Posted on 04/30/2013 7:07:38 AM PDT by Kaslin
A cancer is eating away at a once Grand Old Party, and if the party doesn't wake up and take precautions, it may wind up only a shadow of its better self -- a hollowed-out refuge for haters and paranoids and the kind of ideological parasites that can reduce a major party to a minor one.
The historian Richard Hofstadter spoke of a "paranoid style in American politics," and noted its "sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy." He called it "an old and recurrent phenomenon in our public life," one that it isn't confined to left or right. It's an equal-opportunity form of craziness and, sure enough, it's back. If it ever went away.
Somewhere there must still be a remnant of the John Birch Society buried in the woodwork of American politics and still burrowing away. Such types swarm in the fever swamps of any society's culture, but in hard times, or just uncertain ones, they tend to overflow and threaten the health and stability of even long established and respected institutions, societies and whole civilizations.
Think of Germany in the 1930s and the Nazi sickness, or the conditions that led to the rise of bolshevism in Russia as the West destroyed itself in a first world war that would prove but a harbinger of an even greater and more calamitous second one.
Or take the long view and see what has befallen Islamic civilization since it was once renowned for its arts and sciences, its tolerance and hospitality, its architecture -- and its poetry! The civilization that gave us Ibn Khaldun and Harun al-Rashid now languishes, and in its decline produces al-Qaida types whose idea of progress is death and destruction. Their murderous rhetoric, once lightly dismissed by a West grown fat and careless, proved all too serious.
There's a lesson in all this if we in the West will ever learn it -- and act. Whether it's Mein Kampf or the Communist Manifesto or today's fatwas coming out of the Arab world, words can lead to acts. Horrible acts. And shouldn't be lightly dismissed.
Consider a couple of recent rhetorical performances here in bucolic Arkansas of all places:
Right in the middle of the citywide shutdown in Boston that followed the bombings at the finish line of its famed Marathon, a state representative and gun enthusiast named Nate Bell twittered a nasty little message about Bostonians "cowering in their homes" without firearms -- just when the rest of America was thinking of their calm courage and vigilance. (Which once again paid off.)
Happily, that state legislator was rewarded by a flood of responses -- not just from Arkansas but many another state -- that let him know just how far over the line he'd wandered. America seems awake to the danger that words as thoughtless as his represent. Even he soon thought better of them -- though he apologized only for their "timing," not their substance. Sad.
About the same time, a Republican couple in the hills of picturesque Benton County up in the Ozarks spewed out the same sort of vitriol -- not in private conversation or emails to their fellow fanatics but in the newsletter of the county's Republican organization. Words like "traitors" and "turncoats" were used to describe their party's state legislators. Or at least those who finally, patiently worked out a compromise on the contentious and convoluted issue of Obamacare and its impact on Medicaid in this state.
At one point the article in the newsletter referred to legislators who don't agree with its views as "bullet backstops." The article asserted that the Second Amendment "means nothing unless those in power believe you would have no problem simply walking up and shooting them...." No reservations or context can justify that kind of trash talk. Which has a way of leading to trashy actions. Or worse.
The head of that country's Republican organization wasted no time demanding these people's resignations from the party's county committee, which may be the best news about this whole mess. Because if Republicans aren't vigilant, loudmouths like these will become the voice of their party -- and decent Americans of all political persuasions will be repelled. Rightly so. And react. Which is what happened to the Birchers in their less than glorious heyday.
Lest we forget, the John Birch Society didn't fade away on its own, any more than malignant cancers clear up on their own. All good men -- and women -- came to the aid of their party and cleaned it out. Thinkers and leaders of courage and conviction, and of unquestionably conservative credentials, rose up to expose and oppose the danger the John Birch Society represented. Thinkers and leaders like the late great William F. Buckley Jr., who would not be silent in the face of what he recognized as a fatal threat to his party and its principles -- and to the conscience of conservatives regardless of party.
For what is conservatism except an attachment to the tried and true, to the wisdom of hard-earned experience over the zealotry of empty theory, to custom and tradition, to the civilities and grace notes of life, to tolerance and manners rather than the crudities of the moment? For conservatism is more a civilized inclination than a point-by-point program to be outlined in some party newsletter or elaborated to death in one of Rand Paul's 12-hour filibusters. It is a belief in the kind of positive change that, because it is based on the past, will endure in the future.
These neo-Birchers aren't conservatives. They're the opposite: radicals who believe they've got the true faith and all the rest of us are infidels.
Unless the Republican Party’s leaders -- and its grass roots, too -- get a grip on this slithering danger and proceed to rise up and root it out, someday Americans may wonder what ever happened to the party of Lincoln, who spoke of charity for all and malice toward none. That forgotten party will have gone like the Whigs, torn apart.
At that point, Republicans will have become like the old man in a dark shop that Whittaker Chambers warned his party about as the original Birchers proliferated. The old man in his dark shop wasn't really interested in selling anything, just sitting there and stroking his merchandise.
Both the Birchers and now these neo-Birchers represent the greatest obstacle to a Republican comeback in American politics, which is Republicans themselves. Or at least the kind who fall for this load of ideology, or who think they can safely ignore these fanatics out to hijack their party. Remember: Silence gives consent.
Republicans out to save their country might consider saving their party first.
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice! And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue!” ~Barry Goldwater 1964
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=—375PlwiCw
The Birchers that used to hang out here always had an underlying paranoia about the Jews. They just hid it a little better.
Those signs make more sense to me now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTQQJOEn9yI
Here is what the JBSers believe. Take some time and see if any of you agree or disagree with it. There are 4 parts and it brings a tear to my eye..watching all that men and women have fought and died for go down the tubes.
Is, by chance, the author actually projecting his frustration with his heartfelt need to moderate his opinion, while constantly being called out and scooped?
The reason we are in the mess we are in, is because politicians are engaged in too damn much "charity towards all"!
There's always somebody around who wants to make the SS and SA look better by comparing them favorably to Republicans.
Wow. Old Paul really put on his hate hat today, shaking the bushes for every type of dangerous right wing ghoul. This crappy thing even loaded up “Nazi” “dark shop,” “fanatics,” “zealotry,” “infidels,” “malignant cancers,” “zealotry,” “old men” and even “Germany in the 1930’s.” There’s even more wordsmithing wizardry here, but you get the point.
The Asspress itself should issue a commendation to Paul. He is top of the line at packing weasel words into a piece of left wing drivel. But he better watch using “infidels” because the Asspress and the Wapo may have eliminated it from their style books for use in propaganda.
Take some aspirin, Paul. You and your side have complete power. Enjoy your tyranny.
You wrote: “I think I like the Birchers and “neo-Birchers” more than the GOPe and Paul Greenberg. And least they stand for something.”
They “stand for something”, alright:
Michelle Malkin Confronted by Alex Jones and mob at the DNC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJPHyKEQP94&sdig=1
Listen to the audio clip of Alex Jones bashing Rush Limbaugh and Free Republic on 11/20/2009 because they won’t pimp his nutcase websites:
12/27/2009: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2415837/posts
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Alex Jones (Conspiracy Theorist) Claims Govt Staged Batman Shooting For Gun Control (Leading To 2nd Amendment, The Gun Ban)
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhrC2SFT7f3BuuZRD6
Who Is Alex Jones, Anyway? Five Fun Factoids
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2013/01/09/who-is-alex-jones-anyway-five-fun-factoids/
Partial list of right/left-wing extremist nut-cases and websites banned from posting on FR:
Stormfront -a white nationalist and supremacist neo-Nazi Internet forum that has been described as the Internet’s first major hate site. (They just LOVE David Duke) http://www.stormfront.org/forum/
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Lindon La Rouche and his trolls
http://www.larouchepac.com/
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Cindy Sheehan’s boyfriend Lew Rockwell and his trolls
http://www.lewrockwell.com/
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The Birchers (The John Birch Society) and their trolls
http://www.jbs.org/
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Prison Planet.TV and Alex Jones and his trolls
http://prisonplanet.tv/
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Infowars and Alex Jones and his trolls
http://www.infowars.com/
Alex Jones, please pick up Line 1.
Alex Jones, Line 1.
Branding your opponents as “Birchers” is an old and honorable tactic of statists. What the Birchers are, were, or become is completely irrelevant. It is a form of duck speak.
QUACK QUACK BIRCHERS QUACK QUACK RACISTS QUACK QUACK.......
Apparently Nazi's and muzzies were natural allies in the 30's and 40's.
Naw, Paul Greenberg is okay. He’s just wrong in this case
More right-wing nutcase affiliated web sites:
English version Pravda (Copyright © 1999-2012, PRAVDA.Ru -Not the “real” Pravda -see below)
Note below who is listed as their “News Partners”
http://english.pravda.ru/partners.html
SteveQuayle.com 9/11 Truther and more: http://www.stevequayle.com/ Religious nutcase: http://www.stevequayle.com/index2.html
LewRockwell.com http://lewrockwell.com/
Coast to Coast AM Nutcase, George Noory http://www.coasttocoastam.com/
Rense.com (Nutcase Jeff Rense) Features David Duke http://rense.com/
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The “REAL” PRAVDA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pravda
On August 22, 1991, a decree by Russian President Boris Yeltsin shut down the Communist Party and seized all of its property, including Pravda. Its team of journalists fought for their newspaper and freedom of speech. They registered a new paper with the same title just weeks after.
A few months later, then-editor Gennady Seleznyov (now a member of the Duma) sold Pravda to a family of Greek entrepreneurs, the Yannikoses. The next editor-in-chief, Aleksandr Ilyin, handed Pravda’s trademark the Order of Lenin medals and the new registration certificate over to the new owners.
By that time, a serious split occurred in the editorial office. Over 90% of the journalists who had been working for Pravda until 1991 quit their jobs. They established their own version of the newspaper, which was later shut down under government pressure. These same journalists, led by former Pravda editors Vadim Gorshenin and Viktor Linnik in January 1999, launched Pravda Online, the first web-based newspaper in the Russian language; English, Italian and Portuguese versions are also available.
In 1996, two Greek investors launched Pravda Pyat, a weekly tabloid aimed at younger readers.[16] The new Pravda newspaper and Pravda Online are not related in any way. The paper Pravda tends to analyze events from a leftist point of view, while the web-based tabloid-style newspaper often takes a nationalist and sensationalist approach.
In 1997, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Russian_Federation recovered the newspaper, and it became an organ of the CPRF. This was verified by the special resolution of the 4th Congress of the CPRF.
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A couple of other people and websites (out of many) to avoid:
Douglas J. Hagmann (ANOTHER “Ulsterman-type” who writes for the Canada Free Press) and Alex Jones (of Prison Planet) Show:
http://alexjones101.blogspot.ca/2012/05/douglas-j-hagmann-alex-jones-show.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TrendsForecastsAndPropheciesBlog+%28Trends+Forecasts+and+Prophecies+Blog%29#.T6sJ04PNA_Q.pingfm
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GOOGLE search words: Eric Hufschmid...a Left-Wing 9/11 Truther, Holocaust Denier, Anti-Israel - Jew Hater (+ denies NASA landed on the moon, denies that muslims attacked us on 9/11, etc., etc.).
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=Eric+Hufschmid...a+9%2F11+truther+&oq=Eric+Hufschmid...a+9%2F11+truther+&gs_l=hp.12...3125.26082.0.29143.15.12.0.0.0.2.1553.4513.5j4j5-1j0j1j1.12.0...0.0...1c.OwlKCvabeJA&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bf09cb3f91b94cef&biw=1680&bih=940
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GOOGLE search words: Eric Hufschmid ..9/11 was a Jew Job:
https://www.google.com/#hl=en&gs_nf=1&gs_mss=Eric%20Hufschmid...I&tok=sfr3R5FMeqcSA-sYoq8ezQ&pq=eric%20hufschmid...a%209%2F11%20truther%20mark%20levin&cp=33&gs_id=1w&xhr=t&q=Eric%20Hufschmid...It%20was%20a%20Jew%20job&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&oq=Eric+Hufschmid...It+was+a+Jew+job&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=bf09cb3f91b94cef&biw=1680&bih=940
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MORE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2825981/posts?page=42#42
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2825981/posts?page=49#49
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2825981/posts?page=104#104
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2825981/posts?page=108#108
In less than 100 words what is happening?
Really? I went out and walked the dogs three times. Saw some neighbors go out and do errands. Didn't see any cops. They were all too busy sifting through Watertown to bother with the surrounding communities.
The problem with the Republican Party is not the kooks who believe crazy things, it’s the self promoters who believe in nothing.
Was this the same J. Edgar Hoover that denied the existence of the Mafia for decades and called those who warned about organized crime, including his own agents, "conspiracy theorists".
"I have in mind that I was originally advised by Rosen that the Mafia or anything like it in character never existed in this country. I have been plagued ever since for having denied its existence." J. Edgar Hoover, Dec. 30, 1970.
Are you Greenberg? The NeoCons have all but destroyed the opposition to the Left and the country yet you and Greenberg still have that old Trotsky hard on going, Viva da Internationale! Good luck with the McCain/graham Party.
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