What would JFK say to Obama? (tea party = John Birch Society)

[pampango]

For the past week or so, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about John F. Kennedy, and what he might say were he to be here now.

So, in memory, and with deference, if he could reach across time to another young president, Barack Obama, here is some of what I think he might say:

* Exit is an action, not a strategy, Mr. President. Begin phased withdrawal from Afghanistan now.

* Democrats, in Congress, must quickly identify those tea party (John Birch Society) members who are among their ranks, the usual suspects who were around in the 1960s, too, and make sure that the electorate knows that when they vote for Dick Armey, Rand Paul, and others, they might as well be voting for Koch Industries, a company that was founded by a Texan, Fred Koch, who was also a founding member of the John Birch Society. His message, back in 1958, is virtually indistinguishable from that of the tea party today.

* Restore the rule of law. Waterboarding is torture, and it is illegal. It is no less illegal when the president’s counsel says it is. Prosecute those who defy the rule of law whether they be Army privates, or presidents.

* The U.S. needs to join the global economy, not fight it.

* End the trade embargo against Cuba, and allow for open and free trade with that country.

* Initiate a new public works program that encourages energy independence by designing and implementing solar and wind power in lieu of electricity in federal office buildings for starters, and work for electric-powered trucks, buses, and airplanes.

http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_6608.shtml
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The John Birch Society is an American radical right-wing political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, Americentrism, and personal freedom.

The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, which it sees as based on Christian principles. It opposes collectivism, including wealth redistribution, economic interventionism, socialism, communism, and fascism. In a 1983 edition of Crossfire, Congressman Larry McDonald (D-Georgia), then its newly appointed president, characterized the society as belonging to the Old Right rather than the New Right.

The society opposed aspects of the civil rights movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions - for instance, in August 1965, the JBS ran a full-page ad in many U.S. newspapers entitled “What’s Wrong With Civil Rights?” and one of the answers provided by the JBS was: “For the civil rights movement in the United States with all of its growing agitation and riots and bitterness, and insidious steps toward the appearance of civil war, has not been infiltrated by the Communists, as you now frequently hear. It has been deliberately and almost wholly created by the Communists patiently building up to this present stage for more than thirty years.” The society opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, saying it was in violation of the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and overstepped the rights of individual states to enact laws regarding civil rights. The society is against "one world government", and has an immigration reduction view on immigration reform. It opposes the United Nations, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), and other free trade agreements. The society argues that there is a devaluing of the U.S. Constitution in favor of political and economic globalization, and that this trend is not an accident. It cites the existence of the Security and Prosperity Partnership as evidence of a push towards a North American Union.

It has been described as "ultraconservative", "far right", and "extremist". The Southern Poverty Law Center, lists the society as a "'Patriot' Group". Its definition of patriot groups includes: "Generally, Patriot groups define themselves as opposed to the 'New World Order' or advocate or adhere to extreme antigovernment doctrines".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Birch_Society

Does sound like the tea party is just an updated version of the JBS.

[pocoloco]

1. "Don't fuck with the CIA or MIC!!"

[Ramonez]

2. LOL

So true. RFK would say the same thing.