A Voice From the Grave: McCarthy and His Men

In 1953, Joseph McCarthy, the infamous 'Communist hunter', sent two of his aides, David Schine and Roy Cohn, on a tour of European libraries of the United States Information Agency for books written by authors they deemed to be Communists or fellow travelers.

The American Press thought they were idiots and the Europeans were not impressed. Nor were the Americans working for the United States Information Agency abroad.

It was a witch hunt and greatly damaged America's reputation.

McCarthyism would spread throughout the entertainment industry, the media, the public service and even the government, as Senator Joe McCarthy ran his anti-Communist campaign.

But when he also targeted the military, Joe was censored.

The anti-Communist rhetoric was mostly dormant for a few decades, until Ronald Reagan was elected. On the advice of his military advisers, Reagan revitalized the Cold War, to justify his enormous increase in military spending. They were also concerned that Mikhail Gorbachev was becoming too popular in the West.

The BBC ran a great documentary series called The Power of Nightmares, available on YouTube, which shows that most of the revived scare was fabricated. It's three hours roughly, in total, but worth watching, even if just a bit at a time.

It also goes into detail on Leo Strauss, the father of the Neoconservative movement.

So after the Berlin Wall came down (which Reagan falsely tried to take credit for), we again had a return to sanity.

But now we have the Tea Party gang and their anti-communist freak show, once again dominating the media. And our government is lapping it up.

In December of 2009, University of California professor, Michael Allen, wrote a mocking piece on our government: The D-word out of favor? Don’t tell the Canadians

Apparently they are now launching a campaign to 'spread democracy' and fight Communism.

But Allen needn't worry. Nobody did tell Canadians. Our media was busy that day (Week? Month? Five years?).

Seeing as how we're taking over the American 'democracy' business, and our government has been ramping up their anti-communist "the sky is falling' nonsense, the next logical step would be to introduce American immigration policies to keep out those darn 'Commies' and 'Ruskies'.

Or heaven forbid, Jason Kenney's worst nightmare: A Russian communist lesbian with a gay brother, a good job, a university education, who previously marched in an anti-Iraq war rally carrying a copy of Das Kapital.

Before entering the United States as an immigrant, you must complete The American Immigration and Naturalization Service form I-485. On the third page, applicants must indicate if they have committed any crimes or participated in any terrorist organizations. The sixth question is, “Have you ever been a member of, or in anyway affiliated with, the Communist Party or any other totalitarian party?” Through enforcement by immigration police, the U.S. is strict about not admitting Communist Party members and terrorists, who they appear to view as one and the same.

At least in terms of form I-485.

Now Jason Kenney and Stephen Harper have redrafted our immigration applications, also targeting communists. According to John Ibbitson.

The new forms require any visa applicant who has served in the military, police or civil defence services to disclose when they served, what unit they served in, where that unit was located and what were their responsibilities.In Russia, which enforces mandatory military service, providing such information to a foreign government is punishable by up to four years in prison.

The new forms require any visa applicant who has served in the military, police or civil defence services to disclose when they served, what unit they served in, where that unit was located and what were their responsibilities.In Russia, which enforces mandatory military service, providing such information to a foreign government is punishable by up to four years in prison. ... Russian and Canadian officials are to discuss the new visa requirements next month. But Mr. Petrov warned that if there is no progress, Russia may retaliate by imposing equally restrictive requirements on Canadians applying for a Russian visa.

When Joe McCarthy began routing out communists from within, it very much angered the Jewish communities, because in Europe they were always lumped in with Marxists. The Nazis were able to convince the populace that the Jews had to be dealt with because they were in cahoots with socialists, who were intent on destroying their country.

One theme that is apparent in Lawrence Martin's new book, Harperland, is Harper's attitude toward foreign policy and the Cold War, nurtured during his days with the anti-Communist crowd like Peter Worthington and Lubor Zink ("Pierre Trudeau is a communist" ... every bloody day. The teabaggers would be proud), and the Religious Right.

The Conservatives are building a monument for the victims of Communism, but they had better be careful. This could stir up a lot of unnecessary ill will, with dueling history lessons.

And besides. Michael Ignatieff's family was the victim of Communism, as they were forced to flee Russia or face certain death. Will he be cutting the ribbon? Not bloody likely.

We have got to start paying attention. These are not isolated incidents. Harper has a foreign policy agenda, and with the UN out of the picture, there is no one to stop him.

Wake up people, before these morons do something really stupid.