The Decline and Fall of the Minutemen
By David Neiwert Wednesday Nov 12, 2008 6:45am
Zvika Krieger at TNR has a solid report on the demise and dissolution of the Minuteman movement:
In this environment, Gilchrist's movement is falling apart, overtaken by new members whom he describes as "troublemakers with personality disorders and criminal propensities." In contrast, he insists that the group's original members were able to give voice to the immigration concerns of ordinary Americans because they demonstrated "a passionate allegiance to the United States of America and its priceless principles." There is no doubt that the Minutemen--aided by sympathizers in the media like Lou Dobbs--drove the national conversation in 2005. But whether the enormous wellspring of American anger over illegal immigration that they claim to have tapped into actually existed is another question.
However, it's not merely Gilchrist's organization (The Minuteman Project) that's falling apart; so is the other major "Minuteman" outfit, cofounder Chris Simcox's Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.
For what it's worth, I reported on this aspect of the story, as well as Gilchrist's, back in October for The American Prospect:
Today the Minuteman movement is beyond mere disarray; it is in the early stages of complete decay. The arc of the Minutemen's decline and fall happens to trace almost precisely that of previous right-wing populist movements, notably the Klan of the 1920s and the militias of the 1990s. The pattern goes like this: The group is beset by financial manipulators who seem naturally drawn to them. Then, following an initial wave of popularity, the group splinters under the pressure of competing egos into smaller, more virulent entities who then unleash acts of public ugliness and violence that eventually relegate them to the fringes.
The Minutemen haven't quite reached that final stage yet, but they are well on their way. And while that may be welcome news to those who oppose the Minutemen's nativist agenda, that last stage represents some natural and equally toxic consequences.
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David, you've been following these movements for years and know that they never really disappear, just evolve. Any predictions?
The Regressive Party?
What's mainly happened with the Minutemen is the mainstreaming of right-wing vigilantism -- it's been publicly validated by the likes of Dobbs. So what we're likely to see is the leftovers of the Minutemen to evolve into organizations with an agenda broader than just immigration but start taking on other right-wing hot buttons -- particularly gun control. Still, for the foreseeable future, I expect the "they're stealing our jobs" meme to be their chief recruitment tool.
As I mentioned in the story, though, these much more diffuse or "corpuscular" organizations will be more prone to violence themselves, as well as to spawning "lone wolf" violence.
Their wives wanted it longer than just a minute.
The wives would have hit their limit WITHIN a minute. C'mon. They all have moobs and oversized post partum tummies, and an obvious need to lord it over others. I wouldn't stand one of these mopes for a nanosecond.
If these groups really wanted to stop illegals, tell Big Business and their government. Like Jack Cafferty famously said, "Republicans want illegals to work for them, Democrats want them to vote for them."
That is the way to stop it, go after the biz that hire them and dont fine make them do jail time. I like immigration, it is one of the things that make this country great, but it needs to be regulated.
Hits the nail on the head. There is no denying that illegals depress wages and use resources however I don't think we need to be thugish about dealing with them.
(although I suspect that's not how you intended it to sound).
Companies that hire illegals depress wages, illegals are just willing to work at that rate...
Just clarification :D
A great point, thanks CommonSense
I know 'illegals' is an expedient way to describe human beings who enter this country in a way that we consider to be not 'legal', but it's dehumanising.
'Illegal' is an adjective, not a noun.
It ends up being a quick and dirty way, as it were.
The "Minutemen" is just a group of vigilante/xenophobic fucks who blame the Nation's immigration problem on the weakest link(brown people) to this economic crisis.
God, how i wish there was an emoticon from "howling laughter."
I suppose it's worth noting that the Klan has seen a resurgence as of late -- a trend which will undoubtedly accelerate with the election of Obama.
Speaking of the Klan, i must express (at the risk of having my account deleted) my amusement at yesterday's story about the Klan's slaying of a potential member. Sorry, but no pity... at all. I personally am hoping this is a trend that will continue until every one of these racist devils lies stinking in the earth.
These people remind me of Dad's Army. During the second world war, those unfit for service formed what was known as the Home Guard. They patrolled the streets and put out fires started by incendiary bombs. And they stood watch on bell towers and such. They were looked on as a necessary nuisance.
These people, the Minutemen, although they remind me of the Home Guard, do not have the smarts God gave a louse. A nasty bunch of criminal types and hangers on. They strut around proclaiming their love of country when indeed, most of them could use a good bath.
There are always people like this on the edges of society. Misfits. The same kind of person that used to go to dumps and shoot the rats for their kicks.
Do the Home Guard work out of the Home Depot?
Ya know why Home Depot has no lines on Saturday and Sunday. All the Minutemen have to go to the local gunshow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc8EDKkmra8
...that this doesn't happen more often--that these who lives and entire beings are defined by hatred, don't turn that hatred on themselves more often. tragic...
'troublemakers with personality disorders and criminal propensities.' Is this not the fate of every right wing group from the Republicans down? They end up infested with crackpots who are drawn to these groups like bees to honey. At best they fall into disarray or are held together with a neverending supply of these misfits.
Birds of feather... flock together.
And poop on my car.
Here's hoping all sorts of things start self-correcting after these past several years of backwards progress.
I believe when they found the body of General George A. Custer quilled like a Porcupine with Indian arrows, he didn't die with any honor, any dignity, nor any Valor.
I wouldn't doubt when they found George A. Custer an American General Patriot Indian Fighter, he died with a shit in his pants
Actually the morphological studies of thantology shows that many people when they die expel waste suddenly or even ejaculate.
As was previously mentioned, it's likely that the really fringe folks in the Minutemen orgs will gravitate toward the Klan or other hate groups ---- unfortunately.
The whole notion of "illegal immigration" will be moot in the not too distant future as the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) is ramped up. Our dear leaders, along with those in Mexico and Canada, are moving us inexorably toward becoming one big, integrated family, connected by one big honkin' highway right up the middle.
I don't believe it for a second.
You think the rednecks are pissed now that we have a black president...
If the SPP thing happens, then we'd really see them go apeshit...
Call me old fashioned...but I don't want the 3 nations to merge quite that much...I'm all for streamlining trade, but becoming one nation...fuck that.
That will start a war for sure.
I'm not saying I support the idea of creating one "super-duper" NA Union, I'm saying it's well on it's way. NAFTA was the first step and "the SPP thing" already happened, in March, 2005. The US, Canada and Mexico have all kinds of inter-related groups working on various aspects of a future amalgamation - mainly supported by the trade groups and the Corporations.
This stealth "agreement" as well as the stuff being done by all the ongoing working groups, is one big reason why our government has not done anything significant to stop the flow of Mexicans into the US. And, I might add that this current engineered financial crisis will only stimulate the movement toward this alliance.
And, who's gonna' go to war?? All of us USA'ns gonna' gang up with our Mexican and Canadian friends and attack the corporations?? Or, our individual governments??
It's a term farmers use to describe another farmer who is doing alot of labor, ie, farmer's tan. If you think it means they are uneducated as a whole, you are mistaken. Furthermore, keeping guns handy in remote rural areas is not a choice, it's a necessity. There is no law enforcement of note in rural areas. It might take an hour or 2 for a policeman to arrive if you place a call. Animal control takes even longer. Please don't apply standards of city-hive-living to ppl from the country. Not picking on you in particular, just getting tired of it being socially OK to lump all Southerners and farmers into a convenient group.
And it's not from the farmers...it was from union coal miners in the Appalachians who actually went to war with the mine owners who hired Pinkerton Guards (or Wells Fargo) to suppress the union...the union men all wore red bandanas...hence the term "redneck".
Oh, please. Don't fall for this crap.
speaking for the most northerly member of the NAFTA tribe I must say that we can't wait to get rid of universal health care and its' attendant longer life expectancy. We're tired of getting higher ratings on quality of life indices and our miserably short and civil election cycles are downright embarrassing. We have done nothing as a nation to be proud of and look forward to surrendering our sovereignty at the first possible moment. (snark)
As much as I admire the US I am constantly amazed by the number of people who buy into the NA union nonsense. What makes any of those people believe we are anxious to participate? I may like my neighbors but it doesn't mean I want to move in with them.
Well said neighbor!
...as you call it, but the SPP and the other agreements exist.
I'm not a right-wing, anti-immigrant, NAU supporter, merely providing information for the many who are totally unaware that these kinds of "agreements" are out there.
And, also positing ideas about why our government seems to be so reluctant to actually enforce the borders and immigration laws. This agreement, like NAFTA, mostly benefits the large, multi-national corporations - the ones that pay the lobbyists who bribe and corrupt our legislators to pass laws mostly beneficial to them.
So, it may be crap, the SPP and the share the troops agreement may just be innocuous, passing fancies. I suppose we'll find out.....
Mattyroc employs the same strawman that so many on the right do --- that liberals are somehow in favor of illegal immigration. Nobody is in favor of it. What so many people want is rational, fair and humane immigration policies that take into account the reality of the situation--- and the reality of the entire history of human beings. People move to where they can survive. People in the US want labor, and they want to pay as little as possible for it. People in poverty stricken countries want to be able to provide for themselves and their families, and will move to where that is possible, no matter the risk. Finding ways to meet the demand for labor and treat all humans with dignity and provide living wages is the goal.
Actually I never heard of the Security and Prosperty Partnership, but if I remember the debate about NAFTA correctly, it would've removed the barriers for the three partners to cross each others borders. This was sold as a positive.
Ironically, the Mexican government is very gung-ho about protecting their southern border but not their northern.
..but you can just Gogle Security and Prosperity Partnership and read all about it. It was/is an agreement between Bush, Fox and Martin, in March of 2005, ostensibly to "improve security and trade,"
but many see it as the next step in creating the NA Union. Interestingly, it was not publicized at all.
Another agreement that many don't know about is one signed by the Commander of NorthCom (US Army) and his counterpart in the Canadian armed forces back in Februsry of 2008. This agreement stipulated that each country would allow/enable the use of the other's military forces inside the respective countries in order to "quell civil unrest."
Just looks like we're getting ready to be one, big happy family.
Is it that employers can't afford to be pay decent wages, or that it reduces their profit?
You started a club for Racists, xenophobes, and malcontents. Now your shocked (shocked I tell you) to find that your little club is filled with racists, xenophobes, and malcontents?!?
Surprise, surprise...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6_1Pw1xm9U
I think that just about sums it up.
Oh noes, defending the border is hard work!
For such a group of patriots, who have to proclaim their love for their country at any chance they get. They sure do give up when the going gets midly inconvenient.
There's a reason you don't see many people outside fixing their own roads, patrolling their own streets, etc. It costs a lot of personal time, money, and it can get you in trouble.
Of course, you could just petition the government, or try to get your fellow citizens to vote for a government program....
Oh, that's right - that didn't work, either.
It's pathetic when a guy stands on a corner yelling at traffic about all the world's injustices. Sometimes the lonely loonies are right, but mostly they're just loony.
Oh no! So who's gonna maintain their border "fence" now?
"Minuteman's high-tech border barrier called 'a cow fence'", November 7, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/07/border.fence/
about the Minute Man movement, they don't really serve a purpose any longer. With our tanking economy, illegals for the most part are going home, and the flow of new ones have drastically declined. For those that were legitimately looking for a better life for themselves or merely a job to support families in their native countries, the U.S. is no longer that. The price of utilities, rent and groceries are out of control alone and our country is shedding jobs like your Aunt Mae's cat sheds it's hair. In a way that's kind of a fortunate situation arising from disastrous one.
But I ask the question, how is wanting to protect our borders and our country's sovereignty racist?
If they really loved this country, they would have put pressure first on the reason why illegals come to this country: businesses hell bent on cutting costs and maximize profits, by basically shitting on the average American worker.
But that is "hard work" and it is easier to simply have a picnic at the border, drink beer, and shoot at unarmed women and children.
Also, this is a country made by illegal immigration. I am quite certain that none of our ancestors did request proper immigration visas to the native Americans. So it is mighty ironic, for a bunch of rednecks, to complain about illegal border crossing... Specially when the "illegals" can trace their lineage, in the same region, eons before the rednecks even came over.
If they really loved this nation so much, they would be doing something to make it a better place. And that requires actual hard work. I am about done with any redneck, doing something that he likes to do, and then try to paint it as if it was the patriotic thing to do. Want to prove you love this country; do a real sacrifice. Help your fellow neighbor, clean the streets, make it a better place to live, build a better infrastructure, go to school and become the best in your field, have a successful idea, produce a work of art... The social value proposition from a bunch of hicks sitting around, drinking beer, and shooting cans is nil.
A friend of mine worked a job in the 90s going around cleaning floors for stores like Wal-Mart late night/early morning. He said that most of the people he worked with were illegals, many of them couldn't speak any english at all.
...I wish my parents didn't have to pay taxes! That sure would give me an edge over my contemporaries. Damn!
We need to enforce our laws more effectively. That our gov't is less than half-assed about enforcement is just another example of "divide and conquer". Pit us against each other, and we are weakened. Just like telling Dems to hate Reps; Straights to hate gays, etc... Isn't this obvious? Our Gov't doesn't like us very much. It's true that illegals aren't helping our job market or fiscal health, and they are breaking the law. It's ridiculous not to make the fines HUGE for companies that hire illegals. This problem is manufactured.
The Minutemen were outdone by the government thugs of ICE etc, who are still carrying out heartless raids of brown-skinned workers all over the country, in unprecedented sweeps. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that Minutemen types have become cops and ICE agents.
I love speaking Spanish in front of anti-"illegal" types. It really sets them off, especially when I start up conversations with the brown-skinned workers they hate.
I've taught English as a second language to undocumented workers and helped them function in the US, and I love that it pisses off anti-"illegal" types.
Nice!
I mean...not about the ICE raids...
but the other part.
:P
Why should it surprise that they are undergoing the same corruption as the Ku Klux Klowns had when most of the membership of the "minutemen" are KKK members?
And when I say "minutemen", I'm pronouncing it as "my-newt", which is appropriate since they are pathetic little men who couldn't stand up to an illegal immigrant on their own without a gun. Not even an illegal immigrant who is five-foot-nothing with a baby on her back.
Illegal immigration is bad. There should be a law against it.
but my understanding of the term "Minuteman" is that it derived the fact that these organizations are largely composed of aged white males suffering from enlarged prostates who would answer their wives call to arms through the bathroom door: "Just a minute". I could be wrong of course.
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