It was said, quite properly in my view, that the Popular Front coalition of liberals and Communists, during the mid-to late 1930s New Deal era foundered on the increasingly twisted party line changes that the American Communist Party leaders demanded of its members. The Nazi-Soviet Pact (sometimes called the Hitler-Stalin Pact) of August 1939 was truly the biggest breaking point, and many people who were Communists dropped out of at least active party membership, and liberals left organizations which contained significant Communist Party members in droves.*
I wonder whether the Stormy Daniels revelations, and the ridiculously hypocritical response from evangelical leaders, are moving us ever closer to that sort of break point. It may not because rich donors to the Republican Party continue to find these faith oriented people useful fodder. Hence, the new, invigorating anti-immigrant push in these political circles. And when one considers that one of the evangelicals' leaders biggest political allies are the National Rifle Assn.--Jesus with a gun!--and the N.R.A. may have been useful Russian propaganda tools, well..."Gimme that old time religion" is now being played in a minor key on a balalaika as the hypocrisy in the evangelical and ammosexual ranks build to a polyphonic crescendo.
*This, of course, did not stop Congressional investigators and corporate media pundits from attacking people 20 years later for such membership and coalescing, even though one may rightfully argue that the greatest successes of the New Deal (NLRA, FSLA, Social Security, WPA, CCC) occurred or were given great strength to succeed through that coalition. It is a point Chris Hedges made in his book, The Death of the Liberal Class, where he posits that liberals needed the Reds to show the public the liberals were the true moderates. It is why, in our current topsy-turvy political environment where right wing ideologues are so ascendant and racist language now out in the open in our political discourse, that so many of us now see 1950s President Eisenhower through the eyes of the John Birch Society leaders, like Robert Welch, who saw Ike as essentially a Communist, when we consider Ike's refusal to dismantle, and in fact, Ike's willingness to extend New Deal policies in nationwide road building and development, and his support for 90% marginal income tax rates.
*This, of course, did not stop Congressional investigators and corporate media pundits from attacking people 20 years later for such membership and coalescing, even though one may rightfully argue that the greatest successes of the New Deal (NLRA, FSLA, Social Security, WPA, CCC) occurred or were given great strength to succeed through that coalition. It is a point Chris Hedges made in his book, The Death of the Liberal Class, where he posits that liberals needed the Reds to show the public the liberals were the true moderates. It is why, in our current topsy-turvy political environment where right wing ideologues are so ascendant and racist language now out in the open in our political discourse, that so many of us now see 1950s President Eisenhower through the eyes of the John Birch Society leaders, like Robert Welch, who saw Ike as essentially a Communist, when we consider Ike's refusal to dismantle, and in fact, Ike's willingness to extend New Deal policies in nationwide road building and development, and his support for 90% marginal income tax rates.
