Chapter 7

 The Patriot Rebellion during the Obama administration demonstrated just how well conservative Western frustrations with federal land management was woven into a national conservative challenge to federal authority, and it illustrated how well integrated the militias were in conservative politics. Indeed, the line between mainstream and extreme political protest were blurred considerably compared to the Sagebrush Rebellion. The Patriot Rebellion was led by the largely Christian Tea Party movement, which used the language and symbols of the American Revolution to condemn the Obama administration and the federal government generally as unconstitutional tyrants. And it was carried further by the armed Patriot Movement, in which people claimed they were prepared to kill for the Constitution.