Dear Minuteman Guy

I haven’t heard from you in a while and am wondering just what the deal is. I don’t know what you are up to these days but, as always, I have some new thoughts to share with you so I thought I would begin rather than waiting to hear from you with one of your wild and kooky reader’s responses.

I know you had your say in Arizona in April. That is the American way, is it not? You get to pull off some crazy stunt to make a point and you did it. You got some nice press coverage. You captured the hearts of all of those at Fox News’ but it is now time to stop and get on with your life. Enough is enough.

The last I heard, your fearless leaders have split, why I do not know, and have gone their separate ways. I have also heard that chapters are forming everywhere. But is that really necessary? I mean, have you thought this through? Isn’t it time that you did a little self-examination of why you really want to kick anyone out of America who has brown skin and black hair?

Some have called your group a “Patriot Movement”. I think I have heard one or two of you call yourselves that as well. Self-proclamations are nice when you have nothing better to do and want to have an empty and meaningless existence-I understand that! I also understand your premise that you are primarily motivated by social and economic concerns (yeah right, who really believes that one. Oh sorry, that was judgmental). But now, come on, it is self-examination time is it not? Let’s get real. It is time to “fess up”.

Are you not predominately a bunch of white guys who constitute a right-wing populist movement in the United States, who have suffered economic and social reversals in your personal lives, and are now mimicking the Western European Populist movement? If you get really honest with yourselves, you might want to consider that,

“Hans-Georg Betz, in his study “Radical Right-wing Populism in Western Europe” noted one common theme among the contemporary right-wing populist movements in Europe was xenophobia and racist scapegoating of immigrants and asylum-seekers.”[1]

I know that this might a little hard to swallow but you need to listen. The first step, as you know, in dealing with a problem is to admit that you have one.

“Betz argues that generally the right wing populists in Europe distanced themselves from open affiliation with the violent far right such as neo-Nazis, avoided obvious and overt racism, and presented themselves as willing to make “a fundamental transformation of the exiting socioeconomic and socio-political system,” while still remaining within reformism and claiming to represent “democratic alternatives to the prevailing system.”[2]

Isn’t that you? Does that not describe you, Minuteman Guy, to a tee?

Betz also observes:

**Right-wing populist movements attract a disproportionate number of young white men.
**Some participants are the “get the government off my back” lackeys.
**Others are the xenophobic and ethnocentric nationalists.
**You support candidates who unite with you to blame the current administration (whoever that might be) as the source of all your woes.

In addition, while all this is most definitely the case, are you not mostly a bunch of disenfranchised white guys feeling pretty powerless at the thought of impending globalization? Do you not see globalization as a further erosion of your already-lost power base? Is this, Minuteman Guy, the true reason for all the commotion you’ve been instigating all over the country? Are you not trying to regain the glory days of lost dominance? You don’t where or how you fit into the scheme of things anymore!

Do not despair. It is OK to admit this. We have all had our moments of making complete fools of ourselves. You can get past this. You might want to ask your friends for an intervention. Maybe they could invite a shrink or two (or three or four). You can get past this and get a life. You can adapt to the fact that Mexico is NOT going away no matter how long you sit in the desert with your walkie-talkies, lawn chairs, and your nine-millimeters strapped to your hip (for all those dangerous rattlesnakes, no doubt).

Sincerely,

Your friendly “Observe and Report” Columnist

[1] http://www.publiceye.org/conspire/clinton/Clintonculwar8-33.html
[2] Ibid