McCarthyism Reincarnated In This Years Presidential & Congressional Elections

October 25, 2008

The Facts

Michele Bachmann, a member of the US House of Representatives from Minnesota’s 6th district, was interviewed on October 17th by Chris Matthews of MSNBC. In the interview, Bachmann questioned whether or not many members of Congress may be anti-American; something she had already accused Barak Obama of being.

Bachmann is up for reelection this November, running against Elwyn Tinklenberg who is a Democrat. As a result of Bachmann’s interview with Matthews, Minnesotan’s & others have contributed more than $650,000 to Tinklenberg’s campaign; $200 per minutes immediately after the interview.

My View

SIDE NOTE: I hope this episode with Michele Bachmann will not be immediately dismissed just because she was interviewed by Chris Matthews, a reporter who obviously supports the Democratic Party. Regardless of the interviewer, it’s what the interviewee says that’s important. As for myself, I tend to watch all the controversial interviewers on all news channels because that is the best way I know of to hear all sides, both pro and con. Then, considering myself intelligent enough to not believe everything that is said, I research the issue when called for. Unfortunately for Bachmann, the words came right out of her mouth in this case.

Michele Bachmann is echoing sentiments of Senator Joe McCarthy from the early 1950′s. However, since the interview she is calling her critics liars, although many of them are Republicans, and blaming Chris Matthews for what she said.

Not many alive today knew Joe McCarthy or what he stood for, but he is remembered as a person who nearly destroyed American democracy with what came to be known as McCarthyism. In an effort to become famous and powerful, McCarthy became the point dog for what he considered anti-American activities while in the Senate. His most famous captured pose was standing before the camera’s with a large stack of papers claiming the papers list the names of all the people in America who were anti-American, including many members of government. Unfortunately for McCarthy, he mislaid the stack of papers and someone picked them up to reveal that there was not a single name on the papers.

Although I was too young during the McCarthy reign to know what was going on, his endeavors were taught to us in our formal school years, mostly in an effort to show us just how fragile our democracy was. What McCarthy did and almost achieved had a great impact on me and has stuck with me through out my life. Had he not misplaced those blank pieces of paper, the truth may never have been known. And although he destroyed dozens of people’s lives with his accusations, we will never know just how much more damage he could have done to our country had he not been exposed.

I have already referenced Joseph McCarthy in two previous posts; this one and this one. And each time I do so, it is an attempt to remind people that we should learn from our own history. Unfortunately, we seem to let our political party preference’s get in the way. We never seem to realize the damage we are doing to our country by endorsing these kinds of actions. The only time we seem to acknowledge it is when it’s being used against the party we support. But as I also said in another post, we must be careful of what rules we make or endorse, for those rules may be used against us.