The federal government is often said in militia circles to have made wholesale seizures of power, at times by subterfuge. A leading grievance holds that the 16th Amendment, which authorizes the federal income tax, was ratified through fraud.

Holding our own government to account for the use of its power is, in my view, the highest mission of a U.S. news organization.

Obama's ascendancy unhinged the radical right, offering a unified target to competing camps of racial, nativist and religious animus.

Barton Gellman Quotes