There are conservative, religious, gun-toting, Trump-backing people throughout the American West who are generous, hardworking and kind, and in no way affiliated with violent militias or racism (“Extremists as opportunists,” August 2020). While I do not share their worldview, I count on these people every day. Their absence from the pages of HCN is conspicuous.

Owen Segerstrom
Cedarville, California

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Extremists as opportunists

by Owen Segerstrom, High Country News
September 1, 2020

<h1>Extremists as opportunists</h1> <p class="byline">by Owen Segerstrom, High Country News <br />September 1, 2020</p> <p><span class="s1"></span><span class="s2">There are conservative, religious, gun-toting, Trump-backing people throughout the American West who are generous, hardworking and kind, and in no way affiliated with violent militias or racism (“<a href="https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52.8/north-patriot-militia-groups-mobilize-during-a-deadly-pandemic-and-massive-protests" target="_blank" data-linktype="external" data-val="https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52.8/north-patriot-militia-groups-mobilize-during-a-deadly-pandemic-and-massive-protests" rel="noopener">Extremists as opportunists</a>,” August 2020). While I do not share their worldview, I count on these people every day. Their absence from the pages of <i>HCN</i> is conspicuous.</span></p> <p><em><span class="s2">Owen Segerstrom<br /></span><span class="s2">Cedarville, California</span></em></p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=187845">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">Extremists as opportunists</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52-9/letter-to-the-editor-extremists-as-opportunists/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=120958&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/52-9/letter-to-the-editor-extremists-as-opportunists/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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