Are we living in the second era of McCarthyism?

discuss...

I missed the McCarthy years (and the Spanish Inquisition) but sure seems to be similarities between those historical accounts and today.:scared:

I will do damned cartwheel in the streets.

What is coming is far worse, I believe, and will become more obvious as economic or perhaps other calamities strip the thinnest of veneers away from Imperial Amnerika to reveal the Totalitarian State who's presence was masked by relative "Good Times".

Notice I said RELATIVE, for to the poor bastards living in Imperial Amerika in 2050, this time of BushPutinist Totalitarian Dawn will be The Good Old Days.

Poor bastards. I wouldn't give a bucket of spit to be a young person in Amerika 2050. Not a bucket of warm spit!

That was 1995, if you can remember that.

We're in retro-Nixon stages at the moment.

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I recently put together a presentation on the Patriot Act, placing it within the context of previous times in American history when state power was centralized and dissent silenced.

I believe we have entered another phase similar to the McCarthy era in particular (and other instances in our history) based on my research.

Here's one interesting parallel I found:

1950s
The extent to which dissent was stifled in the 1950s was illustrated by the Capital-Times in Madison, Wisconsin when they drafted a petition on July 4, 1951 made up entirely of quotes from the United States Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence. When a reporter tried to collect signatures. 111 out of 112 people on the street refused to sign the petition. Other papers around the U.S. tried the same experiment and encountered similar results. Many people went as far as urging that the FBI be called in to investigate the subversive petition. Most people did not want to get involved in any controversial statements. Most people thought that the phrases must have been written by Communists.

Now

The Yes Men (a political prankster group) distributed a petition during the last presidential campaign that included the following:

THE USA PATRIOT PLEDGE (on http://yesbushcan.com/pledge.shtml)

I volunteer to give up some constitutional rights to support the war on terrorism.

Specifically:
I volunteer to allow government agents to search my home without warrant.
I volunteer to have my phone tapped and my internet use monitored.
I volunteer to allow government agents access to my medical records.
Doctor’s name and address:
Major diseases:
Medications:

I volunteer to allow government agents access to what I read at the library.

Last books and magazines I have read:

I prefer TV.

I volunteer to further give up the following constitutional rights (describe here):


According to Harper's, they received over 200 affirmative responses at least.

Nothing empirical, I know, but I thought it was an interesting similarity.

... will be played by Jeff Gannon. (Or is it Jim Guckert?)

Still to be cast is the pivitol role of George W. Bush, but Hollywood insiders say negotiations are underway to sign the chimpanze who attacked the couple in California and ripped off the man's face at the Prez.