The Wall Street Journal’s Thomas Frank decries what he sees as the right’s resurrection of the Ghost of Communism:
The Red Scare Returns
The right dredges up a familiar bogeyman.
Here is one of the key paragraphs:
Today, from the floor of town-hall meetings and the heights of the Republican Party, alarmed Americans fret about secret socialists and denounce the president as a dictator. They make plans to pull their children out of school rather than have them exposed to his hypnotic oratorical powers. They quail at imaginary death panels, storm at imaginary threats to gun rights, and froth at an imaginary birth-certificate scandal. And it has required only eight months of Democratic administration to bring the right to a boil.
Except for the whole birth certificate craziness, which this blog has been explicit about rejecting as a legitimate or worthy strategy to counter the Progressive movement, Thomas completely misses the point.
First of all, the right is not the only group which is expressing rage against the progressive machine. A great big chunk of the libertarian middle is also expressing their revulsion, along with the elderly who identify themselves across the political spectrum.
Thomas should review the video below for an example of just how inaccurate his generalized perception of the protesters is.
Second, angry protesting masses first began to gather after the progressive Congress approved trillions of dollars of spending without bothering with the formality of reading the bill.
Is Thomas as politically tone deaf as the political class, who just can’t understand why the American people would be outraged by elected representatives blatantly revealing exactly how beholden and dependent on special interests they have become?
In the US Congress, it is no longer necessary or effective to read legislation before voting, because the lobbies and leadership have already assured everyone of the contents and the proper way to vote.
That was the spark that lit the fire.
Third, parents who pulled their children out of school were reacting to the original Department of Education suggested lesson activities which included having students write letters to themselves about how they can help President Obama achieve his goals. Thomas will have to forgive people for feeling repulsed by the idea of the government requiring children as young as 5 years old to consider how to help advance a political agenda of any party.
Parent’s outrage was appropriate and thankfully led to a total reversal from the Department of Education. That aside we do not think it was the best idea too keep student out of school, which we posted about here, especially after the Department of Education backed down.
Fourth, people fear a socialist resurgence because so many formally private assets are now owned by the government. That smacks of socialism for most people, requiring an unfathomable leap of faith to believe the government will return these private assets to private hands just as soon as the economic emergency is over.
People also fear a socialist resurgence because the hyper-progressive movement in control of Congress at the moment has a long and shameful history of openly embracing Marxism.
People also fear a socialist resurgence because the media never did their job vetting the group of progressive extremists it helped install. That leaves most people to fill in the gaps with other sources which range from 100% accurate to totally imaginary.
People also fear a socialist resurgence because the President receives so much support from socialists.
People also fear a socialist resurgence because the President appears to have a ton of radical friends, from racist Reverend Wright, to terrorist Bill Ayers, to Marxist Van Jones, to communist Frank Marshall Davis, and on and on.
So it doesn’t really matter that there isn’t much of a proper, visible, ’30s-style left in America. One Van Jones is all it takes to negate the Obama administration’s cautious centrism. The radicalism is just under the surface, if you’re willing to believe.
One Van Jones? Where have you been Thomas? In a coma?? Please see above.
Thanks for the excellent recap. Clueless journalists are culpable for the breakdown of representative democracy. The present Government-Media Complex is just as big a threat to the nation as the indoctrination program at work in the public school system.
Keep this on hand to reprint when the revisionists on the Left get ready to play the race card on why President Obama’s popularity continues to decline.
Thomas has just enough knowledge of history to be dangerous. He ought to realize the political clan he defends ultimately wants to silence him. (In the ‘30s, the BBC would not allow Winston Churchill to speak on air.) I’m sure he’d argue this as another absurd observation. He ought to take a look at what’s happening with Michael Savage-a law abiding U.S. citizen-currently banned from entering Britain because of his political views. A citizen who is being defamed and slandered by a foreign government and can get no support from his own country.
The Fourth Estate is in critical condition.
Keep up the good work!
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Many of these people are showing this anger by screaming and yelling because they are unable to control their emotions. Even Joe Wilson admitted as much after he shouted at the president in Congress.
Many of us see our own anger as something that bubbles over, out of control, and has no other way to be expressed save by yelling, fighting back, etc.
It will be quite awhile for the human species to understand that there is ALWAYS at least a third alternative between becoming a passive doormat OR immediately fighting back. It is not so easy to figure out what that alternative can be, but there is no question that it can’t be either giving in or fighting back.