Remember how one unstable politician from Wisconsin turned America into a chaotic backdrop for selectionism and intolerance? Well…with the input of bottomless ignorance and drunken religious devotion to a twisted version of Christianity, mixed in with a rallying cry for patriotism that they cannot define…we are susceptible yet again.

And coincidentally enough, yet another unstable politician from Wisconsin/Minnesota area of the United States, is a prominent member of this sect, Michelle Bachman. (And then there is Palin who has affected an accent like she is as well.) As we know, they have a LOT of company! But this is a very serious topic because even though we have faced these threats to our freedoms in the past, we are quickly hit with the amnesia stick. Yes…it can happen here. Ed Tubbs writes…

“[...] in the early ’50s when Joseph McCarthy, the junior Republican senator from Wisconsin, was running roughshod over the entire nation[...] Absent from his accusations that one actually was a communist (A guaranteed right under the constitution, by the way.) was the least evidence the accusation held even a modicum of merit. Even inadvertent association — conversing at a cocktail party with someone who at some other moment might also have inadvertently acquainted a suspected communist, or, through curiosity, checking out a book from the library on communism — was sufficient.

It was guilt by association and mere accusation, and, contrary to the most basic foundations of law, it was to the accused to prove his or her innocence of the levied charge, which, as I’ll note momentarily, was impossible. Presumed as well as expressed within the suspicions orated was the notion that, according to McCarthy, one was either insufficiently American or was completely anti-American to the point one might therefore reasonably be regarded as a communist agent, a conspiring, treasonous traitor. And those accused had only two options available: one, admit to the charge, or two, contest the charge, which was manifested proof of the charge’s validity.

Think about that: “denounced.” Republicans and their Glenn Beck/Sarah Palin/Fox News/Rush Limbaugh prime movers no longer engage in genuine debate of any issue. Debate is not what they are interested in. Without facts nor need for facts, they denounce those they feel should be denounced according to whatever whim meets their ad hoc purpose. As Beck, with rivulets of tears glistening on his cheeks, cries, “I l-o-v-e my country . . . and it’s being destroyed. And the proof isn’t hiding in some dark closet, it’s all around us, in plain sight, for all to see — just open your eyes!”

If the rants from Beck et al were relegated to the disdain heap for what they ought to be, fodder for riotous laughter akin to The Three Stooges, there would be no issue to concern ourselves with. But they are not. They are fodder for civil riots. And one can almost see Beck and friends sitting back in their multi-million dollar easy chairs, their faces a mask of self-congratulatory smiles, as Jeffersonian America unravels and burns, and awaits the self-anointed messiah.”

History does repeat itself, and just like Palin, McCarthy was a pathological liar. He not only whipped up hysteria around accusations of communists directed at those he opposed politically and socially, but he routinely exaggerated and/or outright fabricated sensationalized and flattering renditions of who he was. Those pesky details of truth like his gambling and alcohol addictions, his fabricated war record to garner a medal, his prejudice and bigotries only got in the way of who HE saw himself as.

McCarthy’s list of State Department communists vacillated between 205 to 57 depending on what day he was speaking. Just like today with Palin’s death panel assertions, no facts or fact checking is welcome or needed. They can literally make stuff up and throw out ridiculous fabrications as long as they use the requisite number of references to ‘patriots’, ‘rell Amarikans’ and the evil communist/fascist/marxist/liberal bastards.

So when we are all tempted to dismiss these wingnuts because…well, because they are indeed WINGNUTS…just don’t get too sure of ourselves. Always take a history lesson moment to remember where we have been and where we could end up if we fail to learn from that past.

Just because Palin isn’t holding a title beyond her divine one, doesn’t negate the fact that elected members like Coburn, Bachman, Inhofe and the like are already there! Clearly Plain doesn’t own the patent on this kind of insane crazy. I have zero doubt that there are enough of them in there already that would love an inquisition!

…just more fodder for being vigilant candidate monitors!