Richard Mack, a former sheriff of Graham County, Arizona, has spent the last three decades vociferously opposing what he perceives as federal excesses and admonishing about burgeoning autocracy. Although he retired from the sheriff’s office in 1997, his activism did not subside. Mack initiated the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association in 2011, a platform that would echo his particular ideology.
His organization is underpinned by one cardinal belief – the idea that the power of a county’s chief law enforcement officer, the elected sheriff, is supreme. From his standpoint, a sheriff can, and should, act against federal agents who are ostensibly infringing on the Constitution’s tenets. This marked a profound ideological move designed to counter any efforts that would undermine states’ rights or individual freedoms.
“Even the U.S. president lacks the jurisdiction to order any changes within your territory”, he once exclaimed to a summit of about 100 anti-statist ‘patriots’ and ‘strict constitutionalists’. This gathering, convened at Valley Forge in 2010, was organized by individuals who were ardently combating the ‘New World Order’.
June of a recent year saw federal troops move into Los Angeles, an action authorized by the then-president, which was promptly on my mind. This move, which included the federalizing of the California National Guard in order to support ICE raids, was direct affront to California’s Governor, Gavin Newsom. Mack’s history of potent opposition towards the government, from objections against gun control laws and public health mandates to his links with anti-establishment militias, was vivid in my memory.
Such a standpoint, surprisingly, has seen significant adherence. From 2009, my work has been largely oriented around tracking right-wing factions, tea party sympathizers, the Bundys, and other sects that have mounted significant resistance towards the federal structure and the Democratic party. The common thread appears to be constitutional language, which these entities use to cloak their dissent.
Protracted research on extremism, tackled by Mark Pitcavage at the Anti-Defamation League, has uncovered a fascinating trend. He’s been tracing the U.S militia movement’s evolution and identified a seismic silence from these anti-statist groups and militias during the Trump administration.
In the annals of U.S political history, myriad anti-statist groups and militias have held a perennial mistrust against post holders from George H.W. Bush’s era to the tenure of Barack Obama. Pitcavage compellingly notes, ‘Trump was the first major party nominee that the militia movement has ever supported.’
Pitcavage continues to express his astonishment at how these fringe groups embraced Trump. Contrary to their historical pattern, they admired him as a presidential candidate and continued to support him throughout his presidency. He observes a stark paradox – actions that would have been vociferously opposed had they been taken by Democrats or Republicans were largely ignored when undertaken by Trump.
It’s a peculiar political bind that these groups found themselves in, their traditionally anti-government sentiment seemingly softened or redirected under Trump’s administration. Their silent acceptance, even approval, of actions they would typically rail against represents a significant shift within the U.S. militia movement.
The post Richard Mack’s Fight Against Federal Overreach appeared first on Real News Now.
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