Right Turns
By Eleanor J. Bader
Facing the Wrath: Confronting the Right in Dangerous Times. By Sara Diamond. Common Courage Press, 1996, 237 pages; $16.95 paper.

"THE RIGHT has consistently rallied around three general tendencies: support for militarism (including domestic police power), traditional morality, and laissez-faire capitalist economics," writes researcher Sara Diamond. The 26 previously published essays in Facing the Wrath explore all of those areas: from the Reconstructionists who support the imposition of an Old Testament-style theocracy "complete with capital punishment for offenses including adultery, homosexuality and blasphemy"; to the Rand Corporation, a federally funded think tank that crafts policies on topics as diverse as military strategy, drug abuse, teacher training and health care; to Free Market Environmentalists who believe that expanded ownership of private lands and resources "will increase environmental integrity [because] individuals, including corporations with the legal status of individuals, will want to protect the price or value of what belongs to them."

Diamond, an intrepid Right-watcher since the early 1980s, also zeroes in on organizations within the anti-abortion, home schooling, anti-political correctness and heterosexual rights movements. Her research addresses well-known groups like the 1.5-million-member Christian Coalition, whose politics veer toward the conservative end of GOP efforts, and introduces readers to less-known writers of apocalyptic novels and essays that are peddled by groups both secular and religious.

One particularly vivid piece of propaganda that Diamond describes pumps up its audience with fear of a homosexual-controlled government out to destroy Bible-believing Christians. In it, four-year-old Heather is taken from her family and placed in foster care. As Diamond describes it, "[H]er teachers identify her as a problem child being home schooled in a right-wing homophobic home. When Heather’s mother refuses to comply with a Family Court order to undergo a Queer Sensitivity Services training session, the child is told she will never see her parents again.

Foot Soldiers
Absurd? Of course. But even here Diamond manages to write about the Right without falling into the tempting traps of ridicule or sarcasm. Instead, she offers a clear-eyed account of the fears and belief systems held by the thousands of foot soldiers who are prepared to act when it is time to cast their votes, lobby their legislators or engage in protests. "My goal," she writes, "has been to give readers a sense of what makes a social movement successful."

And successful, however much we wish to deny it, they are. Diamond highlights ideological differences between particular groups: most support the Republicans as a means to an end, although a significant number eschew party politics in favor of hands-on militias that "reject alliances with elites; similarly, some do outreach to African-American and Latino churches while others are eager to maintain an all-white environment." Yet it is undeniable, Diamond writes, that "the Right has succeeded through a combination of abundant resources, the dedication of moveent participants and some of the advantages afforded by our existing political system."

So what, if anything, is to be done? "At present," says Diamond, "one cannot see on the horizon a progressive movement massive enough to stop the current onslaught from the Right." Nevertheless, she finds room for optimism. Diamond believes that this is a moment of "opportunity, not defeat, [with] growth potential for the left to learn more about how our system works, including the role of right-wing movements."

Whether progressives are up to the challenge is anybody’s guess. Meanwhile, evangelical Christians are on the warpath, and if we don’t do something, they stand to win, and win big. In 1990, 15 percent of voters self-identified as evangelicals; in 1994, the figure was 30 percent. Not surprisingly, the majority support the Grand Old Party.

By the time most of you read this, Election ‘96 will have come and gone. Some will have sat it out as a protest against Democratic duplicity; others will have quietly cast individual ballots. Regardless of our stand on electoral politics, the Right offers an impressive example. Like them, we must organize our neighbors and friends to fight for the things we believe in. Lord knows, our wrath, should we opt to voice it, just might be a force to reckon with.

[War Resisters League Website] [Nonviolent Activist Index]
November-December 1996: [In Bosnia, Politics is Our Obligation] [The Influence of Resistance] [The Process of Change] [Right Turns] [Activist News]

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