Rise of Extreme Right Anti-Government Groups Seen at Health Care Protests

Interview with Chip Berlet, senior analyst with Political Research Associates, conducted by Scott Harris

The town hall meetings held by congresspersons and senators in their home districts over the summer recess have been a magnet for right-wing activists opposed to President Obama's plan to reform the failed U.S. health care system. Supported by Republican Party officials, conservative talk show hosts and some sectors of the insurance and health care industry, protesters have made outrageously false claims that reform legislation will force the euthanasia of senior citizens, mandate abortions for handicapped fetuses and abolish the nation's private insurance companies. Some activists have compared President Obama with Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, while others have attended recent presidential events carrying firearms and making both blatant and subtle calls for violent resistance to what they call "creeping American socialism."

The incendiary language and conspiracy theories that are helping drive the right-wing response to health care reform in 2009 share many of the same radical views that fueled the McCarthy era of the 1950s and the militia movement of the 1990s. With America's first African-American president in the White House, white supremacist and violent religious groups have increased their criminal activities and recruitment.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Chip Berlet, senior analyst with Political Research Associates and author of the recent report titled, "Toxic to Democracy: Conspiracy Theories, Demonization, & Scapegoating." He examines the militant protests seen at health care reform town hall meetings and their connection to America's wider extreme right movement.

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