The Cultural Foundations of the Modern Militia Movement

When Timothy McVeigh lit the fuse that fired the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, OK on April 19, 1995, most Americans asked, "Why?" "Why," people wondered, "would anyone do such a thing?" This paper explores the way(s) in which key dimensions of American political culture support and inspire the kinds of hate and paranoia that culminated in Timothy McVeigh's horrible act. It is based on social movement theory's insight that challenges to the established order are informed by and shape the broader culture in which the challenge is pursued. Thus, in order to explore the relationship between culture and the militia movement, this paper focuses on militia ideology, circumstances of militia formation, and organizational structures. Each arena is shown to relate to and derive from the general character of public American political culture. Cumulatively, the cultural place of the militia is one of self-described individualists struggling against cultural opponents--the representatives of the New World Order. As Americans, militia members insist that only their specific brand of individualism is "real" Americanism. Thus their disputes with the federal government are not disagreements of policy, or interpretation, or degree. They are culturally-based conflicts over the meaning of America.