Since my last diary on this subject caught some flak because of a definition I choose for socialism, I decided this time to cut all of that out and just get down the to the nitty gritty and talk about the right-wing based fears in this country. There are several fear based Memes on the right side of the political spectrum, which is understandable considering this party needs fear to win voters, one of the most prominent is the fear of a socialist take-over every time a slightly left of center President is in office. This fear has some of the deepest roots in the Right-Wing fear mongering talk-o-sphere, with the it's beginnings as a major political tactic in the 1950's. I will dissect the beginnings and fast forward it to the modern concern with President Obama. I will begin with the political atmosphere surrounding the McCarthy Era and how what seemed to be a necessary evil turn into a completely manufactured fear that used for purely political reasons.
McCarthyism/The McCarthy Era has become synonymous with politically motivated claims of disloyalty manufactured, without facts to back it up, to use for pure political reasons. The term was coined during the McCarthy political trials in the 1950's, lead by Senator Joesph McCarthy. It was brought about because of real fear the American people were facing. The Soviet Union, under the guidance of Joesph Stalin, was building and testing Nuclear Weapons, and with torn relations with America, it was a growing fear that the Soviets may try to attack at any time. This fear was necessary and warranted, as without it the American people would be left lost in a chance of an attack. But that needed fear, started to get exploited when it was to be political beneficial. Pre-World War II America saw a huge surge in the ideals of a socialist or communist administration in America. There was a huge movement to make FDR a dictator and institute a socialist system in America, while there was a large amount of Americans who were for that idea, the principles behind that ideals were given up well after the election, and after the recovery, but still those memories were stuck in the mind of the political right. With the backdrop of a possible Nuclear war with a communist Russia, the right brought those memories back up to the front of the American mind. McCarthy started by saying that there were communist or socialist inside of the US Government, at all levels, and pushes for a Congressional inquiry into it. After the start of the inquiry/trials the proposed communist/socialist in this country ballooned out to even Hollywood, which the supposed Hollywood actors and actresses called communist/socialist were known as the Hollywood Blacklist. After a short period of time the claims got so outlandish that they couldn't have possibly been true, and without any facts to back his claims up, Sen. McCarthy was shunned from any power in the Senate, and the era was chalked up as a lesson for the American political spectrum.
The lesson was short lived though. With the election of a young new Democratic President in John F. Kennedy, there was fear that there was going to be a new health care bill, that would promise every Senior citizen health care. The right pounced right on it, and started the calls of socialism. The first was the AMA who were holding town hall style speeches where they were calling anything similar to Medicare would ultimately lead to a pure socialist America, where everyone's freedoms were to be striped away for the "Better good of America". (Little did the people know that the new GOP that started during that era, actually did take away freedoms just on that exact basis) Then there was a relatively popular actor, who recorded a 45 that was being passed out to citizen across this country, warning of the fears of socialism. That actor, Ronald Regan, would become a prominent Republican figure on the basis of his opposition to this bill. These claims came held on the fear that most Americans still felt with the Soviet Union, and it's Nuclear program. But this time the Republicans were more blandish about it, and for the first time, tied the heavily unpopular Socialist with a single issue, which would become the blueprint for future Republicans, and right-wing nuts, even into present times. For the time from the election of Kennedy, and up to his death, the Medicare=Socialism plan worked, and the right gained it's most valuable lesson, fear will get you support. It took the death of a President, and a majority in Congress by the Democrats to get the Medicare passed, and up until that point, the American people were skeptical, some even angry, that the Government would propose such a thing, as giving medical coverage to seniors, but once it passed, and got installed into our system, it became one of the most popular Government programs of all time, and given the chance as President, with a Republican Congress, even Ronald Regan didn't even try to touch Medicare. But it didn't matter that the fear tactic of socialism lost, the Republicans, saw some glimmer of hope in it, and decided that for the next 40 years, it would be it's battle cry against all Democrats. If you don't like a proposal, and you want it be unpopular with the public, simple call it a socialist agenda. Want to win back a seat or even the Presidency, simple call your opponent a socialist. It worked, and it create an atmosphere of fear, that if given the chance, Democrats would implement socialism, and there would be nothing you could do about it. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it didn't matter, truth has no place in fear, and truth doesn't sound as strong as fear does.
Which brings us to modern day. Today the political spectrum has shifted greatly since the times of Kennedy and McCarthy, the right has went even further to the right, and the left has shifted towards a more underground grassroots effort, while the elected officials of the left have become more and more moderate through the years, to appeal to the growing undecided voters. But the tactics are still the same. The right still tries to call socialism, at every social agenda that comes forward. The fear has led to a new growing backlash against our new President for every single legislation he has tried to put through Congress. They will act like they are truly sincere and that they are really fearful for this country, while most of the time, they don't even subscribe to this lost ideal, but know that fear still persist, from constant repetition of this meme, that we are just one Presidency away from being a socialist country. This strategy became a meme almost as soon as the AMA and Ronald Regan used it to depict one single issue, in an attempt to kill the proposal, and it has been a great tool for the Republicans over the year. But it recently hit a wall. With a majority of Americans, no longer under the fearful restraints of the Republicans, and the meme of Democrat=Socialist not holding any water in last year's election, and it not working outside of their base on most of the major legislation being brought forward in Congress, they have decided to take the same tactic under a new name. The recent fear with the right is the idea of a Public Option in health care, originally they had called it a step towards Socialist Medicine, that fear tactic worked really well in their base, but with their base growing smaller and smaller with every passing day, they decided to call it something else; a Government take-over. Now we can argue semantics all day long about whether or not they are the same, but they Republicans are trying to use on of the other memes in their armory, that usually works with the middle of the road voters, and that is the Government is too big.
They don't say a Government take-over is going to cause bad health care, they don't say it will lead to socialism, they just say it and leave it at that. And this meme has helped them more than socialism could ever help in the modern day. With the economic turmoil and people losing jobs at every turn, there is a growing hatred of all thing Washington. It is normal in a time of economic troubles that the Government, whether justly or not, is usually to blame, before big business is. (Outside of the perspective that Wall Street caused this, although most people who are dumb enough to subscribe to the Republican/Right-wing fear mongering think of Wall Street as it's own entity and not a representation of big business) So with that brewing hatred and distrust with Washington, all the Republicans have to do is say that the Democrats want to come and take every sector of business, while not calling it Socialism, so to not drown out the middle ground voters they want to infect with their brainwashing meme.
This has caused a wildfire to start up, and that is why you see people who attend rallies such as the 9/12 protest and tea bagging protests across this country, who regularly would not know the difference from Socialism to Fascism, or even what a Omnibus Spending bill is, screaming for the fear of the life that they had enough of Washington and it's spending. This is the underlying problem for Democrats, although these people may not vote Republican, and although polls show that they actually support proposals by President Obama, once asked in a fair and balanced way, and not just told that it is a Government take-over, these people seem too blind to what is actually going on to make up their mind. They seem easily swayed to the opinion that seems like the best, even though it covered in lies and makes no sense what so ever, they will still buy into it. Sure a majority of the tea baggers and 9/12-ers are nothing more than already brainwashed right-wing fanatics, who are less educated and more blind to the world outside their political views than most liberals, but it's the underlying, true grassroots, new recruits that will hurt the Democrats. These people are being to think that they have seen the "light", although for most of them they can not see the mountain lies standing right in front of their face, and it can be dangerous for us (Pro-Democrat crowd).
But outside the political spectrum the other group is scariest. The right-wing nuts who will believe anything that is spewed out against President Obama, to the point that they will be willing to take a gun to a FEMA camp, in hopes of destroying the FEMA interment camps that she heard about on the Glenn Beck program. They will fall so far into realm of an antisocial personality that they will kill a Census worker, because of what they heard they will do to their family, and their country. These people are the most dangerous because of their susceptibility to extreme actions because of their extreme views. These are the people that being told that there is a socialist take over happening, and that we are on a slippery slope towards the worst of all nightmares they all have. The problem is with these people is that they hear this and automatically it gets elevated. It's like a kid catching a fish, that fish may only be five inches long, but to his eyes its a monster, and he will retell it as if it a whale that he had caught. For most of the extremist on the right, that mentality did not die with childhood. They hear that we on a slippery slope towards socialism under President Obama, and they think that it means that we will have Socialism tomorrow and the only way to stop it, is to stop the Government, by any means necessary. These people are the ones that take on themselves to take action against it, and sometimes that includes violence. And the problem is, unlike the extremist on our side, which doesn't get pandered to that much by elected officials, these right-wing extremist are constantly pandered to, and constantly stimulated with a new round of fear of how President Obama has a secret plan for this or for that, and I can only fear what will happen. To the right fear is a vital tool, an object that can gain all the gold in the world, along with all it's power, but they don't care who gets hurt by their fear mongering, or who is left to pay for their brainwashing. Why? Mainly because they are politicians, who want power. They are the party of totalitarianism, they don't want to deal with anyone but themselves. Seclusion is what they want their people to believe in, mostly because that's what they believe in with Government. And it will lead to problems, major problems, for this country and it's future.