Americans in the 1990s witnessed the advent of political terrorism on U.S. shores. Previously, terrorist bombings had been confined to foreign soil. What makes the recent American terrorism so insidious is that it was perpetrated by a diverse set of extremists–ranging from suspected Unabomber Ted Kaczynski to Oklahoma City bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh to the Islamic militants convicted in the World Trade Center bombing. A common thread in this wave of domestic terrorism is contempt for the U.S. government.

Montana has emerged as a hotbed of extremist ideology. The state is home to Ted Kaczynski, the Freemen, and the Militia of Montana, known as the Mother of all militias. But Montana’s dubious distinction as the Paraguay of the United States reflects the woes that a handful of other Western states are…