Rightwing Extremism’s Next Move: The New World Order of IMF Hegemony?

Joe Wilson’s ‘You Lie’ and the general vitriol recently leveled at the President have invited varied analysis that either claims that current rightwing rhetoric is unprecedented or that it is quite similar to the doctrinaire fury the Clinton administration encountered. Whether the tenor of criticism is the same, there are interesting comparisons to be made between the rightwing extremism of today and that of the 1990s. In fact, a report – ‘Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment’ – produced in April by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis extensively compares these two moments of rightwing fringe politics.

While the report notes that our historical presidential election is one of the main drivers of current rightwing sentiment, the economic downturn and the complexity of our international engagement also account for the categorical opinions of those in the far right and in a way reminiscent of the early 1990s. Under the Clinton and Obama administrations, economic hardship is interpreted as an eschatological harbinger, motivating the right’s extremists to prepare for ‘end times’ by stockpiling ammunition, food, etc.

In light of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh to take place next week, the report’s comparisons between the international climate of the 1990s and that of the present-day may prove even more prescient. The assessment suggests that current rightwing extremism might well exhibit ‘New World Order’ conspiracy theories similar to those that surfaced in the 1990s. The report notes:

“The dissolution of Communist countries in Eastern Europe and the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s led some rightwing extremists to believe that a ‘New World Order’ would bring about a world government that would usurp the sovereignty of the United States and its Constitution, thus infringing upon their liberty. The dynamics in 2009 are somewhat similar, as other countries, including China, India, and Russia, as well as some smaller, oil-producing states, are experiencing a rise in economic power and influence…. Rightwing extremist views bemoan the decline of US stature and have recently focused on themes such as the loss of US manufacturing capability to China and India, Russia’s control of energy resources and use of these to pressure other countries, and China’s investment in US real estate corporations as part of subversion strategy.”

Although on hiatus this summer, the fear mongering about the ‘New World Order’ that a global currency would initiate began during the G-20 Summit in London this past spring. In an interview with Sean Hannity in late March, Dick Morris – once a Clinton adviser, now a Fox News regular – claimed that allowing the IMF to add to the amount of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) available in the global market would be “to put our Fed and our SEC under control, in effect, of the IMF…putting the American economy under international regulation.”

International financial institutions began using SDRs more than 20 years ago as an international financial instrument based on the combined value of strong currencies – now an aggregation of the Yen, Pound, Euro, and Dollar – to assess debt, calculate asset value, and estimate the relative strength of other currencies. I am not going to pretend to understand SDRs, but insofar as this metric cannot exist without the independent currencies on which it is based, it hardly constitutes a ‘global currency’.

Yet, next week we are sure to witness the resurgence of such prevarication about the threats of a global currency to the autonomy and dominance of the US. And that Obama has announced his vision of effective US financial regulation less than two weeks before the G-20 Summit will surely serve to nurture budding financial conspiracy theories.

This summer, rightwing extremists have stifled real debate about the US healthcare crisis by claiming that proposed healthcare reform has revealed Obama’s intention to transform American into a socialist nation, hoping to erase all that is admirable about our country and its regard for individual can-do and know-how. This fall, I wager that rightwing extremists – and the republican politicians that kowtow to their base – will suppress legitimate discussion about how to prevent the next financial crisis by declaring that changing the way the US government regulates our nation’s financial system is a plot to usher in a ‘New World Order’ of IMF hegemony.

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