Hmmmm...what would Donald "there are no Homeland Security drones coming after me--yet" Sensing have to say about this?

We have a volunteer Army and Marine Crops. If they really want to be miserable in the field, why not join up? MREs in the desert heat are superb dining fare.....

Meh. Why are these guys always out in East bugfuck nowhere?

Show me this sort of thing in a large city, and maybe I'll pay attention.

This movement is a reborth of the Aryan Nations movement of the 70s. Every time the economy goes in the crapper and an anti-business group (democrats) controls Washington, these survivalist militias gain traction with people.

They're generally decent people who are frightened enough by the economy and the politicians in D.C. to want to take measures to protect themselves. As long as they don't try to use force or terrorism when it isn't called for, I say let them do their thing.

I've always thought that self-organized citizen militias should follow certain behavior patterns to avoid unnecessarily alarming the larger citizenry:
1. Separate firearms proficiency training from all other exercises. Masses of stern-faced men openly carrying firearms across public and private lands is disconcerting and intimidating to everyone. Just put a 10-lb weight in your rucksack to account for the missing firearm.
2. Make a concerted effort to train to be an on-call asset to the citizens and the local governments in case of disorder and disaster.
3. Make it completely clear via their training and public outreach that they will be a well-regulated militia that respects and follows the orders of lawful authority, and effectively disciplines their members.

It is the degree in which the economy goes in the crapper. In 1720 the south sea bubble burst and did not end until 1785. (Elliott Wave International) Now look at the economy since the JFK era. Then take a gander at what reasons were given in the Declaration of Independence for seperating from Britian. Anything at all seem familiar?

@John A. Fleming at August 2, 2012 12:36 PM: Masses of stern-faced men openly carrying firearms across public and private lands is disconcerting and intimidating to everyone.

Demonstrably untrue. It isn't disconcerting and intimidating to me.

Ah....our federal government....protecting us from terrorists.....in IDAHO.

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/02/court-upholds-domestic-drone-use-in-arrest-of-american-citizen

Then why do we have the posse comitatus law, and military exercises are almost always on military bases; and if only coordinated well in advance, rarely among the civilian spaces?

It's because in a peaceful civil society, masses of armed men, in or out of any uniform, is a harbinger of rebellion, revolution and riot.

And it will be disconcerting to you, if you are not of them, and they are not of you.

John, did you kiss Obama's ring or his nuts?

@John A. Fleming at August 2, 2012 2:09 PM: it will be disconcerting to you, if you are not of them, and they are not of you.

Not at all. I could hardly feel more threatened by this small armed militia than I do now by the hundreds of thousands of heavily-armed agents of the federal government. These guys never burned down anybody's "compound" or gassed anybody's kids or ran over anybody with a tank or shot anybody's wife in the head for the crime of having unorthodox religious or political views. The feds have done all of those things. These guys believe in God. The federal government is atheistic. These guys never "disappeared" anybody. The feds do it all the time. These guys aren't using invisible flying death robots to track people they don't like. The feds are. These guys aren't going to send a gun-toting badge-jockey with a license to kill to my house if I refuse to pay them a yearly tribute. The feds will.

The current political and social order is disconcerting and intimidating to me. These guys aren't.

As for "rebellion, revolution and riot" -- perhaps we could use a little of each.

" ", you must be new around here. The Usurper is a fomenter of rebellion and revolution, fortunately lazy but yet a wanna-be tyrant. It is my position that our DeclOfIndp and Constitution are the most perfect expressions of governance ever written. They are a treasure to be well-guarded against all would-be Kings. The Usurper would, if he wasn't so lazy, destroy them and make slaves of us all. He is himself, a useful idiot to the would-be Stalinesque mousy little men waiting in the wings to strike, once the chaos he seeks to create reaches a turning point.

I am for a peaceful civil society, with some of our Liberties and Rights secured by enumerated powers We the People have granted to our governments. A society where no one is in control of the future, where no one oontrols another, a society where our prosperity is emergent from our morality and productive efforts. A society where the choice to live badly brings you swiftly to a deserved bad end. And where we remain ready to defend our Rights and Liberties against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

For the jackals and hyenas are always on the prowl, testing the vigor and resolve of the herd. May they always find us a dangerous opponent to attack, and choke on the foul carrion they must console themselves with.

Stuff like this is always so pathetic to see. Grownups playing soldier in the woods like little kids. It wouldn't be nearly as much fun without the camo, an', an' the GIRLS CAN PLAY TOO!

Someday the gummint will send out a couple of fat FBI agents to shut 'em down and they will all fill their diapers.

@ Lorne at August 2, 2012 7:05 PM

You are a fool little one. A fool.

It's not pathetic. It's part of the American culture, citizens who choose for themselves their contribution to uphold a civil society. By making it clear to our powerful servant, that there will be resistance if it tries to become a fearful master.

What I said above: no one is in control of the future, or each other, where each citizen is free to choose the form of their duty to themselves, their family, neighbors, community and nation. And the prosperity and strength of our nation is emergent from the aggregated decisions of millions of our fellows, and not from the always unwise and feckless decisions of a king and his parasite courtiers and men.