and the Tea Party in America, but they are drowning out the thoughtful voices of the vast majority of the people. We have seen this ‘party’ before from the KKK, just because they change their wardrobe does not mean they have changed their views.
The Department of Homeland Security recently published a detailed report titled “Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment. It leaves no doubt the danger and harm being done to America, not by the Taliban or foreign terrorists, but by rightwing and Tea Party extremist whose sole desire is to see the overthrow of the U.S. Government and destruction of American Democracy.
Also see ‘The Wrath of Fools: An Open Letter to the Far Right’ by William Rivers Pitt, sent to Palin-lovers, Fox “News,” the “mainstream” media, and the Far Right, et al.
Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’
“There is nothing patriotic about hating your government or pretending you can hate your government but love your country.” ~ Bill Clinton
We can now add King and his witch hunt to this list. The tea party republicans are stirring up the ghost of the past to destroy a free America and bringing back the Ghost of Adolf Hitler as well! I DO NOT see much difference in the tea party republican play book then the book Hitler wrote himself!
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