Stephan:   Increasingly as passions rise during the election process and fear is exploited my concern is that White "patriot" militias are a growing problem. And within that trend is a sub-trend that is even more concerning, the rise of the "patriot" sheriff movement. Sheriffs are the only law enforcement officers who are elected and as a group they are growing increasingly Rightist, if not outright fascist. Sheriffs are a hold over from an earlier age, medieval England, and were originally created under English common law. In the U.S. it is a job that has always attracted bullies and semi-thugs, as anyone who was involved in the Civil Rights movement during the 50s and 60s quickly learned.  In current terms it is sheriffs who give a gloss of legal respectability  of White Rightist "patriots" as this report describes.