So this is making the rounds on #Shitter, trying to paint democracy as the cause of fascism. Does anyone know the source and origin of this clip or who the speaker is? Dan somebody?
@DemocracyMattersALot
I recall seeing that before, but can't remember who that was or what group was promoting that same old anti-democratic crap with that elitist BS.
Anyways, this is tangential, but may have been from around the same timeframe. Our forebearers attempting to defend democracy made a huge mistake by allowing them to put "under god" in our pledge and "in god we trust" on our money.
I think we need to start trying to reverse that mistake after this election.
@DemocracyMattersALot I'm not recalling his name but he's a Bircher and spouting typical Bircher fascist friendly bullshit.
Not all Birchers were fascist but pretty much all Birchers preferred fascism to their boogie man, communism, which fascists like Henry Ford, Father Coughlin, Charles Lindbergh and Adolf Hitler called a Jewish plot a generation before him.
This evil jackass comes from post wwii illiberalism fueled by the Red Scare. The video is, I'm guessing, from that period.
@DemocracyMattersALot The Birchers were known for being "crackpots". They tried to have Eisenhower and Earl Warren impeached.
The issue of course is the Nazis, the Italian fascists, Vichy French, Francosl's fascists, etc were all probably crack pots too (as was Stalin on the other side of the spectrum). Doesn't make them less dangerous.
@DemocracyMattersALot Matthew Dallek' excellent book Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right mentions him in four times in the index. Pretty spread out.
The image is from Dr. Strangelove, obviously. The conspiracy General Ripper was on about was very real and Dan Smoot was one of if not the biggest promoter of it.