Déjà Vu All Over Again
McCarthyism and the Red Scare, Part I: Dirty Tactics
Senator Joe McCarthy* and the Red Scare of the 1950s have been on my mind a lot lately. McCarthy took the very real fear many Americans felt about the spread of communism** and turned them into an official witch-hunt for his personal political benefit. Born to a Wisconsin farm family in 1908, McCarthy left school…
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Déjà Vu All Over Again: The Know Nothing Party
A major political party divided against itself. Fear of profound social changes. A populist movement that feared America was in decline and looked for a leader that would make the country great again. Virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric and fear that members of a “foreign” religious group are a threat to–well– pretty much everything.* Sound familiar? Welcome…
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Déjà Vu All Over Again: Building a Wall
Last week while we all blew noisemakers and wore party hats to celebrate the the 100th anniversary of America’s National Park Service, we let another anniversary slip by with less fanfare. On August 26, 1961, the Berlin Wall became more than just a barbed wire and cinder block barricade. If you want a vivid and…
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