Right-wing militias and other antigovernment organizations have received heightened public attention since the Oklahoma City bombing. While such groups are often portrayed as extremists, the values they espouse have influenced mainstream politics and culture far more than most Americans realize. This important volume offers an in-depth look at the historical roots and current landscape of right-wing populism in the United States. Leading political analysts Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons illuminate the potent blend of anti-elitist rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and ethnic scapegoating that has fueled many political movements from the colonial period to the present day. Combining vivid description and incisive analysis, the book examines such groups as the Jacksonians, the Ku Klux Klan, and a host of Cold War nationalist cliques. It traces the evolution of right-wing populism into the electoral campaigns of George Wallace and Patrick Buchanan, the militancy of the Posse Comitatus and the Christian Identity movement, an array of millennial sects, and other contemporary movements. Unraveling the many different strands of right-wing populist ideology, the authors examine the political functions of white supremacist beliefs, hatred of Catholics, Jews, and immigrants, homophobia, and the subordination of women. Throughout, the book presents a nuanced portrait that is true to the complexities and paradoxes of our political life. It contends that right-wing populists are dangerous not because they are zealots on the fringes of society/m-/but because many are average citizens making earnest (though misguided) attempts to challenge existing power relations. Informative and thought-provoking, this book provides compelling insights into where right-wing populism comes from, how it has been fostered by the American social order, and how proponents of equality and social justice might work to diminish its influence.
Introduction 1. Rebellious Colonizers: Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution 2. The Real People: Antimasonry, Jacksonianism, and Anti-Catholic Nativism 3. A Great Mongrel Military Despotism: The First Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Chinese Crusade 4. Barbarians and Plunder Leagues: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressives 5. 100 Percent Americanism: World War I-Era Repression and the Second Ku Klux Klan 6. The Industrialist as Producer: Henry Ford's Corporate Empire 7. Driving Out the Money Changers: Fascist Politics in the New Deal Era 8. From New Deal to Cold War: Political Scapegoating and Business Conflict from the 1930s to the 1950s 9. The Pillars of U.S. Populist Conspiracism: The John Birch Society and the Liberty Lobby 10. From Old Right to New Right: Godless Communism, Civil Rights, and Secular Humanism 11. Culture Wars and Political Scapegoats: Gender, Sexuality, and Race 12. Dominion Theology and Christian Nationalism: Hard-Line Ideology versus Pragmatism 13. New Faces for White Nationalism: Reframing Supremacist Narratives 14. Battling the New World Order: Patriots and Armed Militias 15. The Vast Clinton Conspiracy Machine: The Hard Right on the Center Stage 16. The New Millennium: Demonization, Conspiracism, and Scapegoating in Transition Conclusions Notes Bibliography
