Misrule of Law

Beware of power-seeking opportunists promoting divisive conspiracy theories and exploiting anti-government paranoia. Are the straw men they erect merely props for their own self-aggrandizement?

Thanks to the Tennessee Star (here)!

I recently watched Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror, the Netflix documentary about the 1995 bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 innocents (including 19 helpless children in a day care center). The cowardly terrorist attack by Timothy McVeigh and his accomplices was timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the conflagration in Waco, which some anti-government extremists regarded as an act of war against innocent civilians. Detonating a crude but effective truck bomb made out of agricultural fertilizer and diesel fuel—similar to the one depicted in the far-right tract The Turner Diaries–was McVeigh’s idea of “retribution.” McVeigh, who was executed in 2001, never expressed remorse for his actions.

I vividly remember the OKC bombing, the 51-day showdown with David Koresh and his Branch Davidians, and the prior tragedy involving Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge in Idaho. (Weaver was ultimately acquitted of most charges; the federal government paid him and his family $3.1 million for the loss of his wife and son, who were killed by an FBI sniper.)  These events provide a timely reminder of the dangers of extremist rhetoric. As Yeats prophesied a century ago in The Second Coming, dire things happen when the center doesn’t hold; things fall apart, anarchy reigns, and worse:

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Political movements are neither monolithic nor static; they change over time. The Republican Party of 2025 is different than the GOP in the era of Lincoln, Eisenhower, Nixon, or even Reagan. One thing, though, has remained constant: There has long been a divide between the “establishment” wing and the populist/conservative wing of the party. In 1964, the divide was between the factions supporting liberal New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and those supporting conservative Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater. But in GOP circles there has always been a sharp distinction between “conservatives” and the nutty fringe. Even Goldwater, who famously proclaimed in his speech accepting the GOP presidential nomination that “extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” kept his distance from the cranks in the John Birch Society, such as Gen. Edwin A. Walker.      

National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr. exiled the JBS from the mainstream of the conservative movement after JBS founder Robert Welch absurdly accused President Dwight D. Eisenhower of being a “dedicated, conscious agent” of the Soviet Union. This type of kooky extremism is not new. Radical abolitionists precipitated secession—and hastened the Civil War—when they applauded John Brown’s bloody massacre in Osawatomie, Kansas and failed insurrection at Harper’s Ferry. Prior to Pearl Harbor, some America First isolationists flirted with pro-Nazi sentiment. At various times during our history, fringe theories have demonized Catholics, Freemasons, Jews, and other groups.  

Even today, pundits on the right spew specious fringe theories such as the belief that the moon landing was staged (as part of a satanic plot!), that Winston Churchill caused WWII, that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, that the attack on the World Trade Center on 9/11 was an “inside job” (or that the attack on the Pentagon that day didn’t happen), and various anti-Semitic narratives involving the state of Israel and Jews worldwide. These fringe theories are not just promoted by now-bankrupt crackpots such as Alex Jones; sadly, they are also the currency of Candace Owens, and guests on widely-viewed podcasts hosted by Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.

Many fantastical conspiracy theories are unabashedly propagated by a conservative activist in Tennessee who aspires to elected office. This same activist, as well as other grassroots groups in Tennessee, recklessly promote plainly-unconstitutional fringe theories advocated by the John Birch Society. Tennesseans should be deeply suspicious of charlatans peddling such fare. Many responsible Republican elected officials have condemned these fringe theories, but extremist rhetoric continues to resonate with some credulous grassroots activists. Ordinary citizens are understandably skeptical of government officials after the botched response to the Covid pandemic. Distrust was heightened by the widespread abuses resulting in Joe Biden’s dubious victory over President Trump in the 2020 election, the perfidy of the Biden administration, and the unprecedented lawfare by Democrats against Trump and his attorneys leading up to the 2024 election.   

Unfortunately, crackpot theories are easily and widely disseminated in the age of social media. The blogosphere abounds with podcasters and aspiring influencers who imagine that the cacophony of discord they generate contains the wisdom displayed by pseudonymous Founding Fathers writing as Publius in The Federalist Papers. It does not. Crank rhetoric sows confusion and breeds paranoia. Just as a million chimps banging at typewriters will never replicate Shakespeare, a host of kooks on the internet will never be able to make their delusions and paranoid schemes become reality.

Even worse, the ambitious charlatans on the right concentrate their fire completely on Republican elected officials, instead of focusing on combating the spread of left-wing policies in Tennessee’s cities. Nashville, just up the road from the noisy beehive in Williamson County, is largely ignored. As Lincoln warned, quoting Mark 3:25, a house divided against itself cannot stand.  Fomenting division within the Republican Party for purely selfish reasons weakens the conservative movement. In politics, unity and consensus are essential.

Self-styled “experts” lacking credentials or accomplishments should be regarded with distrust, and their simplistic “solutions” should be scrutinized carefully. Glib patter is no substitute for logic and common sense, particularly when even their supporters acknowledge that these self-proclaimed “experts” think that they know more about the Constitution than they actually do, are overly-aggressive, and lack adequate understanding of the legislative process and the compromises inherent in passing laws. Not all of Tennessee’s seven million residents are passionate conservatives, and political outcomes (in the form of legislation) sometimes reflect this. Compromise is the price we pay for living in a pluralistic society.

In my opinion, the worst aspect of the rhetoric spawned by the far-right is reducing Tennessee GOP politics to a dichotomy between marching in lockstep with the self-proclaimed (but unelected) “conservative” voices or being condemned as a “RINO.” After living in Blount County for over five years, I’m very familiar with elected officials who falsely claim to be Republican. They do this to hoodwink gullible voters into electing (or re-electing) them to the county commission or other local offices. They are in truth Democrats, or simply apolitical functionaries seeking to keep the taxpayer trough full for their families and cronies. What some demagogues denounce as “RINO” in Tennessee is in reality the mainstream of conservative politics (including school choice, right-to-work, and civil justice reform).  “My way or the highway” is not an effective political slogan.

To smear the super-majority of Republicans in the General Assembly (and the Governor, and the Attorney General) as “RINOs” for personal political gain is a contemptible display of cynicism and bad faith. It is also a cheap stunt that is calculated to mislead and demoralize the Republican base in Tennessee, who are told—in effect—that their entire state government is rigged against them. This is risibly false. As a lifelong conservative, I moved to Tennessee—from Texas–in 2019 because I felt it was the best-governed state in the country, and, if anything, state politics have only improved in the meantime. Conservatives continue to flock to Tennessee.

Show me another state that has lower taxes, less regulation, less debt, or a better legislature, judiciary, and attorney general. You can’t.  If the noisy pundits who constantly criticize their state government think things are more congenial elsewhere, they should move. Otherwise, they should work with Team GOP in Tennessee to make the Volunteer State even better, and stop condemning everything the GOP leadership does. It smacks of opportunism and self-aggrandizement. Not to mention petty vindictiveness over losing a primary election to Sen. Jack Johnson in 2022.   

Finally, the grassroots should stop listening to the siren song of fringe nonsense from the noise makers who promote division (while soliciting contributions!). Don’t fall for the scam. Our common enemy—in Tennessee and nationwide—is the Democrats. If mainstream conservatives in Tennessee would unite and work together—instead of fighting against each other—we could become a national example of principled GOP governance.