How Right Wing Extremism Threatens Our Nation
My thesis is simple. The American Tea Party is a conjoined twin of the John Birch Society (JBS) and the Christian right-wing. The two are intent on taking over the Republican party and the U.S. Government and are determined to wreck the foundation of our system — the U.S. constitution.
For years the JBS, once a loud, if not strident and radical voice against communism, lay dormant. With the cold war over and communism on the decline their favorite bogeyman was gone. Then came Ron Paul, the Libertarian who ran for president in 2008, followed by a Democratic sweep and the election of Barack Obama to the presidency. Paul’s candidacy was popular among conservatives and it gave birth to the Tea Party. Paul was a JBS darling and the affection transferred to the Tea Party.
In case some of our readers are too young to know what the JBS is, let me offer a brief history lesson. The group was founded by Robert Welch in 1958, the height of the communist witch hunt in the United States. He called President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was a genuine American hero, a “conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy.” He also said that the U.S. government was “under operational control of the Communist party.” Famed conservative William F. Buckley argued that such paranoid rantings had no place in the conservative movement or the Republican Party, but the Birchers wormed their way in anyway. If you really want to know more about them go to their website http://www.jbs.org
When Billionaire David Koch ran to the right of Ronald Reagan for the presidency (he got 1% of the vote) he called for the abolition not just of Social Security, federal regulatory agencies and welfare but also of the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and public schools. Koch and his brother Charles have given over $100 million to right-wing causes. Their father, Fred, was one of the original members of the John Birch Society http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/29/opinion/29rich.html. and neither son rejects their father’s political bent.
The Koch brothers are not publicity seekers so many people haven’t heard much about them other than some of their generous gifts to charitable organizations. Here’s a quick refresher on who they are and how they use their money or, as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the rest of the story.”
NewYorker magazine published a scathing report in October of this year (2010) that outlined the wealth of the Koch brothers, their radical right-wing beliefs and their immense wealth. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer The Koch brothers own Koch Industries which has annual revenues of about a hundred billion dollars. The Kochs operate oil refineries in Alaska, Texas, and Minnesota, and control some four thousand miles of pipeline. They also own, Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Stainmaster carpet, and Lycra, among other products. Forbes ranks it as the second-largest private company in the country, after Cargill, and its consistent profitability has made David and Charles Koch—who, years ago, bought out two other brothers—among the richest men in America. Their combined fortune of thirty-five billion dollars is exceeded only by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
NewYorker goes on to quote a study released this spring by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst’s Political Economy Research Institute that named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States
The magazine also discusses a David Koch funded organization called Americans for Prosperity Foundation. The group honored several Tea Party “citizen leaders” at their recent summit meeting where the Texas branch of Americans for Prosperity gave its Blogger of the Year Award to a young woman named Sibyl West. On June 14th, West described President Obama as the “cokehead in chief” and speculated that he was exhibiting symptoms of “demonic possession.
Then there’s Dick Armey former GOP congressman and now a Tea Party leader and fundraiser. His characterization of Social Security pretty much describes the tea party agenda and it’s JBS philosophy. Armey called Social Security, “A corrupt government practice that steals people’s money “under false pretenses.” He went on to call Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.” So much for SS, Medicare and the Obama Health plan if Tea Partiers take control. If senior citizens, in particular, are concerned about so-called “death panels” this one’s for real.
As to the Tea Partiers, they find nothing wrong with the Koch brothers, Dick Armey or the John Birch Society association. In Grand Rapids Michigan they hold their meetings in the JBS American Opinion bookstore. Of all the places they could choose for meetings, why a John Birch Society bookstore?
In the late 1950s until the end of the cold war, the John Birch Society exhibited their paranoia by identifying every opponent as a “conscious agent of the communist conspiracy.” Now, they are doing it again but the difference is that many main-stream republicans are using the same language along with the old Birch tactic of guilt by association. They often use socialist and communist as interchangeable terms but their intent is clear, by labeling opponents as un-American they believe they can win the support of the majority of American voters. Watch the news and you’ll see how well and often they smear opponents with lies about their patriotism, religion and/or place of birth. These are evil people, many of which accept and support the goal of making the U.S.an extreme right-wing Christian theocracy.
To quote Robert Welch, the founder of the John Birch Society, “This is a world-wide battle, between light and darkness; between freedom and slavery; between the spirit of Christianity and the spirit of anti-Christ for the souls and bodies of men.” You are hearing similar language today from some conservatives and no wonder, R.J. Rushdoony, the founder of the American Dominionist movement was one of the original members of JBS. And…in case you didn’t know, the John Birch Society was one of CPAC’s (Conservative Political Action Committee) major sponsors at their recent yearly gathering.
Just to illustrate how off the wall the Birchers are, I refer to Alan Stang’s book, The True Story of Civil Rights. It was published by the Birch society and portrays the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. as an agent of a massive communist conspiracy to agitate among otherwise “happy” Negroes to foment revolution and/or at promote demands for more collectivist Federal government Intrusion. Some readers will immediately suggest that this is all nonsense and a false alarm. It isn’t. If the ultra right-wing Christian movement takes control of the Republican party and subsequently the U.S. Congress and Presidency, and they are mighty close, every American’s life, liberty, property and future is at risk and the United States would become a mirror image of Iran only we would be Christian not Muslim led.
Our country has survived monumental threats and catastrophes before and we’ve always come out stronger — but the great threats of the past were from external forces. This time the threat is from within and if the elements I described are successful they will scrap the very principles upon which we were founded. That, my friends, is not survivable.
