Americans, since 9/11, have become quite familiar with the threat of terrorism from fanatical Muslims around the world. They are less knowledgeable—and the American government appears less concerned—about the terrorist threat from its own citizens. For decades, there has been a segment of the US population that believes this country faces an existential threat from “tyrannical” government and genetic pollution. There is, in fact, some basis for this argument. The United States began as a white European immigrant population where the institution of slavery was built into the national economy and the original Constitution. We fought a bloody civil war to get rid of slavery, but racism persists more than 150 years later. America is a nation based upon an idea rather than ethnic identity. It is still a country of immigrants, but those immigrants now come from all over the world. The United States is sometimes described as a melting pot; it is actually a mosaic, not necessarily united. Certain groups of citizens who’d like to return us to the 18th Century wear the label “White Nationalists”.
When the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a terrorist bombing in 1995, authorities sought to blame Islamic terrorists. They were surprised to discover that 168 people, many of them children, had been murdered by an average white man from the heartland. Timothy McVeigh’s grievances are, to this day, reflected in the extremist ideology of the White Nationalist movement. Extremism comes from three basic sources: political philosophy, religion, and ethnic nationalism. These beliefs are not inherently dangerous, but they can be corrupted by charismatic leaders into producing extremist ideology that fuels violence. Even terrorism. White Nationalists espouse an extreme version of ethnic nationalism, and some of them are willing to kill in order to advance that cause. They regard McVeigh as a martyr. They see a government conspiracy behind every bush. They believe they are the only true Americans—fighting for their very survival. They are domestic terrorists. Organized and unopposed, they are the existential threat we face.
The second novel of the Jungle Rules Trilogy tells a tale of White Nationalist Terrorism. A More Perfect Union is the story of Gabriele Barnes’s quest to exact retribution for the murder of her husband by White Nationalist terrorists, based in the state of Wyoming. She goes undercover for the FBI with her husband’s best friend in order to gather intelligence on a private militia suspected of operating a covert terrorist cell. This group has a charismatic leader (and several ruthless killers) committed to starting a revolution for the purpose of founding a new nation of white Christians in the northwest United States. Gabriele and her partner penetrate the organization, but soon realize they are in way over their heads. The terrorists plan to attack Silicon Valley with anthrax, hoping to kill more than a million people. They will blame the government and spark a popular uprising. The inexperienced agents must stop the attack—at the cost of their own lives if that is what it takes. At the end of this story there is triumph and love, but there are many more stories to tell. American citizens, both openly and clandestinely, are clustering in groups, glued together by conspiracy theories, gun culture, corrupted Christianity, and hatred of “the other”. I thought the best way to bring this to the attention of the public would be to write a novel. The story takes place in 1999, but the threat of White Nationalism is even higher today than it was then.
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