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And then there was that retired green beret general who bought property in North Idaho, intending to subdivide and sell property to nuttsos like him. He went bottom-up, after making the headlines you read.
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Speaking of hate, I really HATE to dredge-up a thread with a title like this, but I just *had* to comment about this statement here, being as how I had an introduction to a few libertarian principles, through the campaign literature of this "retired green beret general".
Colonel James "Bo" Gritz has been much misaligned in the media, as far-right wackos--oops, I mean small-government proponents tend to be.
James Gritz (pronounced gr-eye-ts) was a four-star general who ran for president in 1992 on the Populist/America First Party. I know, I voted for the man at the tender age of 18. It was the first time I ever heard of any third-party candidate outside of a history class. I attended a rally in Southern Utah where his political platform was presented and a book by a pro-Constitution author was being sold.
According to
D.C.'s Political Report, he was on the ballot in 15 states, including FSP candidate states of AK,ID,WY,MT but it was in Utah (with 3.84% of the vote) and Idaho (with 2.13% of the vote) where he had most of his support.
He advanced such radical ideas as:
-The abolishment of the Federal Reserve
-Eliminating all federal welfare/ social programs
-The unilateral withdrawal of the U.S. from the UN
-Full meaning and significance to the 2nd Ammendment
-Full withdrawal of U.S. troops from interventionist campaigns around the world.
Gritz was called a racist because of his political views, such as supporting tighter immigration controls. He was not a racist, however; nothing was further from the truth, he adopted orphan children from Southeast Asia, and worked with a black community in Wisconsin. The idea that he was a racist was cemented in the public perception when he worked as a negotiator in the Randy Weaver clan stand-off, since he was highly respected among them.
Gritz did, in fact try to start a community full of survivalist/ militia types. Yes, he did choose Idaho because he felt it had the most friends and allies to his cause, and because Idaho is an ideal sort of place for all sorts of people.
Which brings us to the next point, Idaho's reputation for being a hot-spot for survivalist/ militia types. From what I know of the sort pertaining to Gritz and his followers, their only anti-government designs are of the Claire Wolfe ideology.., i.e., 'its not yet time to start shooting the b***rds'.
Earlier in this whole 'which state' discussion, it was said that Idaho does not have any arms manufacturing plant. That might be true, if one ignores a certain factory that produces arms that require federal registration-- you know
those kind, and yes, they have quite a few sales in the region.
So, is Idaho our kind of state because Idaho is such a hot-spot for these types? hmm... like Larry states above, it is more a reputation than any substantive evidence that Idaho is any sort of hot-spot, but undoubtedly, you will eventually meet a survivalist/ militia type in Idaho, and chances are good that as a FSP participant, you will have much in common.
But a note to proclaimed atheists, be discreet about advertising your atheism among them, many people of the extreme paleo-conservative persuasion have a hard time understanding that all atheists are not communists.
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