In its Spring 2013 Report, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported the findings of its annual census. "The number of anti-government groups on the American radical right reached an all-time high in 2012," the SCLC reports, "the fourth consecutive year of powerful growth by a movement that is growing increasingly militant as President Obama enters his second term and Congress debates gun control.
The SCLC sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warning of "the potential for domestic terrorism from the so-called "Patriot' movement."
"The climate is reminiscent of the 1990s," writes the SCLC, "when the Brady (handgun) Act and the 1994 assault rifle ban helped spark a militant movement that culminated in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing." The fear and hate is rising again, and this amateur video captures the mood:
The image of Obama as the Joker is followed by sinister images, as the following phrases appear on the screen: "While you were sleeping ... our government went rogue. It plans to disarm you, It plans to kill you ... this is not a joke. Foreign troops are here and ordered to kill Americans."
Fear walks the land, and the Tea Party Patriots are here to package and sell it. The "Development Party" is the Democratic Party, of course. What about party leader "Marcus"? His name means "Mark us."
Mark of the Beast.
For an audience raised on terror and tribulation, the message is unmistakable: Democrats are Satan. Like the little boy in Image of the Beast, we're supposed to understand that it's better to die than submit to them.
"Let our lives be the spark. ..." And why not? After all, they're free. What can you do to them now?
"The potential for deadly violence," concludes the SCLC report, "is real."
Many members of the Tea Party Patriots, and groups like it, are undoubtedly good people who have been manipulated into believing terrible things. Cracks in the group's wall of secrecy have offered glimpses of those manipulators by revealing its relationship with big-money Republican operators.
Mother Jones magazine cited the group's use of "high-priced PR consultants and GOP-connected direct-mail and telemarketing firms," and questioned the IRS status it uses to maintain its secrecy. Rolling Stone ("The Lie Machine," 2009) and Talking Points Memo have evidence that the group was used as a front operation by GOP operative Dick Armey's "Freedomworks" group.
As Talking Points Memo noted, the group accepted Armey's choice for its original logo, which showed a raised fist in front of the Capitol building. "The left thinks we don't understand the connotations of the symbol," said one of the group's organizers, "which we do."
Republican funding would explain "Movement On Fire's" rhetorical finish, which otherwise seems unsatisfying and even anti-climactic. As the video ends we see a blue starry shield draped in a red-and-white sash appear on the screen and then burst into flame. Words appear, their anemic, Republican-friendly phrases a stark contrast to the video's heated imagery and rhetoric: "Fiscal Responsibility." "Constitutionally Limited Government." "Free Markets." Then they, too, burst into flames. The final words appear: "Tea Party Patriots."
We may never know who paid for the Tea Party Patriots' slick and professional video, but we do know that it taps into some very deep -- and very disturbing -- strains in the American psyche. For most conservative viewers it will provide nothing more than one more moment of escapist fantasy. But for those who have been stepped in death and destruction, resurrection and revelation, it may be highly provocative.
Who's behind the Tea Party Patriots? We don't know. Their new logo is a torch, and this film shows that they're still playing with fire.
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