Growth Of Right-Wing Terrorism

The chart above is from a new report on right-wing terrorism in the United States. The report was done by the Combatting Terrorism Center at West Point Military Academy, and was released on January 15. I'm sure this will cause Republican heads to explode around the country. A report was released by the federal government a few years ago with a similar finding (that right-wing terrorism is dangerous and growing), but the Republicans raised such a furor that the government withdrew that report. But the truth is the truth, whether the Republicans want to admit it or not.

Note that the chart shows there has been considerable growth in homegrown right-wing terrorism since 1990 (just over twenty years ago). The average number of right-wing terror attacks during the decade of the 1990's was 70.1 per year. But the number of attacks has ballooned in the 21st century, averaging 307.5 per year for the period of 2000 through 2011 -- an increase of over 400%! Clearly, this is a growing problem that must be recognized and dealt with -- not hidden from public view as the Republicans want.

The report says there is not a single movement causing these attacks, but the right-wing terror is coming from three different kinds of right-wing groups -- a racist/white supremacy movement, an anti-federalist movement, and a fundamentalist movement (like Christian Identity groups). But whatever their cause, these groups are encouraged by the current political climate. The report says:

. . .a contentious political climate and ideological political empowerment play important roles in increasing the volume of violence; thus, it is not only feelings of deprivation which motivate those involved in far right violence, but also the sense of empowerment which emerges when the political system is perceived to be increasingly open to far right ideas.

You know the right-wing politicians are not going to like that. The last thing they want to admit is that their ideology and rhetoric has helped the right-wing terror movement to grow and prosper. The Republicans would like for Americans to think that the only terrorist threat is from Islamic fundamentalists, but that is simply not true. Americans face a much greater risk from right-wing homegrown terrorists.