Joseph McCarthy was a republican when he began his immoral and oppressive crackdown on left-wing thinkers in the US. What many seem not to know, however, is that McCarthy enjoyed support from the democrats as well. Before McCarthy even started, democratic president Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9835, which removed government employees deemed unloyal to the United States. Grounds for removal included:
"Membership in, affiliation with or sympathetic association with any foreign or domestic organization, association, movement, group or combination of persons, designated by the Attorney General as totalitarian, fascist, communist, or subversive, or as having adopted a policy of advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other persons their rights under the Constitution of the United States, or as seeking to alter the form of government of the United States by unconstitutional means." [1]
The congressional committees tasked with exposing and charging communists were often headed or staffed with democrats. For instance, after McCarthy stepped down from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations democrat John McClellan took over as chair, and Robert Kennedy was appointed as chief council [2]. Under McClellan the committee went after labor unions, leading to the Landrum-Griffith act, which barred communists from serving in leadership positions in unions [3].
I fear we are heading towards a similar situation. In my last post, I discussed the movement towards censorship, which is supported by both liberals and republicans. The EU resolution to counteract Russian propaganda was proposed by Anna Fotyga, a member of the right-wing Law and Justice party in Poland. But in the US the attack on Russian Media is widely led by the democrats, claiming that Russia was rigging the election through revealing the inner workings of the democratic party [4]. While Russian media is obviously not impartial, some liberals have begun condemning anyone who lends credibility to anything from Russian media sources.
Propornot, a group that refuses to reveal their identities or methods, has compiled a list of news organizations that are helping Russia's propaganda effort, intentionally or unknowingly. This list includes many alt-right websites largely devoid of evidence or sources, but it also includes many well-regarded, trustworthy left-wing publications, such as Truthdig and Naked Capitalism. They even list wikileaks, an organization which has done nothing but spread valid leaked documents [5]. This is far worse than just an irrelevant group of wackos condemning valid media, because now the Washington Post has run an article using this group's 'research' as a source [6]. This is fake news. This is propaganda.
If the liberals turn on the far left as they have throughout history, Trump-like leaders will continue to emerge. If we want to move forward, the fear-mongering has to stop, and liberals need to admit that neoliberal policies are how we got Trump. I don't mean to assign blame, as I think that's counterproductive. I do mean to push people to look at the causes of the fascist right's success, and to look at the rampant corruption and corporatism of their own party.
[1]: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/executive-order-9835/
[2]: http://www.hsgac.senate.gov//imo/media/doc/psihistory.htm?attempt=2
[3]: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1120618?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
[4]: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/opinions/kremlin-trying-to-rig-election-nimmo-opinion/
[5]: http://www.propornot.com/p/the-list.html
[6]: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/washington-post-blacklist-story-is-shameful-disgusting-w452543
The congressional committees tasked with exposing and charging communists were often headed or staffed with democrats. For instance, after McCarthy stepped down from the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations democrat John McClellan took over as chair, and Robert Kennedy was appointed as chief council [2]. Under McClellan the committee went after labor unions, leading to the Landrum-Griffith act, which barred communists from serving in leadership positions in unions [3].
I fear we are heading towards a similar situation. In my last post, I discussed the movement towards censorship, which is supported by both liberals and republicans. The EU resolution to counteract Russian propaganda was proposed by Anna Fotyga, a member of the right-wing Law and Justice party in Poland. But in the US the attack on Russian Media is widely led by the democrats, claiming that Russia was rigging the election through revealing the inner workings of the democratic party [4]. While Russian media is obviously not impartial, some liberals have begun condemning anyone who lends credibility to anything from Russian media sources.
Propornot, a group that refuses to reveal their identities or methods, has compiled a list of news organizations that are helping Russia's propaganda effort, intentionally or unknowingly. This list includes many alt-right websites largely devoid of evidence or sources, but it also includes many well-regarded, trustworthy left-wing publications, such as Truthdig and Naked Capitalism. They even list wikileaks, an organization which has done nothing but spread valid leaked documents [5]. This is far worse than just an irrelevant group of wackos condemning valid media, because now the Washington Post has run an article using this group's 'research' as a source [6]. This is fake news. This is propaganda.
If the liberals turn on the far left as they have throughout history, Trump-like leaders will continue to emerge. If we want to move forward, the fear-mongering has to stop, and liberals need to admit that neoliberal policies are how we got Trump. I don't mean to assign blame, as I think that's counterproductive. I do mean to push people to look at the causes of the fascist right's success, and to look at the rampant corruption and corporatism of their own party.
[1]: http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/executive-order-9835/
[2]: http://www.hsgac.senate.gov//imo/media/doc/psihistory.htm?attempt=2
[3]: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1120618?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
[4]: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/02/opinions/kremlin-trying-to-rig-election-nimmo-opinion/
[5]: http://www.propornot.com/p/the-list.html
[6]: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/washington-post-blacklist-story-is-shameful-disgusting-w452543
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