Why the New GOP RED SCARE Tactics Ring False
Last edited Mon Mar 4, 2019, 11:24 PM - Edit history (3)
Why the Republicans' New "Red Scare" Tactics Ring False. The public's idea of socialism has shifted over the last 70 years from one verging on totalitarianism to one far closer to European social democracy. Harold Meyerson, LA Times, Common Dreams, March 3, 2019. *EXCERPTS:
The annual CPAC-Conservative Political Action Conference rolled into Washington last week with the new Republican mantra: If we don’t reelect Donald Trump, neo-Stalinism will befall us! Speakers told the assembled faithful what President Trump had intimated in his SOTU address: Republicans in 2020 plan to run against Democrats as though they were Stalin or (the pre-Trump) Kim Jong Un. Larry Kudlow urged Republicans to “put socialism on trial.” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel advocated an education campaign: “We can't think that the American people understand what socialism is. We have to go out and educate people. We need to talk about Venezuela.”
Wherein lies the Republicans’ problem: The Soviet Union, and its brand of communism—which virtually all Americans had both heard of and disliked—is long gone (replaced, in Russia, by kleptocratic authoritarianism, in China by Leninist capitalism). Moreover, American business (Wall Street in particular) has been soft on China for the last 30 years, and just last week, President Trump even recommended to his North Korean BFF that he’d do well to model his country on Vietnam, which is still under strict Communist control.
It’s not surprising that the GOP would rely on a playbook that has worked well for them in the past, especially when they don't need to sway a majority of Americans—only a large enough group to swing a couple of key states. But it’s a far riskier strategy now than it was in the past. Americans’ definitions of socialism have changed since the Cold War ended..
The public’s idea of socialism has shifted over the last 70 years from one verging on totalitarianism to one far closer to European social democracy. The disappearance of Soviet communism has clearly contributed to that shift, but so has the transition over that same 70 years to a more aggressive capitalism that has rewarded chiefly the rich. That helps explain why a record number of Americans, and a majority of Democrats, now think of socialism positively, and clearly distinguish democratic socialism from its communist deviation. A 2017 YouGov poll of millennials found that 44 % of them said they’d prefer to live in a socialist nation, while 42 % preferred one that was capitalist, and 7 % one that was communist (alas)...
Republicans desperately hope that they can substitute Venezuela for the Soviet Union. Their problem is that Sanders, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the vast majority of actually existing American socialists look to Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, not Venezuela, as their model. The Scandinavian social democracies rank highest on indices of social mobility, general wellness, and just plain happiness. That won't deter Republicans, of course. They’ve labeled every Democrat since Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt as socialists, and every reform from the minimum wage to national parks as socialistic. The absence of Soviet communism and their own century of crying wolf should make instigating a new “Red scare” more difficult than it’s been in the past.
More, https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/03/03/why-republicans-new-red-scare-tactics-ring-false
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- Sen. McCarthy points to map of communist organization USA, Congressional Hearing 1950s. *Left-Army Counsel Welch.
- Wiki, RED SCARE: McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term refers to U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) and has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting from the late 1940s through the 1950s. It was characterized by heightened political repression and a campaign spreading fear of Communist influence on American institutions and of espionage by Soviet agents. What would become known as the McCarthy era began before McCarthy's term in 1953.
Following the First Red Scare, in 1947, President Truman signed an executive order to screen federal employees for association with organizations deemed "Totalitarian, Fascist, Communist, or subversive", or advocating "to alter the form of Government of the United States by unconstitutional means." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare
- McCarthy & The Red Scare: "In the end, President Eisenhower had no choice but to fight back against Senator Joseph McCarthy—and he did." During Eisenhower’s first two years in office, McCarthy’s shrieking denunciations and fear-mongering created a climate of fear and suspicion across the country. No one dared tangle with McCarthy for fear of being labeled disloyal.
https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/age-of-eisenhower/mcarthyism-red-scare
- "Have you no sense of decency, sir?" Army counsel Welch v. McCarthy; Army-McCarthy Hearings, June 1954
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/minute/Have_you_no_sense_of_decency.htm
(U.S. Senate) In the spring of 1954, McCarthy picked a fight with the U.S. Army, charging lax security at a top-secret army facility. The army responded that the senator had sought preferential treatment for a recently drafted subcommittee aide. Amidst this controversy, McCarthy temporarily stepped down as chairman for the duration of the three-month nationally televised spectacle known to history as the Army-McCarthy hearings..
"Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?" Overnight, McCarthy's immense national popularity evaporated. Censured by his Senate colleagues, ostracized by his party, and ignored by the press, McCarthy died three years later, 48 years old and a broken man.
- "Joseph McCarthy's Downfall Was Accusing The Army Of Communism," Smithsonian
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/history/joseph-mccarthys-downfall-was-accusing-the/
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