Trouble in River City

As promised, I went to the "Celebrating Conservatism" meeting last night and the best assessment came from my wife who turned to me about a third of the way through and said "We are in deep shit."These people are organized, funded, and well armed. The "master of ceremonies" a tough little cookie named Mona asked the crowd "Who out there is packing?" and about fifty of the five hundred present stood proudly.That's right: 500, mostly working class, some ranchers and small businessmen, families with little kids. ( they do a huge pot-luck before each meeting) In a little town whose Main street is three blocks long! After the prayer and pledge of allegiance, Mona had us "turn to our neighbors" and introduce ourselves and I'm thinking "my name is on last weeks letter to the editor praising socialism".Crap.

I see a half-page ad in todays paper announcing the Grand Opening of Liber Books: Enlightening a Free People.Their motto is: "moving the cause of liberty by strengthening families..." Suggested reading: The Fourth Turning by Strauss, Anthem by Ayn Rand, Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour , they mentioned something called The Minute After? and I saw Glen Becks books on their table. The new owner spoke to the crowd about training the youth, and here she got so choked up with emotion she could barely continue, so they could protect our Liberty and do Gods work.

Mona came back on to describe various committees, Homeschooling, prayer groups, survival skills, combat training, constitution study, there were ten in all, and then the featured speaker was introduced, former Arizona Sheriff Richard Mack. Together with our local Sheriff Jay Prince, he challenged the Brady Gun Law at the Supreme Court and won.Now he is a right-wing darling speaking across the country on states rights, God given rights and border invasions.He noted the article in the Independent I blogged about and went off on how contemptible these "humanistic rights organizations" were for daring to use the name Montana in their title.My wife is on the board.
As it turns out, our last line of defence against the tyranny of the Federal government is County Sheriffs and in a bizarre illustration he suggested that a county sheriff SHOULD HAVE stood up for Rosa Parks,protected her in the front of the bus, taken her to an all white diner and helped her drink from a whites only fountain.

Yeah... but they didn't, actually, the Feds had to come in and enforce civil rights against local racist opposition. Mack decried sending all those tax dollars to Washington although actually our county receives WAY more back than it puts in. He is a sarcastic, sneering, bully but ruggedly handsome and has GREAT hair so you will be seeing more of this guy.He also choked up when speaking of our lost liberty, these tea party folks are true believers and surging.I saw the right wing candidate in upstate New York creamed the Republican and almost beat the Democrat. Look out country, these people mean business! Per my wife's assessment,I only got five people to show up at our IWW meeting!