So, Rep. Allen West鈥擱epublican from 1955鈥攊s apparently trying to single-handedly refight the Cold War. At an today, somebody asked the Florida lawmaker how many members of Congress are 鈥渃ard-carrying Marxists.鈥� His answer: 鈥淸n]o, it鈥檚 a good question. I believe there is about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party. . . . It鈥檚 called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.鈥�
First, ROTFL.
Second, the 老澳门开奖结果 really should trademark the whole thing.
Third, just fyi, Marxists aren鈥檛 necessarily the same as Communists and Communists aren鈥檛 necessarily the same as socialists. So, let鈥檚 get our ideological buckets and political parties straight, sir.
Fourth, even if this hilarious statement is true, which it obviously is not, who cares? This is the post-McCarthy-era. The days of red-baiting are (or should be) long past, especially among our elected representatives.
Finally, and for serious, while Congressman West also has a First Amendment right to make funny jokes about fifth columns (the old-timey term for secret Soviet sympathizers), this is dangerous stuff, and we forget that at our peril. Loyal and patriotic Americans during the Red Scares simply because of what they believed or, just as bad, because the people who 鈥渘amed names鈥� named their name. While there was certainly a threat of Soviet espionage (a threat long gone in 2012), the tragedy of the Communist witch-hunts must never be repeated.
, Oscar-winning screenwriter of M*A*S*H, faced questioning in 1947 from the , or HUAC, which originally formed in World War II to investigate fascism and morphed in the early years of the Cold War into a showboating Communist hunter.
Asked the infamous question, 鈥淎re you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?鈥� Lardner, invoking his First Amendment rights, said, 鈥淚 could answer [the question], but if I did, .鈥� He was held in contempt, fined, jailed for a year in federal prison in Connecticut, and wasn鈥檛 able to work in Hollywood for almost 20 years. All for attempting to exercise his constitutional right to believe as his conscience dictated.
While we would be the first to acknowledge Representative West鈥檚 right to speak his mind (and we do hope this was tongue in cheek), it鈥檚 incredible that he would echo the words of that inglorious past.
