Right-Wing Populism in America Too Close for Comfort

by Berlet, Chip; Lyons, Matthew N.

• ISBN13: 9781572305625
• ISBN10: 1572305622
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-11-02
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

This important volume offers an in-depth look at the historical roots and current landscape of right-wing populism in the United States. Ill uminated is the potent combination of anti-elitist rhetoric, conspirac y theories, and ethnic scapegoating that has fueled many political mov ements from the colonial period to the present day. The book examines the Jacksonians, the Ku Klux Klan, and a host of Cold War nationalist cliques, and relates them to the evolution of contemporary electoral c ampaigns of Patrick Buchanan, the militancy of the Posse Comitatus and the Christian Identity movement, and an array of millennial sects. Co mbining vivid description and incisive analysis, Berlet and Lyons show how large numbers of disaffected Americans have embraced right-wing p opulism in a misguided attempt to challenge power relationships in U.S . society. Highlighted are the dangers these groups pose for the futur e of our political system and the hope of progressive social change.

Author Biography

Chip Berlet has written about right-wing movements for over 20 years, with bylines in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Progressive, and scores of other publications. He is senior analyst at Political Research Associates in Somerville, MA, and editor of Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash. He has contributed articles and chapters to several scholarly books and journals and his media appearances and citations as an expert include Newsweek, National Public Radio, and Nightline.

Matthew N. Lyons is a historian, activist, and writer whose work has focused on systems of oppression and social movements. He is research associate for the Hansberry-Nemiroff Archival, Educational, and Cultural Fund, and author of The Grassroots Network: Radical Nonviolence in the Federal Republic of Germany, 1972-1985.

[Update note as of 12/01:] Matthew Lyons lives in Philadelphia, is an archivist at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and received a Master of Library
Service from Rutgers University in 2001

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(19)
Rebellious Colonizers: Bacon's Rebellion the American Revolution	19	(14)
The Real People: Antimasonry Jacksonianism, Anti-Catholic Nativism	33	(21)
A Great Mongrel Military Despotism: The First Ku Klux Klan and the Anti-Chinese Crusade	54	(16)
Barbarians and Plunder Leagues: Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressives	70	(15)
100 Percent Americanism: World War I-Era Repression and the Second Ku Klux Klan	85	(19)
The Industrialist as Producer: Henry Ford's Corporate Empire	104	(17)
Driving Out the Money Changers: Fascist Politics in the New Deal Era	121	(29)
From New Deal to Cold War: Political Scapegoating and Business Conflict from the 1930s to the 1950s	150	(25)
The Pillars of U.S. Populist Conspiracism: The John Birch 175 Society and the Liberty Lobby	175	(24)
From Old Right to New Right: Godless Communism, 199 Civil Rights, and Secular Humanism	199	(29)
Culture Wars and Political Scapegoats: Gender, Sexuality and Race	228	(19)
Dominion Theology and Christian Nationalism: Hard-Line Ideology versus Pragmatism	247	(18)
New Faces for White Nationalism: Refraining Supremacist Narratives	265	(22)
Battling the New World Order: Patriots and Armed Militias	287	(18)
The Vast Clinton Conspiracy Machine: The Hard Right on the Center Stage	305	(18)
The New Millennium: Demonization, Conspiracism, and Scapegoating in Transition	323	(22)
Conclusions	345	(8)
Notes	353	(64)
Appendix A: Sectors of the U.S. Right Active in the Year 2000	417	(2)
Appendix B: The Producerist Narrative Used in Right-Wing Populism	419	(2)
Bibliography	421	(52)
Index	473	(26)
About the Authors	499