Since Barack Obama took the oath of office there has been a rise of anti-government extremists. It seems like we hear about some new group being arrested every couple of weeks. Now the FBI is warning about this growing threat:

Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.

These extremists, sometimes known as “sovereign citizens,” believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.

The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.

Routine encounters with police can turn violent “at the drop of a hat,” said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director in the FBI’s counterterrorism division.

But the right seems to want to dismiss this threat. Here’s how Drudge is pushing the headline right now:

Notice how he puts quotes around extremists, as to signify that that really isn’t the meaning?

This has been an ongoing battle from the right. It started in 2009 when DHS issued a report on the rise of right-wing extremism. The GOP was up in arms over it and fought back until the report was pulled. Over at Crooks and Liars, Dave Niewert has been vigilant on tackling the issue. Matt Osbourne even did a video mashup of these stories:

The threat we are facing from our own people is very real and very dangerous, yet we have people in our country who want you to believe no such threat has ever or will ever exist. They forget about people like Timothy McVeigh and Scott Roeder. Instead of turning down the anti-government rhetoric, they amplify it and don’t consider the fact that there are people out there who take the ideas very seriously, to the point of committing such crimes.

Perhaps we are getting to a point where the mouthpieces, who promote such hatred towards our government, start being held responsible. Of course that could have a serious backlash as it becomes a freedom of speech issue. So the best way to combat these loons is for the mouthpieces of the right to start denouncing the actions and fess up to their involvement in promoting it, even if it was innocently.

Or maybe these mouthpieces are just hoping one of these people are successful and then they can say it makes President Obama weak on terrorism?

We are one nut away from another Oklahoma City bombing and that scares the hell out of me. None of us are safe, yet so many of us ignore the fact that the rhetoric we listen to and amplify is fueling the next domestic terrorist attack. Wake up America and demand our leaders and talkers return a level of civility in our national dialog. America is better than that and it’s time to prove it.