Following the pattern of other provocative statements about potential domestic terrorist threats from the Obama Justice Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has issued a statement exposing the threat of “hundreds of thousands” of “sovereign citizens” who can turn violent “at the drop of a hat” during encounters with the police.
Citing three specific cases in three years and a trend of an increase in arrests of believers in individual sovereignty from 10 to 18 cases per year, mostly for non-violent crimes, the FBI declared law enforcement to be “inundated” with threats.
This may be the most exaggerated and offensive example of specious fearmongering to come out of an administration which has been promoting irrational fear of generally harmless groups of citizens for three years. The FBI is taking aim at a huge body of citizens who are increasingly angry about government abuse of power and irresponsibility and attempting to turn them into a movement of dangerous potential terrorists.
These dangerous “extremists” hold such horrific views as “outrage at tax collection,” defying environmental regulations and believing that “the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.” The FBI is identifying them as “sovereign citizens” and is defining them as a members of a movement, though they provide no evidence of organized or coordinated activity beyond just being angry with the government, a characteristic shared by about half the nation’s population.
I would say that the concerns over this threat were excessive, but that’s giving the FBI too much credit. Ridiculous is a more appropriate description. Statistically a three year increase from 10 to 18 cases of mostly non violent crimes associated with anti-government activists isn’t a crimewave. It’s not even large enough to qualify as a validly quantifiable trend. Given the hundreds of thousands of crimes committed yearly it’s far below the margin of error for crime statistics.
The FBI claims that they are “being inundated right now with requests for training from state and local law enforcement on sovereign-related matters.” This supposed demand for a response to a nonexistent threat probably would not be there at all had the FBI not been promoting the idea that average citizens are potential domestic terrorists for years. The FBI is creating bogeymen to justify their own actions and to distract from the government’s increasingly callous disregard for the rights of citizens.
The kinds of concerns which the FBI is using to identify these potentially dangerous citizens are not the hallmarks of dangerous extremism. They are mostly reasonable concerns over the current state of our government held by tens of millions of fairly ordinary citizens who have legitimate reasons to be dissatisfied with government. They are also the same kinds of extreme views which were held by our founding fathers. They are targeting Americans for the crime of being American and for holding to values of independence and self-reliance on which our nation was built.
The one genuine, unifying characteristic of all of these “extremists” is that they are not happy with a government which is spending beyond its means, taxing beyond our ability to pay and which encroaches more and more on our constitutionally guaranteed rights every day. In their statement the FBI is not actually identifying a real threat to public safety or to citizens, they are putting us on notice that public expression of justifiable anger at the government can get you labelled a dangerous criminal or even a terrorist.
This is a tactic intended purely and simply to intimidate and silence the public. They are sending the message that protest is a crime and speaking out against government will not be tolerated. The implications of this statement from the FBI are particularly ominous in the wake of efforts in the National Defense Appropriation Act, the PATRIOT Act and the pending Enemy Expatriation Act to empower the government to take away the most fundamental rights of citizens. As they did under Hoover, the FBI is categorizing people and making lists and if you don’t watch your step they’ll put you in a database and take away your rights.
The goal may be to intimidate critics of government, but they are also showing us why we so desperately need to take our government back before these threats of abuse of power turn into full-fledged tyranny.
A version of this article appeared previously on Blogcritics Magazine
On February 7th, 2012 at 11:56 am
I’ll call you in two years when I retire from the military to start my second career as a political activist. That is if a DOJ targeted war veteran who thinks the government “is spending beyond its means, taxing beyond our ability to pay and which encroaches more and more on our constitutionally guaranteed rights every day.” is still able to enter the D.C. inner beltway.
On February 7th, 2012 at 6:41 pm
If anyone has a link to the FBI statement, will you please post it here. The link on this article goes to another blog and I did not see a link to the original FBI statement. Thank you.
On February 7th, 2012 at 7:15 pm
obama is a terrorist. FACT!
On February 7th, 2012 at 7:39 pm
They have no clue.
On February 7th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
Republicans, and Democrats, liberals, and conservatives these are the tools that for generations those in power have used to divide us. I ask you these issues important as they may be are they the greatest threat to our way of life, or is it those in Washington selling off our democracy to the highest bidder. This is undoubtedly thee most important election in our history. Today we stand at a cross roads. Will we continue down the path of our own demise, or will we restore the prosperity and liberty that have made this nation the hope of the world.. Let there be no mistake this is not a presidential election, but a revolution for the soul of America. We will deliver this nation from the greedy corporations, and big banks that have sought to enslave us. We recognize that what has truly set us apart are the unalienable rights of every individual too make their own destiny. This is not the greatest nation on earth because we agree on every issue, but because we agree we should be free. America your country needs you to restore what has made her great. You must stand up once again as those who have come before have done. Let no one divide us. Let no one stand between you, and your liberty. Our democracy will be returned to the people. A vote for Ron Paul equals a vote for America.
On February 7th, 2012 at 10:13 pm
The FBI made their statements in a press conference. The Reuters story (not a blog) linked to in the article includes first hand quotes from the FBI press conference.
On February 9th, 2012 at 6:50 pm
We have been divided between those the government pays and the rest of us.