The Spirit Behind the Militias
by Carl Worden, Liason Officer, Southern Oregon Militia
Back when the FBI murdered Sammy and Vickie Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and then followed up by barbecuing the entire church congregation at Waco, Texas, a significant number of Americans still cognizant of their American heritage went into action.
Prior to those two incidents, the federal government had done some things that were questionable (like Viet Nam) but when they openly murdered their own American citizens in those two incidents, and then covered it all up to the point they defied any citizen or court to do anything about it, the American Militia Movement sprang into being. The fact that any Americans were willing to jump off their couch and form into armed Militia groups ready to oppose the next citizen slaughter took the government by complete surprise, and it scared them. It should have.
I remember back in 1993 when I first understood what happened at Ruby Ridge and Waco. It wasn't anything close to the ideal I knew America was supposed to be. I was also shocked by the fact the Los Angeles Police Department had refused to go into certain hot areas of South Central LA for reasons of personal safety during the Rodney King riots, knowing that innocent
citizens were being attacked and murdered. I also remember how the Mayor of LA ordered that no ammunition be sold -- even to people having to defend themselves because the police wouldn't be there for them. In every way possible, the people's government had betrayed them, and it was up to the citizens to defend themselves. That is exactly what led to the American Militia Movement.
I remember calling my friend Ralph and telling him I was deeply concerned about this turn of events, and that it was time to reform citizen Militia units long since abandoned due to lack of threat. We called a few of our close friends together, discussed the matter, and agreed it was indeed time. The federal government of the United States had violated the Constitution of the United States, and they had gotten so far out of control they were now murdering American citizens, defying constitutional authority, and covering it up.
Up to that point, we Americans had a certain earned faith in our government. We knew and accepted that certain individuals would be employed by the government who would commit crimes and other misdeeds against the citizens, but we also knew that when our government discovered it, they would clean it up by prosecuting the offender and make reparations to the injured. With the advent of Ruby Ridge and Waco, and the cover-up that followed, every scintilla of that former faith in our government dissolved overnight. To this date, not one federal agent has been properly prosecuted for those murders, and no matter how much time passes by, those wounds and grievances will not be healed. Not in our hearts, anyway.
I suppose what separates the people who joined the Militia back then from those who could have cared less, was empathy. Unlike so many of our fellow self-centered, self absorbed American citizens, we empathized with those who were murdered at Ruby Ridge and Waco, especially after we learned the truth of what had actually transpired in those two instances. That kind of
empathy comes from a religious background, which is why just about everyone involved in the Militia Movement holds deeply Christian religious convictions.
Yes, we do have a strong relationship with other true, constitutional Militia groups nationwide, but we all understand that our
responsibility is to our immediate region. The true constitutional Militia groups do not fraternize with the various racist and anti-Semitic groups festering here and there, and we in fact oppose them.
Anyway, it came as a surprise to learn that at the same time we were forming our Militia here in Southern Oregon in 1993, Militias were springing up all over the United States at the exact same time and for the exact same reasons. Something external caused that. We were quite happy living our lives and doing our daily things without these additional burdens. But
when the federal government began murdering American citizens and covering it all up, they crossed a line that seared the consciousness of every good and decent American left out there, who now emphatically state, "You shall not do it ever again without your own blood being spilled", and they know that is exactly what we will do.
