CAJ Note–Professor William A. Jacobson has been working to expose the far Left political agenda of the SPLC on his blog LegalInsurrection:
“…The Southern Poverty Law Center once served a vital role in shutting down Klan groups and dangerous white supremacist groups. Morris Dees endured death threats and was a heroic figure in the struggle for civil rights.
“But as with many focused organizations, the SPLC is a victim of its own success. The reason to be of the SPLC no longer exists. The Klan and other such groups are virtually non-existent. The threat to society is from two sources, lone wolves or very small groups of people, as to which the SPLC cannot be effective, and Islamic extremists, as to which the SPLC appears not to care.
“For a long time, my best estimate is that it was well over a decade, I regularly donated to the SPLC. I stopped those donations long ago, as the SPLC drifted from its original mission into left-wing politics. Take a look at the Blogroll at SPLC’s Hatewatch blog; it is populated almost exclusively with left-wing bloggers and George Soros-related left-wing organizations…
Go to his site, LegalInsurrection, to read the whole thing
Meet the ‘Patriots’
Southern Poverty Law Center
4/20/2010
The Enablers
One reason the resurgent antigovernment “Patriot” movement is taking off so quickly is the support for many of its central ideas that comes from ostensibly mainstream figures in politics and the media.
These men and women have helped to put key Patriot themes — the idea that President Obama is a Marxist, that he and other elites in the government are pushing a socialist takeover, that the United States plans secret concentration camps and so on — before millions of Americans, many of whom actually believe these completely false allegations. Whether these people tell such tall tales because they believe them or simply because they are willing to shamelessly pander for votes or ratings, is anyone’s guess; but the noxious effect on the body politic is the same. Here are profiles of four such characters:
100% American
Michele Bachmann, 54
When it comes to spreading fear of a menacing federal government infested with anti-American elements, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann can give even the most paranoid militiaman a run for his money.
The two-term Republican representative for Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District has used her office as a megaphone for outrageous claims and conspiracy theories that in the past wouldn’t spread far beyond the firing ranges and obstacle courses where militiamen and other antigovernment “Patriots” gather….
The Ringmaster
Glenn Beck, 46
With his weepy, chalkboard-scrawling appeals to Americans fearful that their government is leading them down the path to ruin, Glenn Beck has rocketed up the ladder of conservative icons and is using his popularity to directly shape a far-right resurgence…
…In an open letter on his website last November, he wrote that in the coming months he would unveil “a 100 year plan” developed in conjunction with “some of the best minds in the country that believe in limited government, maximum freedom and the values of our Founders.” He also announced a series of conventions that would immerse participants in “topics ranging from self-reliance, community organizing, the economy and how to be a political force in your own neighborhood and country.”
Beck’s own group, the 9.12 Project, states that it caters to “like-minded Americans looking for direction in taking back the control of our country.” In the same statement, Beck writes that “this is a nonpolitical movement.” But his 9.12 Project has spawned dozens of loosely affiliated chapters preoccupied with the direction of Washington, D.C…
…Fox Pox
Andrew Napolitano, 59
…Napolitano, a former state judge in New Jersey, appears on several Fox shows and is broadcast on any given day over the television, radio and the Internet. He was scheduled to be the keynote speaker this past February at the first annual Tenth Amendment Summit in Atlanta, but was snowed in and never made it. He missed out on rubbing elbows with neo-Confederates, conspiracy theorists and antigovernment Patriot activists.
It seems the TV judge is vying to become a fixture on the far-right lecture circuit. He was also scheduled to address the 2010 New Hampshire Liberty Forum, a gathering of self-described “pro-liberty activists” who are striving to “cut the size and scope of government by about two-thirds or more.”…
To read these complete descriptions, and to find out who else is on the group’s list, go to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
H/T Judge Andrew Napolitano
