# Militias and Extreme Right: inextricably linked

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [September 1, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031 "2003-09-01T23:09:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031/21 "2003-09-02T18:45:58Z")

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The liberal mindset is equally as likely to include the belief of being a persecuted minority. I had quite an earful of such talk back at college.

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**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031/22 "2003-09-02T19:42:39Z")

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Maybe part of it is that right wing anti-government armed groups are more likely to call themselves “militias”, due to the influence of Posse Commitatus and the county/state sovereignty movement among the right wing?

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**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031/23 "2003-09-02T21:50:27Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Dogface \*  
> The liberal mindset is equally as likely to include the belief of being a persecuted minority.

True, but your stereotypical lefty is going to complain of being persecuted by corporations, not by the government. And AFAIK, there aren’t any militia groups that say we need to destroy corporations while embracing the federal government.

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**Author:** ![Ptahlis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a8b319/32.png) [@Ptahlis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ptahlis)\
**Post date:** [September 3, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031/24 "2003-09-03T02:11:21Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by rjung \*  
> \*\*True, but your stereotypical lefty is going to complain of being persecuted by corporations, not by the government. \*\*

I don’t know that I buy that. The political left has a history of representing themselves as fighting for “persecuted minorities” in the realm of civil rights, affirmative action, gay rights, and so forth. I’ve read a lot about the erosion of civil liberties by the Patriot Act, most of which seems to come from the left. DMCA restrictions, the erosion of fair use rights, and the suborning of copyright limitations are common complaints that the government is squeezing the common folk (albeit at the behest of their corporate owners, the MPAA, RIAA, and Disney.)

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**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\
**Post date:** [September 4, 2003, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/militias-and-extreme-right-inextricably-linked/199031/25 "2003-09-04T07:13:38Z")

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> [@](#):
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> \*Originally posted by Soup\_du\_jour \*  
> \*\*The FARC in Columbia could be characterized as a militia, and are assuredly _not_ right wing. \*\*

Columbia University has a militia?

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