There's a whole lot of eliminationist and violent rhetoric out there in right-wing world. I don't know how seriously to take it, to be honest. I mean - do they really think there's all this willingness to take violent action against the government out there? I don't see it, but I'm a crazy liberal who likes Barack Obama.
My own impression is that, for the most part, these are couch-potato warriors. They were all through the Bush years, and now they are just transferring all those bloody wet dreams back home from Iraq. While it is true this kind of rhetoric and these beliefs spurred on Timothy McVeigh, for the most part, these yahoos are so dumb I'm surprised they know how to open their bags of Cheetos without reading an instruction manual. They think reading Tom Clancy and watching Saving Private Ryan qualifies them to know about all sorts of military stuff. I have some news for them - a paint ball gun isn't the same thing as a rifle.
The difference between now and the 1990's should be easy enough for anyone to spot - our country is, in many ways, on the verge of collapse. The vast majority is looking to the federal government for help. While it is very frustrating at times, things are being accomplished. We have just lived through eight years of right-wing world, and with the country, our political and physical and even Constitutional infrastructure in tatters, is ready for balance and moderation (which, being of the lefty persuasion, is not where I'm at even if I recognize the legitimacy of the majority's preference). All those goofballs writing about revolution (typing one handed, of course) are more a source of amusement than anything else. I doubt most of them would do more then shoot themselves somewhere that might at least prevent them from procreating.
Doesn't mean we shouldn't keep an eye on some of them. We should also, if so moved, laugh at them, too.
