John Birch Society Lends Craziness To GOP Crazy

I must admit I knew very little about the John Birch Society up until last year.  Their formation and supposed heyday was long before my time.  As it turns out, their recent uptick in American politics, thanks to the Republican Party, has dusted off the craziness behind the crazies.  Just a sampling of what the GOP is embracing, JBS believes:
  • President Eisenhower was a communist implant.
  • Fluoride as an additive to drinking water is a communist plot
  • The addition of fluoride has led to such unthinkable human actions like women's rights and the Civil Rights Act (sound familiar yet)
  • The Civil Rights Act is a communist plot to create a Soviet Negro Republic in the United States
The list goes on and on with things like Martin Luther King Jr. being a communist implant and the absurd notion that blacks were largely happy living under segregation and those who believed otherwise were brainwashed by, you guessed it, a communist plot.  I dare to call this group radical right wing because that doesn't even begin to describe them.  They are, in no uncertain terms, not part of the radical right wing.  They are people who are scared of everything.  They are scared of change, of progress, of the American Dream being borrowed by everyone especially those who don't look like them.  Misery loves company but fear loves it even more.  They are a frightened bunch who can only spread fear to others that are inclined to listen long enough.  There isn't anything in this world they aren't scared of.  That is, however, beside the point.

For decades JBS has tried to make inroads into the GOP.  And with their sponsoring of this year's CPAC event, it looks as if they have finally arrived.  Now we are seeing the fruits of such inclusion with Republican candidates like Randy Paul in Kentucky-- a victory JBS is crediting to themselves.
Conservative, libertarian, and constitutionalist grassroots activists, who have coalesced to form not one organization, but a collection of like-minded groups collectively called “The Tea Party,” have proved that motivated citizen activists can buck the political establishment and secure political victories for good candidates. But in doing so, they have taken their game plan — and many of their principles — largely from the action plans formulated over the past 51 years by the grandaddy of all antiestablishment, constitutionalist action groups — The John Birch Society. 

In so doing, the Tea Party groups may eventually outdistance their level of understanding and require greater education in how to defeat the well-entrenched collectivist establishment they seek to depose. For that reason, those working to educate the voter base and send more Rand Pauls and Ron Pauls to Congress — and support them once elected — must learn all they can learn from the experienced JBS activists, because there simply is not enough time left in the freedom fight to reinvent the wheel.
Keep in mind, this is the group Goldwater and Reagan wanted left out of the GOP.  There are very valid reasons as to why they fought hard against including them.  Actually, Goldwater and Reagan adamantly disallowed the GOP to have anything to do with the group.  Not any longer.  Without a doubt, this is the direction the modern GOP is going, heck fully embracing.  Just read the 1960 opening speech from JBS founder Robert Welch:
"Today, gentlemen, I can assure you without the slightest doubt in my own mind that the take-over at the top is, for all practical purposes, virtually complete. Whether you like it or not, and whether you believe it or not, our federal government is already literally in the hands of the communists. Our Congress now contains a number of men who are certainly actual communists, and plenty more who are sympathetic to communist purposes for either ideological or opportunistic reasons."
It goes on and on about communist conspiracy theories and government takeovers. His speech is just like any Fox News monologue you can listen to daily. Or the blueprint for any Grand Tea Bagger shouting match you can catch at your neighborhood courthouse steps or with a quick tune to C-SPAN where you can listen to any number of elected Republicans give the same speech directed at the policies of the Obama administration.  This is not a healthy direction for any political party.  Certainly not one that demands it be returned to power.  Now is a definite time for good Republicans to speak up.

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