NCJ Number
184294
Journal
Intelligence Report Issue: 98 Dated: Spring 2000 Pages: 16-24
Editor(s)
Mark Potok
Date Published
2000
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This report by the Intelligence Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center documents the rise and current decline of the "Patriot" (militia) movement in the United States.
Abstract
Not so long ago, the Patriot movement was "red hot." Anger over gun control, the growing power of the Federal Government, and stand-offs with law enforcement officers at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco, Texas, led tens of thousands to join Patriot groups, particularly militias. Thousands more flooded into "common-law" courts, which were vigilante courts set up by people who believed they could "asseverate" themselves from government and not be liable for taxes. As is true of energetic social movements in general, the human energy that drives them cannot sustain itself for very long, rarely more than a decade or so. Reasons for the current decline of Patriot groups include loss of energy and sustained motivation, law enforcement crackdown, changing allegiances (the joining of harder-line hate groups), and the trend toward the use of the Internet as the major means of maintaining communication among "Patriots." A major reason for the lack of a sustaining energy and motivation is the ideological focus of Patriot groups on the millennial date change as the beginning of the sudden collapse of Western civilization, with Patriot groups being the primary resource for survival and the maintenance of freedom. When this did not occur, the incentive for participation in these groups lost steam. A State-by-State listing of active Patriot groups in the United States in 1999 is provided, and a map shows their locations in each State, along with the type of group (patriot, militia, common-law).