Oct 1910 min read

EROSION FROM WITHIN: The Great American Redoubt

W hen citizens think about ‘survival’, it is often in the context of climate disasters, nuclear attacks, the country being knocked into havoc by solar flare. Yet, James Wesley Rawles’ a former army intelligence officer, appealed to conservative Christians and Jews in his Survival Blog ,urgingthe conservative Judeo-Christian American populartion to ‘move to virgin territory and start afresh’. He was motivated by something different, and perhaps far more sinister - a national societal collapse. In 2011, Rawles coined the term ‘American Redoubt’ with regards to the concept endorsed by

2008 Constitution Party presidential candidate Chuck Baldwin, as a ‘call to arms’ aga-

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inst the vigourous political divide emerging within Washington. A Redoubt itself refers to a stronghold or fortress, which is pertinent for the unique characteristics of this movement. Hundreds of thousands of ‘preppers’ as they call themselves, have flocked to the remote regions of the US in search of a self-sufficient lifestyle protected from what they view as the corrupted machinations of the nation’s political reach.

The community is largely situated in North Idaho, more specifically in the town of Coeur d’Alene. In his ‘survival blog’, Rawles, a former army intelligence officer, appealed to conservative Christians and Jews to flock to the havens of which he called The American Redoubt. These havens consist of the states of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana and eastern Oregon, places which appear to the believers as the last of the frontiers of America’s easily defensible terrains.

The Great American Redoubt is one of the most fascinating fallouts of American society. Concentrated primarily in the southern state of Idaho, which historically was a Democrat supporting state, this community of extreme right -wing religious members are bound together by a powerful ideology; that the Democratic party after the victory of Joe Biden in the election results of 2020, is ‘leading [America] down to eternal perdition’. One must remember that 79 million Americans voted for Trump;where would his staunchest supporters go? The January 6 attacks on Washington certainly dominated news headlines, yet the Redoubt symbolised the more covert resistance and rejection of the electoral outcome. Although it is often described as a political migration to the remote states and counties surrounding Idaho, it is driven by something deeper than the ballot box. The semantic building of a fortress away from areas ‘swirling around the drain of liberty’ is driven largely by the fear that democracy in America is hurtling towards a non-existence.

This article will lookspecifically at two implications of the redoubt- its effect on the Idaho property market, and the influence of its leaders through media channels. It also traces recent upsurges in right-wing ‘nationalism’ in the US, and the implications of internal erosion of democratic values, and the belief in these values, on US diplomacy.

Patterns of geographic right-wing extremism in America

The desire to create a Right utopia, however, is not a new concept in American political history. It is traceable to the Lincoln Proposed States in the post-civil-war period, in which the North-western states of north Idaho, Wyoming, North Dakota, and eastern Washington and Oregon were part of a list of state partition proposals. Yet this political ideology has manifested into the discourse of extremist -groups, who see the US’ history as justification to push towards a lifestyle of self-determination. The movement of state lines is indicated in the US Constitution (Article 4, section 3), and has served as the basis for various such movements across the political map. For example, in 1941, ranchers and miners proclaimed themselves the citizens of the State of Jefferson in the California-Oregon border. They were driven by many of the crucial points that underpin the current Redoubt movement, Idaho and Oregon’s more permissive gun laws, restrictive abortion legislation, a community openly critical of blue-collar and blue state politics.

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Some groups even project the Anthropocene as their motivation to erase state lines. The Cascadia Independence movement wants to form a separatist bioregion by challenging federal authority in policies regarding natural resources. Yet the group is led by militias and right-leaning groups, suggesting the mechanism through which they aim to achieve their aim is not bolstered purely by the need to protect the environment.

The Northwest Territorial Imperative was a similar white separatist ideology emerging in the 1970s. Like the Redoubt, believers were urged to move to the Mountain States of Oregon, Montana, and Wyoming, to create a white homeland away from Black and Jewish populations. The origins of this exclusionary project can be seen in the 1844 Oregon Black Exclusion laws, which attempted to expel African Americans from the region. The 1859 constitution of Oregon also estates that ‘no free negro, mulatto or Chinaman’ could participate in the citizenry enterprises of the state.

Ultimately, the effects ofthese movements on the concept of American democracy are fundamental. They are taking two philosophies that have characterised much of America’s foreign policy initiatives throughout history- the Monroe Doctrine, which emphasised America’s unwillingness to engage in European old-world affairs , and the principle of a Manifest Destiny which voiced America’s vision of westward expansion. These national groups have embodied both philosophies but applied them to theirown individual, patriotic motivations. They wantto withdraw not from Europe, but from the nation’s political centre. They do not necessarily prophesize a global migration of conservatives , but an expansion of their values across internal North-western states. The foundations of American democracy are not just eroding the political stability, but it is challenging the contours that have melded much of American history itself.

Real-Estate and preparing for ‘the end’.

The Redoubt movement’s impact on the erosion of the belief in American democracy is presented through the fascinating lens of the Idaho property market. The geographical base wherein many of the members are concentrated are within the mountainous regions of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Oregon. Yet despite the state-wide diversification, the ideology holds the same; the political civilisation emerging from the Democrat Administration is, in the view of the ‘preppers’, unsafe.

Such beliefs have led to the widespread migration of conservatives to the state of North Idaho, which has become somewhat of a sanctuary for these groups. The population of Coeur D’Alene in North Idaho, historically a centre of white nationalist groups such as the Aryans in the 1990s, has more than doubled to 50,000 since the beginning of the century. Migration generally occurs from the Democratic and liberal strongholds of California and New York, which have now come to represent places of fear and suppression of conservative liberties. More significantly, the believers of the Redoubt prophesise the oncoming of an ominous end to the nation, beginning firstly with the states most attached to the Democratic agenda. This pattern of political migration has therefore transformed the destination states of Idaho as a ‘nation within a nation’.

Consequently, Idaho has experienced one of the fastest accelerating property markets in the US. What is truly fascinating is the conditions on which buyers purchase their property. Chris Walsh, the owner of the real estate company ‘Revolutionary Realty’ advertises the ‘self-reliant lifestyle’ ensured by the property, in place of‘corruption taking place of the nation today’. The name of the brokerage itself connotes a radical sentiment that draws in those who truly believe they are part of a ‘Revolution’. This Revolution, taking place through interstate political migration, hopes to detach itself from the threats of administrative ‘corruption’.

A glance at other real estate sellers in the region promote their property along similar lines. For example, a property ad for a multi-million-dollar house in Coeur d’Alene emphasises the “ residentially zoned development land wrapped around a private cove with approximately 600 linear feet of water frontage” within is first lines, as they are aware that this is the true selling point. essentially it reads a more sinister underlying message: this property will protect you from more than just intruders and criminals, it will protect you from the avalanche of democratic stability. A closer look at some of the key features that it highlights, particularly the ‘600 linear feet of water frontage’ serves more than just a descriptive purpose. Realtorsin the area understand that ‘preppers’ are concerned primarily with survival and escape from political modernity’s edge. Abundant water supplies, fertile soil and access to emergency supplies are therefore another element of assurance against the democratic divisions eating away at American mainstream life.

For example, Dan Bradway, who in 2011 moved just north of Coeur d’Alene, describes himself as a political migrant who is convinced that a disaster, whether that be a God- induced earthquake, or a financial collapse requires ‘logical’ like -minded people to voyage away from the liberty-robbed blue states of California and New York.

The remoteness of Coeur d’Alene has another function in the real estate advertising market: It insures defence. People migrating from the liberal states are driven out

primarily by a sense of fear. The nation and rat race of American politics is no longer a source of protection, and Chris Walsh recognises this in the promotion of his property. His buyers, he claims, often ask him about his defensible the property is. Such thinking can be traced back to the coining of the Redoubt ideology in 2011, where a post in the weekly Yer Ol’ Woodpile Report blog quotes the economist Giordano Bruno. It stated that Americans are taking ‘pre-emptive measures’ against a ‘coming collapse’, and that a haven of ‘protective shelters’ is needed to insulate them from this firestorm. This foreshadowing of the return to an almost Hobbesian state of nature re-enforces how the ‘crisis of democracy’ goes beyond political partisanship and state policy; it is, for the believers of the movement, a question of the fate of human nature and their ability to protect themselves from its apparent downfall. It is this sentiment that Real Estate markets in the area can capitalise off.

The media as a weapon

Since the 1990s, far right groups have

been able to strengthen their

networks and visibility using social

media platforms. For example,

Stormfront, an extreme right online

forum, was established in 1995 to

establish and distribute

disinformation through ‘network

brigades. This constitutes the

targeting of direct individuals and

groups through coded communicatingstrategies. Yet the use of ‘mainstream’ strategies by the leaders of the Redoubt suggest

that they feel no need to hide behind implicit coded messages but feel a duty to ‘protect’ as many people as they can from their fears of a crisis of representative democracy.

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The Radio Free Redoubt podcast begins with an almost purge-like announcement : ‘attention patriots’, followed by the sound of sirens. The radio programme thus becomes more a warning announcement, inciting an acute sense of fear and awareness in its listeners through using such sound-effects.

Prior to the 2020 election, the radio show warned its listeners ‘just in case Trump loses, top off your supplies and fuel’, again achieving its goal of heightened paranoia amongst those who choose to tune in, or those who may accidentally come across the show on their radio station. Typical topics that often follow discuss the stripping of the wealth and prosperity of ‘our nation’ by socialist policies, and the threat to citizens’ constitutional rights. This is especially pertinent in the wake of Biden's opposition to the Second Amendment regarding gun laws, which Redoubt supporters believe is not only unconstitutional, but an ahistorical policy. A documentary video conducted by the Times introduces the audience to a staunch conservative Idaho resident, who uses the argument of gun laws emerging from the 1689 British Bill of Rights as Protestants protection against a tyrannical crown, as an attack on Biden's provisions. Radio Free Redoubt latches into such consensus in their podcasts and shows, masking their extremism under the veil of educating their audience. This is certainly a clever tactic. These listeners may be going about their day-to-day chores, driving their children to school, with the radio accompanying them as is often the case. Yet in this case, it acts as more than just informal background noise - it creates an alertness that soon translates into the formation of ideology, and then ultimately, action.

Conclusion

In a 2013 podcast episode of ‘Gods and Guns’, Rawles captured the essence of the ideology that binds together the Redoubt community:I’d like to see the American Redoubt basically be a stronghold of conservative, traditional values while we see the rest of the United States sink into oblivion.”

Although its members claim that their views are a response to progressive states

‘waging war’ against orthodox Christian conservative values, and disenfranchising those

in blue states, the ‘crises of democracy here is more powerful than at first seems. They

feel that civilisation itself is on an inevitable decline. Interestingly, this is not too

different from many left-wing headlines:

‘The Strange Death of American Democracy’ – The Financial Times (28.09.21)

‘The Shaky Pillars of American Democracy’- Brookings (22.07.21)

‘The Crisis of American Democracy is not over’- The Atlantic (08.11.21).

But while these views attest for stronger government intervention and portray the hope

that one day, democratic values of citizens will be restored in place of corporations and

wealthy individuals who threaten the transparency of democracy, the Redoubt-

supporters seem to have accepted that democracy is unrecoverable. It is important to

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note that this did not begin with Trump, but political scientists have traced a gradient rise in right-wing extremism since the Reagan era. Perhaps it is only now, with so much of the economic and geopolitical order in question, combined with the frequent partisan conflict in all areas of policy making (infrastructure, taxes, pandemics, climate change), that the feeling of ‘oblivion’ is entrenched.

Moreover, the Redoubt movement is certainly a dangerous form of right-wing extremism, but it has taken a different form that challenges American democracy from a more sinister angle. What differentiates it from previous extremist groups such as the Aryans and Oath Keepers, is that it voices the feeling of inclusion for all, does not present itself officially as a racist, pro-white organisation, nor has it used physical violence so far as a display of its power. Rather, it is eroding democracy from within through covert ways. It makes use of Idaho and its remote, mountainous regions as a site to ‘protect’ itself from what they see as an inevitable decline of the nation to a Hobbesian state of nature. It has become a site of interstate political migration which affiliates the transition to the specific states as a pilgrimage to a ‘haven’. There are certainly reasons for such incentives; the ‘new war on terror’ as coined by Glen Greenwald after the 6/1 attacks, reveal how the suppression of civil liberties is an act emanating from both the liberal and conservative side. Over 200 protestors and those suspected of any link with the attacks have been shrivelled, imprisoned without trial, and questioned of their credibility to the country. It is these such actions which the members of the Redoubt latch onto, along with their nostalgia of the 1950s, where the population of America seemed, it can be argued, largely united in its economic and political ambitions after the war.

FIN.