Conservatism redux

Several months ago—October, to be exact—I wrote a well-received piece on a fledgling citizen group in the Bitterroot Valley called Celebrating Conservatism. The story examined the characters and motives behind the group, and called on politicians from both sides of the aisle to question what exactly was going on. Most admitted that yes, CC appeared to be in line with Patriot movement thinking, that shadowy splinter of controversy nuts and Constitution Party supporters often associated with the militia movement of the 1990s.

Since the article ran, I've chased down follow-up after follow-up and kept close tabs on who CC has hosted as speakers each month. I've also kept up on sister groups like Missoula's Conservative Patriots and Ronan's Calling All Conservatives, as well as a tougher-to-track group up in Kalispell. In recent weeks, two members of CC have separately filed constitutional initiatives for the 2010 ballot—the first to allow citizen-convened grand juries and the second to reintroduce Montana's geographic borders into the state Constitution. Both authors cited county- and state-sovereignty concerns, mainstay sentiments of popular far-right speaker and former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack.

Now the issue has officially gone national. At least, it's gone to the national press. New York Times reporter David Barstow wrote a particularly well-reported and lengthy piece on a group in nearby Sandpoint, Idaho, in today's edition. Lee Banville at the Christian Science Monitor's Patchwork Nation blog also tackled the topic this week, focusing on the group in Ronan. The cross-over of Tea Party folk and far-right Patriot thinkers is growing. What concerns that should generate, I don't know. The Tea Party supporters marched in Hamilton on President's Day, albeit in smaller numbers than their march last year. Dollars to donuts some of those faces are the very same ones I glimpsed in October at a CC meeting in Hamilton. The varied appendages of the far right seem to be merging on many common-ground issues. Hopefully the less savory characteristics of some aren't adopted by the others.