It Cannot Happen In America - Again

On February 9, 1950, a little-known and undistinguished senator from Wisconsin gave a luncheon speech in Wheeling, West Virginia.  In that speech, Joe McCarthy waived a sheet of paper in the air that he claimed listed 205 people working in the U.S. Department of State that were supposedly members of the Communist Party.  But McCarthy actually showed that piece of paper to no one.  Thus began a four-year assault on the character and reputations of countless individuals in the court of public opinion, but which produced no legal convictions of criminal or treasonable activity whatsoever.

Russia, our World War II ally, had become America’s principal peacetime foe.  Their postwar conduct internationally had led to a national paranoia that believed Communist supporters and spies were everywhere, a suspicious climate fueled by self-promoting politicians and sensational elements of the news media.  In this setting, Joe McCarthy did not invent “Congressional terrorism,” an assault on Constitutional liberties perpetrated by Congresspersons undeserving of their office.  That beginning is more properly attributed to the House Un-American Activities Committee of the late 1940s, with their attempt to decry any perceived lack of patriotism as un-American if not treasonable.  But Joe McCarthy raised such political terrorism to a new height and gave it a human face.  Virtually no one in power spoke out against McCarthy, and he raged through the shreds of our Constitution for four years until his endless one-note stream of unsubstantiated accusations finally caught up with him.  After the public finally tired and turned on McCarthy, his Senate colleagues voted to “condemn” him after his years of unrestricted rampage.  People had said that the trampling of the Constitution could not happen in America, that people’s right to innocence until proven otherwise was our fundamental right never to be denied.  But it did happen in America, and “McCarthyism” would forever after define political demagoguery by innuendo, smear, and unproven questions of one’s patriotism.

Fast forward to 2012.  In July, Representative Michele Bachman of Minnesota and four other Republican Congressmen (from Arizona, Texas, Florida and Georgia) sent letters to government agencies demanding an investigation into a supposed “subversive infiltration of our government” by the Muslim Brotherhood.  Singled out in these allegations were charges directed towards one Huma Abedin, a Muslim-American with broad bipartisan support who serves as Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  No details, no examples, no documentation, no substantiation of this supposed infiltration were offered by any of the Congresspersons.  Ms. Bachman, who has a long and documented history of publicly displaying an absence of concern about facts, history or substance – combined with an apparent willingness to say anything about anything to garner political attention – once again offered nothing to support her outrageous accusations.

This time, however, condemnation was quick from bipartisan quarters at high levels of visibility.  Secretary Clinton said that claims of Ms. Abedin’s ties to the Muslim Brotherhood “have no place in our politics.”  Senator John McCain called the accusations “an unwarranted and unfounded attack on an honorable woman.”  House Speaker John Boehner called the accusers’ charges “pretty dangerous.”  And Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, while not condemning Bachman & Company outright, had previously stated that “It is absolutely wrong to stereotype or look badly at anyone because of their religion.  It is a bad thing to look at a Muslim and think bad things.”  Since originally sending these letters, these five Congresspersons have since been notably silent.  No apology offered, but no further press for their dubious case.

In the 1950s, Communism and the seeing of Communists in every alleyway was the tool of the demagogue.  Innocent people who had identified with peace movements and economic communism decades before – all then fully legal activities – were hounded from their livelihoods for no ethical or legal reason.  It was made all possible out of public fear and political opportunism.

Today, the scapegoat is the Muslim, including our bona-fide Muslim-AMERICANS.  Like “Communism” in the 1950s, “Muslim” is the fear word towards which people react with minimal-to-no knowledge of substance.  And there appears to be no end to the people willing to aggravate and trade on that public fear.  People willing to strike out against people who have done nothing more than choose to be different from their accusers.

Meanwhile, back in Egypt, the actual Muslim Brotherhood organization is trying with their other countrymen to bring order and a new form of government to a country dominated by military dictators (with U.S. assistance) for the last sixty years.  A ranking leader of the organization was asked about the Brotherhood’s infiltration of the U.S. government.  The spokesperson, Ibrahim ali Iraqi, responded by saying, “The Muslim Brotherhood cannot even penetrate the Egyptian government!”  So much for a fearsome enemy, who has much bigger problems on their hands right now.

Two weeks ago, a member of America’s domestic white supremacy movement walked into a Sikh temple in Wisconsin just before the beginning of Sunday services.  The Sikhs are a religious group from India who believe devotedly in peace, social justice for all, in the name of one God.  Into this peaceful setting, this gunman massacred six defenseless worshipers before killing himself after being wounded by police.  His particular reason for selecting this Sikh temple to vent his rage is still unknown.

Given the pattern of exploited hate that we have experienced in this country, where should we in fact be looking to find the greatest threat to our country?  The threat to our best values, and our promise of freedom and equality for all, no matter our differences?