1,430 Domestic Terrorist Groups

I have been a member of the Southern Poverty Law Center for years. Since 2000, it has been publishing an annual list of hate groups and antigovernment groups (which are similar to hate groups) in the United States. In 2023, it listed 835 antigovernment groups and 595 hate groups, totaling 1,430.

For me, those numbers are shocking because I have always believed this country is the best place in the world to live in. I have visited over seventy countries, five of which were communist, two were dictatorships, and one was a theocracy. I’m hanging with the United States of America.

Even though a large segment of our country wishes to establish an authoritarian theocracy, I strongly believe that a group of Trump supporters will back off if he pushes too far toward his goal of becoming our first dictator.

The hate group patterns are interesting. From Virginia up the Atlantic coast, there’s a large number of antigovernment folks. It could be because of their proximity to Washington, DC. Florida is also a hotbed for antigovernment groups, which might be due to Northeasterners moving south.

California also has its share of antigovernment and hate groups. I notice that most of the antigovernment folks are in the northern part of the state, while the hate groups tend to be in the Southern California coastal areas. My perspective is that the big cities tend to be very open and welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ community.

I was surprised that Mississippi has only one antigovernment unit and two hate groups in total. In my visits there, I found it to be a hotbed of hate.

Why do people join antigovernment groups? My guess it that primarily, members are male, work in businesses with government regulations, or have some beef stemming from an altercation with the government. About fifty of these groups are militias whose members like to act like macho big-boy soldiers.

A few years ago, I had a discussion with a relative who badmouthed the government, so the next day I sent him a list of about 150 things that the government does for us and suggested that he stop using the streets, sidewalks, post office, emergency services, police, firefighters, waste management, and so on. He didn’t talk to me for a year.

I admit that the government isn’t perfect (I worked in and with it), but I also believe that good government is a necessary part of a strong democracy.

The largest group of hate organizations is the White Nationalists, who believe only white people know how to rule. For me, most hate is rooted in ignorance. Instead of learning about other races, religions, and sexualities—or even studying the history of slavery and accepting that the South lost the Civil War—the White Nationalists let hatred rule their lives. I see fundamentalist Christianity as being responsible for much of the antigovernment mentalities and the hate because its Jesus is a narrow-minded bigot.

All the above information points to one clear fact: our country has too many insecure males who seem easily threatened by any kind of difference and are willing to dedicate their lives to feeding their hatreds rather than learning alternatives, such as the one Jesus suggested—unconditional love.

I’d be interested in hearing from my readers as to why you think our great country is filled with so much violence and hatred. As we have seen too many times, they seem to go hand in hand.

PeaceLoveJoyHopeKindness

Bil

Get my book at Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon!

P.S. People often ask me provocative questions about current events, both religious and secular. I have found that some of these questions are being asked universally. I’ll be periodically alternating regular articles with one of those questions and my answer. I invite you to send me your question to bilaulenbach@yahoo.com.

 

Photo courtesy of the Southern Poverty Law Center