Until recently, the John Birch Society was such a far-right conspiracy-monger outfit that it was generally considered well outside the mainstream of the conservative Republican movement. (Click here for details.)
Then came the tea party, which decried Democratic spending and in many places, including Albany, NY, was led by Birchers who had organized similar public actions during the Ron Paul 2008 campaign.
And the Birchers' fortunes reversed -- their conspiracy theories were promoted by Glenn Beck on Fox "News," their proselytizing at tea party events produced their first substantial gains in membership in decades, and in 2010, the JBS was allowed to become a sponsor of CPAC, Republican conservatives' major annual convention.
As tea party activism has waned in the Albany area (e.g., no Tax Day rally this year), local Birchers remain quite active -- promoting JBS stalwart Ron Paul for president, holding regular education/training meetings, running candidates for local offices, and bringing in national JBS leaders to rally and recruit.
Like longtime Bircher leader John McManus, who will be speaking in Colonie Monday.
More, below.
Here's the text of the radio ad for McManus' speech, which has been running on talk radio stations for a week:
Wake up, America!
Washington did not cut spending, big government is still getting bigger.
Tea party liberty-lovers are being sold out.
Our globalist rulers are still advancing their agenda through unconstitutional wars and economic destruction of the middle class.
Has the real conservative movement been captured by deceiving politicians, deceptive media personalities, and false solutions?
The gains of the last election will be lost unless Americans wake up.
Hear John McManus, author and lecturer, deliver his latest exciting seminar -- The Betrayal of the Constitution, an Expose of the Neoconservative Agenda -- this Monday evening, May 2, 7:30, at the Albany Marriott on Wolf Road in Colonie.
For free information, call 888-713-8087.
Get informed and get involved in saving our republic.
888-713-8087, Monday night, May 2, 7:30, at the Albany Marriott on Wolf Road.
888-713-8087.
The ad does mention the "free information" phone number three times, but neglects to mention the John Birch Society, or the fact that there's a $7 cover at the door.
So, as Ron Paul prepares to tilt at another presidential primary windmill, McManus has shifted his choice of target -- from Obama and the Democrats to neocon Republicans.
Presumably that's not a coincidence.
Local Birchers have been busy in other ways.
Their de facto leader Kevin McCashion has been holding monthly Sons of Liberty meetings, based on the 100/10/6 Bircher recruitment strategy outlined here.
Basically, everyone who shows up will be encouraged/pressured to recruit six friends and family to come to meetings, contact 10 “opinion molders – businessmen, pastors, etc., that have sway over a large group of people," and hand out Bircher literature to 100 people.
McCashion is also running his girlfriend for a seat on the Troy City Council this year.
Another local Bircher, who goes by the pseudonym Spyder, reverted to old-time Bircher red-baiting with his report, on McCashion's DailySok (get it?) website, about a town hall meeting held by tea party Rep. Chris Gibson, NY-20, on Monday, headlined "Commie Activity at Gibson Town Hall NY-20".
Tonight the communists from moveon.org successfully out maneuvered any Gibson supporters. The group, led by “Gitmo” Joe Seeman, were prepared to monopolize the discussion at the Malta Town Hall by effectively taking over the microphone.
snip
It was obvious that the communists who lined up to question and accuse Gibson had their questions prepared, and their notions preconceived, because all he talked about was how he was going to save those unconstitutional programs, rather than finding a way to abort them like a democrat at a baby shower, while all they did was whine about their fantasy that he was going to cut them.
Calling Democrats communists, and New Deal/Great Society programs like Social Security and Medicare unconstitutional, is classic Bircherism.
Because the JBS was created by rich people like Robert Welch and Fred Koch to repeal the New Deal by smearing/discrediting New Deal supporters (both Democrats and Republicans like Dwight Eisenhower) as commies.
Our local Birchers have learned their lessons well, but they face a basic political problem -- a vast majority of Americans disagree with their program to eliminate Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, the federal income tax, environmental regulation, etc.
And try as they might to recruit a few more tea party types to their ultra-reactionary cause, they will inevitably fail.
So, what are the Birchers up to in your area? Are they tea party leaders? Are they dissing Republican politicians who are insufficiently Bircher?
Do tell.
P.S. As I was working on this, a presumptive Bircher called into local talk radio (Al Roney's show on WGDJ, just after 5 p.m.) to promote McManus' appearance, and said that he wanted to kill Democratic politicians who supported government programs he did not like.
There are more like him around here, and this is not the first time that they've fantasized about killing Democrats.