Congratulations John McCain

John McCain, I would like to congratulate you. You done good, my friend. I never thought that you or any other politician in my lifetime could bring back McCarthyism. But you did it! Well done. I think it’s a wonderful idea to bring back that homey, warm and fuzzy time when this country sought out citizens that didn’t go along with the wishes of the vast majority of patriotic, well-meaning and hard-working Americans.

The sad thing is that describing the McCarthy era as anything but a hateful witch hunt meant to seek out anyone who uses their brain and dares to think differently than what a few politicians or the mainstream media tell them to think and what to say is just terribly inaccurate. I wasn’t around in the early ‘50s, but it was a frightful time and a horrible blight on a time in our history when this country was emerging from World War II and on its way to prosperity and promise, but also a time when this country was in an arms race and very fearful of the Iron Curtain and the old Soviet Union.

The key element of the climate that Joe McCarthy and his cronies brought to the United States is accusing anyone whom they targeted as Communist subversives, people who hated this country and somehow supported another country or political system and therefore needed to be identified, brought before a committee and blacklisted if this kangaroo court style committee found you guilty of not being one of them.

But the scariest part, I think, is that the accusation was enough. There was many times no basis in fact or reality, and just the mere accusation was enough to destroy your credibility and/or livelihood. If you happened to be in the presence of another accused person, happened to read certain reading material and periodicals or maybe even looked like a non-patriot, that was enough to make them point the finger at you. Does that remind you of anyone’s campaign rhetoric and what we’re hearing lately?

Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota yesterday went far enough to bring the McCain-Palin brand of hate into a new focus, actually calling for some sort of study or committee (sound familiar?) to decide which Congress people are true patriots and love this country and which don’t. If this absurd and disgusting idea came to fruition, then I would presume that it wouldn’t be long before this committee started to turn its attention on you and me, and I’ll take a long-shot guess as to which side this committee may find me on.

This is where the hate speech and fear tactics of the new John McCain campaign has brought us. Just the fact that these ideas are being floated should make us very fearful of anyone associated with the McCain-Palin campaign getting anywhere near the White House. Let’s send these bigots, these fear-mongers and these self-righteous racist bullies a message and work our butts off to make certain that everyone gets to the polls and that everyone knows why John McCain should not be our president and why Barack Obama should.