November 20, 2010

Birchers. Again.

By J.R. Dunn
In the comments to my piece on Beck v. Soros,  there were a number of postings suggesting that the John Birch Society had it right and that we may as well pick up where they left off. This may sound harmless to many AT readers, particularly the younger ones, to whom John Birch is scarcely even a name. But it's not. What it is is a provocation designed to associate AT, its readers, and, not the least (well, maybe the least), me with one of the most lurid nut cults ever to appear on the extreme right-wing fringe. Because that's what the Birchers were -- a cult. A hermetic, isolated group who believed they had secret knowledge denied everybody else in the U.S. of A. And what was this knowledge? Bircher beliefs can be summed up quite simply:A) That everything that occurs in public life, without exception, is caused by the communists.B) That everybody who is not a Bircher is a communist.Moving on, here are some choice elements of Bircher thought: That Dwight D. Eisenhower was a...(Read Full Article)