The "Red Scare" is back, but in two different ways.
1. Republicans fear commie "socialism" via ObamaCare, gay marriage, gun regulationResearching images for this post, I ran across this very interesting book about other "Red Scares," that believe it or not, bear an amazing similarity to the tea party Republican campaign today. Here's a description of Landon Shorrs book, pictured here, from 2012:
and the redistribution of wealth in a pay gap reduction. That won't do, and they want to take the country back.
It isn't RED yet?
2. Ironically the same GOP that continually resurrects forms of the "Red Scare," to basically beat back liberalism, also wants to turn Wisconsin..."Red." Looks like Dylan Ratigan was onto to something when he named it "Corporate Communism."
What's old is seemingly new. Walker has already hinted that he will run for president if the Senate flips to Republican, which would give him ultimate power to do whatever he "thinks" is best for us. Remember Paul Ryan's comment?The loyalty investigations triggered by the Red Scare of the 1940s and 1950s marginalized many talented women and men who had entered government service during the Great Depression seeking to promote social democracy as a means to economic reform. Their influence over New Deal policymaking and their alliances with progressive labor and consumer movements elicited a powerful reaction from conservatives, who accused them of being subversives.
Author Landon Storrs draws on newly declassified records of the federal employee loyalty program--created in response to fears that Communists were infiltrating the U.S. government--to reveal how disloyalty charges were used to silence these New Dealers and discredit their policies. The loyalty program not only destroyed many promising careers, it prohibited discussion of social democratic policy ideas in government circles, narrowing the scope of political discourse to this day.
Upfront's Mike Gousha asked Ryan about all the polls that directly contradicted Ryan's positions on the minimum wage, extending unemployment etc. Ryan just laughed.
"It sounds simple...but if I believe this is counter productive for the very people we're trying to hurt...to help...and will hurt them by doing this, but it's politically popular, what does that say about you as a moral person...leaders have to take positions that may not be popular sometimes if they think they're doing the right thing."
The Right and the Tea Party in particular mimic in many ways the old John Birch Society's positions on many issues, only now they prefer to use the word 'socialism'. Considering that the Koch brothers fund much of the Tea Party's activities and that their father, Fred, was a founding member of the JBS, it begins to make perfect sense. The JBS is alive ans well.
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