Patriot groups continue to rise, poverty center says
In its latest annual count of extremist groups in the United States, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that the number of anti-government and militia groups has continued to rise dramatically while the number of hate groups has held steady.
In 2012, the nonprofit civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala., listed 1,360 "Patriot" groups, who generally believe that "the federal government is conspiring to take Americans' guns and destroy their liberties as it paves the way for a global 'one-world government.'?"
That number represented a more than eight-fold increase from 149 such groups in 2008, according to the center's report issued Tuesday.
"Frankly, we've never seen that kind of growth in the entire time we've been covering these groups," said Mark Potok, the report's author who spoke to reporters in a conference call.
More at http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Patriot-groups-continue-to-rise-poverty-center-4330532.php .
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"In Texas, the jump in Patriot groups has been even steeper than at the national level, spurting from 6 in 2008 to 52 in 2009 and 79 in 2012, an increase of more than 12 times."
It's growing in my bright red area from what I've seen on my local message board. I've even seen some recruiting for new members.
I guess they are mirroring their parents? I didn't know of any high school kids that cared about politics when I was in school, but that was a long time ago 
I have a neighbor from California and she has told me many stories of her liberal daughter being harassed in high school because of it.
