Ivan Star Comes Out
By Ivan Star Comes Out Native Sun News Correspondent
Why are Republican voters, politicians, and the far right groups behaving like they’ve lost their ability to think and behave in a humane and rational manner? Their obvious hatred and violence seem to be guided by some sort of abnormal mental condition, like unresolved trauma from childhood resulting in deep-seated feelings of insecurity.
Their actions are usually baseless and their aggression is aimed at instilling fear and they are certainly dangerous to the rest of society and we must treat them accordingly because they are capable of injuring or killing. I can’t help but envision a “Wizard of Oz” type of arrangement every time I see these people doing their thing. At any rate, they seem to be adhering to an off-the-wall ism.
Other factors may have contributed to such behavior. For example, “…all men are created equal…” (Declaration of Independence, 1776) refers to male European colonizers only. Also, the U. S. Constitution did not champion equality until the 14th Amendment was ratified on June 8, 1868. This granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves, and guaranteed equal protection of the law.
Obviously, these people are trying to revive the dark “glory days” of their ancestors prior to the Civil War. Their game is not restricted to the southern “Jim Crow” states anymore as they nearly succeeded in seizing the federal government. They do control some of the states (South Dakota is one them), having infiltrated local governments, law enforcement, and judiciaries (Judges/Attorney Generals).
Now, they are working openly to control the U. S. Supreme Court. They certainly did not like the 1954 Supreme Court decision that desegregated schools in the former confederate states. They are also disgracefully pursuing voter suppression. Obviously, they have a need to rule over “people of color.” Adding to what boils down to acute psychosis, these people believe they belong to a “superior race.”
Their entire design and drive for dominance appears to have occurred haphazardly. In reality, they have been pushing their vulgar doctrine for a long time. It is certainly not a secret as we have witnessed their calculated, enraged, and violent actions via social media. Also, major media outlets have been impaired. The Civil War (1861-1865) may have abolished slavery on paper but it did not end their distorted ideology.
So who is keeping this archaic school of thought alive? Let’s begin with the Grand Old Party (GOP). It was founded in 1854 by Republican opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (5-30-1854), which would have allowed for the expansion of slavery into the western states. Voters were to determine if slavery was to be allowed. Bloodshed followed when pro-slavery voters sneaked into Kansas.
Initially, the Republican Party supported economic reform and classical liberalism while opposing the expansion of slavery. Andrew Jackson created the Democratic Party in 1828 and stood for individual rights and state sovereignty, imperialistic expansion, and opposed banks and high tariffs. In a basic sense, those roles have obviously changed hands as Republicans are now pro-slavery and Democrats are anti-slavery.
The following is a glimpse of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). In 1865, a group, including many former Confederate veterans, founded the first branch of the KKK as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee. In the summer of 1867, local branches of the Klan met in a general organizing convention and established what they called an “invisible empire of the south.”
The KKK extended into almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the then Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for black Americans. Its members waged an underground campaign of intimidation and violence directed and white and black leaders.
Although congress passed legislation to curb KKK terrorism, the “Klan” had already realized its primary goal – the establishment of white supremacy – fulfilled through Democratic victories in state legislatures across the South in the 1870s. By the 1920s, Klan membership exceeded 4 million people nationwide.
Following a period of decline, white protestant nativist groups revived the Klan in the early 20th century, burning crosses and staging rallies, parades and marches denouncing Catholics, Jews, African Americans and organized labor. The civil rights movement of the 60s also saw a surge of Klan activity, including bombings of Black schools and churches and violence against Black and White activists in the South.
Next is the John Birch Society. In 1945, Birch, a Baptist missionary, and a U. S. Army intelligence specialist was killed by Chinese communists in the Northern Province of Anhnwei. Robert H. W. Welsh, Jr., established the right wing organization dedicated to fighting what it perceived to be the extensive infiltration of communism into American society.
The group was organized with 11 members but grew to nearly 100,000 in the 1960s receiving annual private contributions. The society revived part of McCarthyism, claiming unsupported accusations of a vast communist conspiracy within the federal government. It remains active today seeking to “expose a semi-secret international clique whose members sit in the highest places of influence and power worldwide.”
The Oath Keepers, founded in 2009, is one of the largest radical anti-government groups in the U. S. today. Its membership is comprised mostly of present and former law enforcement officials and military veterans who pledge to fulfill the military and police oath to “defend the constitution against all enemies, foreign, and domestic.”
It appears good and proper at first glance, until one sees that its driving force is based on baseless conspiracy theories about the federal government working to destroy American freedoms. It encourages its members to resist orders which they believe violate the constitution. Claiming a membership of 35,000 as of 2016, the Anti-Defamation League has estimated a few thousand.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, and other groups that monitor domestic terrorism and hate groups, describe the Oath Keepers as “extremist” and “radical.” The FBI describes it as a paramilitary organization… “a large but loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government has been co-opted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”
Actually, these groups gained membership and quietly “co-opted” the government, the press, law enforcement, and voter rights. Hitler and other dictators did the same things. Instead of conspiracies of communism, they now use socialism. There is much more to learn about this unfortunate situation. However, it is beneficial to know even a little bit of what is happening around us today.
(Ivan F. Star Comes Out, POB 147, Oglala, SD 57764; 605-867-2448; matonasula2@gmail.com)
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