And what GOPers should remember.
Strangely, some older people I know used to make fun of the John Birch society members as being the crazy extremists. Ironically now they subscribe to many of those beliefs. :-( This is an interesting piece from the linked article.
"Goldwater responded with a letter to the National Review that called on Welch to resign from the society. “Mr. Welch is only one man, and I do not believe his views, far removed from reality and common sense as they are, represent the feelings of most members of the John Birch Society,” Goldwater wrote in the letter, published in the magazine’s next issue. “We cannot allow the emblem of irresponsibility to attach to the conservative banner.”
Here is some old satire from a MAD magazine
9 comments:
Our local BPOU was distributing John Birch literature at the county fair in 2019.
Interesting and horrifying...
On the upside I have learned another acronym. Thank God for google. :-)
Maybe people just have too much time and too much information now days?
And they are fearful for some reason?
I sure do not understand it?
An Interesting read
Jerry,
Are you or were you a member of this group?
"The Society was Welch’s attempt to root out the reds—an end goal he offered as justification for his opposition to the United Nations (“an instrument of Communist global conquest”), the civil rights movement (an attempt to establish an “independent Negro-Soviet Republic”), public water fluoridation, and Dwight Eisenhower (“a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy”), among myriad other targets of his suspicion.
Prominent Texans quickly became fans. Dallas oilman H.L Hunt, the richest man in the world and a major Republican donor, espoused Bircher views on his popular radio program starting in the 1950s. Dallas Reverend W.A. Criswell, a segregationist and head of the largest Southern Baptist congregation in the world, praised Bircher positions from his pulpit and railed against “the leftists, the liberals, the pinks, and the welfare statists who are soft on communism and easy towards Russia.” Maj. Gen. Edwin Walker, born in small-town Texas and commander of 10,000 troops stationed in post-war Europe, distributed Bircher material to the men under his command. Walker, who called Harry Truman and Eleanor Roosevelt “definitely pink,” resigned after being investigated by the Kennedy administration for engaging in partisan political activity on the job in 1961. East Texas Congressman Martin Dies, the founder of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, was a regular contributor to the Society’s publications in the mid-1960s. These sons of the Lone Star State saw a nation careening towards unfettered Communism. They refused to remain silent."
There has always been that element on the Republican side. It was kept in line by eastern liberal Republicans, but they have mostley disappeared from that party.
Democrats come and go, but our party has not had to contend with a lot of disasters. America generally collapses on Republican watch. As a result, we don't have the experience the other party has rising from the ashes, while they have become very good at it.
Up until WW II the Republican Party, was largely although not entirely the party of isolationism. Trump when he revived the slogan "America First" was borrowing from Republican history and traditional attitudes. Needless to say, the first time that slogan was used, things ended badly. Having missed the boat on Hitler, Republicans needed to find a new enemy, hence the Communist witch hunt. Curiously, much more than our party, Republicans need domestic enemies to fight.
--Hiram
Talked to my financial adviser a couple days ago. I sware he would kiss Trump's ass for real. He thinks we are headed for a revolution. Do not understand these people.
It is amazing... I am still not sure what they are so scared of that they would risk killing our "goose that lays golden eggs"...
Trump's one priority was to pump up the stock market. He viewed it as the measure of this administration's success. This made him unusual among presidents, most of whom have tried to ignore public markets, at least publicly.
With Biden as president, things may get tougher. Trump was able to control Republicans in ways Biden will never be able to control Democrats. We are an unruly lot.
--Hiram
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