Marching Proud Boys wearing black Fred Perry polos and getting into fisticuffs with Antifa. Anonymous hacktivists wearing creepy, plastic Guy Fawkes masks and messing with the computers of law enforcement and other organizations they think corrupt or cruel. Oath Keepers proclaiming to be "Guardians of the Republic" and traveling to the U.S. Capitol with paramilitary equipment to "Stop the Steal" in January 2021. Woke "Free Gaza" protesters clad in keffiyehs and N-95 masks storming university buildings and building squatter camps. The American taking all this in would be forgiven for feeling the country's politics have gotten weird and extreme over the past 20 years. Certainly, many in the media have treated all these instances as novelties that may portend the death of American democracy. In truth, crazy politics is a recurring feature of our nation. Groups sprout up either adjacent or in antagonism to the major political parties, and it can be difficult to discern whether their confrontational style and tactics mask nefarious and violent designs.