untry to live up to itself, and by their own failure to explain how this can have happened" (Kelly, 1995, p. 67).
Among the most active paramilitary extremist groups in the United States are the Militia of Montana, the Aryan Nations, and the Michigan Militia Corps. The Militia of Montana was formed in 1992. The organization maintains a high profile and aggressively seeks expansion of membership. The Aryan Nations, organized in the mid-1970s, is a white supremacist organization that has experienced a resurgence of interest, with membership spreading from three to 18 states in 1994 alone (Newsweek, 1995, p. 38). The Michigan Militia Corps boasts 12,000 members; it, too, has recently gone public to increase membership. These and other militia groups have either been linked to hate crimes or have espoused the inevitability of armed conflict with the federal government. Although most militia groups publicly deny involvement with the Oklahoma City federal building bombing in 1995, many members privately express pride about the catastrophe and consider Timothy McVeigh a martyr (U.S. News, 1995, p. 44).
The white supremacism of some militia groups has distinct religious undertones. A number of groups are affiliated with the Christian Identity movement, which contends that European whites are the Biblical chosen people of God. These extremists claim that the Bible supports their contention that Jews are the children of Satan and that blacks and Asians are "mud people" with animalistic origins.
Although reliable data on the number of paramilitary organizations in the United States are difficult to obtain, the Center for Democratic Renewal estimates 100,000 members in about 30 states (U.S. News, 1995, p. 38). Enclaves of militia activity are found most frequently in lower-income, rural white communities in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, and West. The coalition of militia groups in the United States is loosely connected by th...