[WS:] You quibble over semantics. It does not matter whether it is called "McCarthyism or "the Truman era." What matters is that it is the modus operandi of the American version of capitalism, which can be called "fair weather democracy." This means that the US state operates in a more or less democratic fashion as long as the vital interests of plutocrats are not seriously threatened. When they are, democracy temporarily takes the back seat, and special "corrective measures" are temporarily implemented to neutralize that threat. After that, democratic rules are restored with great fanfare, excesses of the 'corrective measures" are condemned, and the vitality and superiority of the US political system are solemnly affirmed until the interests of the elite are threatened again, and the cycle is repeated.
This is the normal operation of the US gangster capitalism and has nothing to do with following or not following the DP. Your rants against DP on this list sound like a Republican false flag campaign.
Wojtek
On Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> Doug Henwood
>
> On Mar 28, 2011, at 10:16 AM, ken hanly wrote:
>
>> Krugman claims that the attack on academics through the Republican
>> conservative thought police is Un-American. Surely it is as American as
> apple
>> pie. Communist witch hunts have just been replaced by liberal lefty witch
> hunts.
>> The dawn of neo-McCarthyism.
>
> And Dems were hardly innocent during the McCarthy era. A lot of that
> anti-Communist crap started under Truman.
>
> Also: my friend Corey Robin says that Cronon was deeply opposed to the
> attempts of the grad students to organize a union at Yale. He's changed his
> tune apparently, now that his ox is being gored.
>
> =====
>
> Indeed. "McCarthyism" is a serious misnomer, and it distorts any
> understanding of the Great Red Hunt. (Actually, it started under Wilson:
> Remember the Palmer Raids.) It was well underway and had already claimed a
> number of victims when the opportunist McCarthy climbed aboard. It really
> should be called The Truman Era.
>
> Footnote: The CP influenced quite a number of votes in Wisconsin. They
> supported McCarthy against La Follette because they thought he would be a
> weaker opponent in the general election! Tailing the DP leads to many
> strange and dark corners.
>
> Carrol
>
>
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>