Crazies, cont.--Gregory Girard

(H/t to TPM):

The Massachusetts man charged this week with stockpiling weapons after saying he feared an imminent "Armageddon" appears to have been active in the Tea Party movement, and saw Sarah Palin, who he said is on a "righteous 'Mission from God,'" as the only figure capable of averting the destruction of society.

As we reported yesterday, Gregory Girard, a Manchester technology consultant, was found with a stash of military grade weapons, explosive devices including tear gas and pepper ball canisters, camouflage clothing, knives, handcuffs, bulletproof vests and helmets, and night vision goggles, say police. They believe Girard, who pleaded not guilty at his arraignment, was "preparing for domestic and political turmoil," and feared martial law would soon be imposed.

This would be the sort of thing I was talking about, if I were talking about that sort of thing. The "Mission from God" trope is a powerful motivator for some--but my best guess is that Palin is really motivated by the Benjamins mostly, with a side-order of power-trip, just judging from how she quit being governor of Alaska to finish up her book and do her tour, and from, well, everything else I've ever read about her.

Now, I don't believe that she all on her lonesome put the idea in his head that the culture war was going to go full-Armageddon. That has been a Christian conservative trope for a long while. But "Armageddon" and "End Times" dystopic visions seem to characterize the darker element of the eliminationist and militia-oriented ethos of the Tea Party movement, and use of those symbols seems to encourage them.

And that's another reason why I don't appreciate "The Plan" I've been hearing about out of Glenn Beck. Our nation was founded by people aiming to free themselves from religious oppression. The Founding Fathers saw what religious oppression was, and did not believe in divinely-inspired kings--they believed in the people. They wouldn't really enjoy the concept of a veleyat-e-faghih for this nation, either. What I'm seeing with what I call "the crazies" is an embrace of precisely the things that I see as being broken about the Iranian system, and exactly the things that I hope the youth movement there overthrows--the arbitrary decision that "God wants...." something. The vision of war impending because "God wants...." The very idea that a government is anything but a creation of human beings for human beings to live better, freer, more productive lives.

And we can all participate without weapons, and without some demagogue, whoever it might be, telling us how. We just learn all we can and vote--how easy is that? We can write letters to the editor. We can confront injustice sometimes by speaking out. We can speak out--like the tea baggers have been doing, without being arrested, or slipped into "re-education camps" or whatever thing they think will happen.

In other words, we can do the American thing we've been doing for over two hundred years. Without leaders on a "mission from God".