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tweakabelle -> RE: The Religious Right and '50s McCarthyism (3/16/2012 3:50:40 AM)
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From where I sit, this topic deserves very serious consideration.
The dangers of right wing populism, or without a religious base or foundation, are self evident to anyone with even a surface knowledge of 20th century history.
In post-war USA, the noxious movement was expressed through the McCarthyism of 1950s. - a movement now considered totally discredited by virtually everyone. Many Americans look back at the McCarthy era with a great sense of shame. For many non-Americans, this shame was expunged by the great civil rights movement that re-affirmed the principles of freedom underlying the USA's foundation.
It's certainly possible to argue that the civil rights movement, and the massive improvement in life and liberty for blacks, minorities, women and sexual minorities that resulted from it, as well as the cultural explosion of subsequent decades, was to some extent a direct consequence of, and an escape from the stifling tyranny of the McCarthy era. In this view, the Right's current full frontal attack on womens rights, voting rights, health care is its counter attack.
So, in this view, there's half a century of progress, of increasing freedoms and liberty, of social justice advances at stake here. And the cost of losing is a return to the tyranny of the McCarthy era. It be truly a tragedy, not just for Americans, but for the entire world, if the vast majority of Americans, who are committed to democracy and human rights allow the Right to have its way, either by default or through apathy.
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