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Skeptic Ginger

Nasty Woman
Skeptic Ginger
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
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96,955
a member of the Communist Party? McCarthyism returns to the federal legislature. :rolleyes:

GOP lawmaker says 75-plus Dems are communists
Addressing a town-hall meeting Tuesday in Florida, the freshman lawmaker was asked how many members of the American legislature are "card-carrying Marxists." West said "there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democratic Party that are members of the Communist Party." He did not provide names.

West's office said Wednesday that the congressman stood by the comments and was referring to the 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the largest group within the House Democratic caucus.

"The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies," said Angela Melvin, a spokeswoman for West. "The Progressive Caucus speaks for itself. These individuals certainly aren't proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom."
West's office cited a May 2010 article on health care that appeared in the Communist Party USA pre-convention publication that described the Progressive Caucus and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., as allies of the party but not members. The article, however, carried the disclaimer that Communist Party USA "takes no responsibility for the opinions expressed in this article or other articles in the pre-convention discussion."
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Well there you go folks, commies like Progressives ergo Progressives are card carrying commies.
 
When I was in college (around 1975) the Communist Party had a booth in the student center and I went by and talked to them. I signed up for a newsletter, but didn't join the party. I got a lot of "interesting" mail for a long time after that. I'm still in favor of some forms of socialism, like Social Security and Food Stamps, but as a political party, they don't offer many good candidates these days. They need to move toward the middle. Like that's gonna happen.
 
They also endorsed Obama. Therefore, Obama is a "card carrying Marxist" :p .

Last year they were connecting the same people to the DSA:

You've heard it from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the Democratic Socialists of America and the author of the commentary that inspired the blog activity: Just because you are a member of the Progressive Caucus does not mean you are a socialist. And none of the caucus members profess to be Socialists, including our Florida Democrats, Brown, Hastings and Wilson. The bloggers go too far in attacking them as socialists, a repeated label for liberals these days. We rate this claim Pants on Fire.
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Linky.

Today we get:

The Progressive Caucus promotes policies that the Communist Party thinks are better for the country than some promoted by other caucuses, but "our support of their policies does not mean they support us or our policies. That is pretty much guilt by association on steroids,’’ Piana said.

We read West’s claim to Bertell Ollman, a professor who teaches political theory at New York University and an expert on Marxism. Ollman said he considers himself a Marxist and a communist with a small "c’’, since he’s not active in a political party.

"I wish he was right," Ollman said of West’s claim. "If it was even 10 percent true I would be dancing in the streets. It would indicate that the Democrats are much more to the left than they really are."
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Linky.

The Communist Party USA is a bit of an odd organisation. Normally you have political parties on the one hand (The Socialist Party USA), and coalitions on the other (The DSA). The Communists have sort of wavered between the two, and in recent years have headed into more coalition territory. That is, they don't put forward ideas or candidates, but back the ones that are already being advanced. They caused a lot of hassle when they endorsed health care reform with a public health option, whilst all the "true" lefties were flocking to Medicare for All. Basically, they are impotent, but still try to keep their big name out there. If you are looking for socialists, I wouldn't start with them.
 
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Tricky said:
When I was in college (around 1975) the Communist Party had a booth in the student center and I went by and talked to them. I signed up for a newsletter, but didn't join the party. I got a lot of "interesting" mail for a long time after that. I'm still in favor of some forms of socialism, like Social Security and Food Stamps, but as a political party, they don't offer many good candidates these days. They need to move toward the middle. Like that's gonna happen.
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I think you missed the point. The thread is about McCarthyesque right wingers currently in the US Congress.

Socialism and communism are not the same thing, BTW. And in the US you can add the highway system, police, fire, education, social security, and medicare, among other things, to the socialism side of the continuum.
 
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I'll add my two cents:

I have never been a member of the Communist Party. Nor do I seek one.

Buuuut, the effort to "root out" Communists in the government is done under the auspices that they are subversive simply for the benefit of a foreign power.

Although I do know that some radical Marxist groups are sympathetic to Communist governments that are very much juxtaposed to liberal Democracy (take N-K for example), the Communist Party, with a big or little 'c' is not one to advocate subjugating the country to another nation.

As much as it would irritate these right-wing nationalists to admit it, the left-wingers are just as patriotic as they are. The Marxists desire to improve the nation is just as strong as those who like to wrap themselves in the flag at every opportunity of public expression.

I think the examples are abound, even going back to the McArthy era and before, where many through-and-through Communists were still primarily seeking to restore equality into the society, through women's suffrage and equal rights to racial minorities.

It's a darn shame that "internationalism" gets so tied up with party unity and party [what's the thesaurus entry where you just accept that's passed on from above??? Stick that here]. At one point it certainly was the same as the proclamation that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights".

In a single word: equality.
 
MattusMaximus said:
Is this development really a surprise to anyone?
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Well, the "socialist" tag was losing its sting (polling actually showed that voters were simply viewing "socialists" more favorably), so it's unsurprising that the wingnuts would double down and go for "commie."
 
Tricky said:
When I was in college (around 1975) the Communist Party had a booth in the student center and I went by and talked to them. I signed up for a newsletter, but didn't join the party. I got a lot of "interesting" mail for a long time after that. I'm still in favor of some forms of socialism, like Social Security and Food Stamps, but as a political party, they don't offer many good candidates these days. They need to move toward the middle. Like that's gonna happen.
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Well that's an interesting proposition. Suppose a new continent was discovered, and the first people there set up a new United States, where freedom from government was the rule. People flock to it. In 50 years it becomes the dominant economic entity on the planet, leaving the US in the dust the way the US left Europe in the dust.

Should populists leading people on crusades gradually hack away at that, turning it into an ever-expanding government with an ever-decreasing private sector. Iatrogenic government?

What if this is a chronic problem, with no political escape?

In a free country, you can set up your own commune. In a communist country, you are not free to set up anything else.
 
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What I love is that the CP-USA acknowledges that this would be a bad thing for Democrats:

“I just think it’s an absurd way to cast a shadow over his colleagues. It’s kind of a sad ploy,” Libero Della Piana, a vice-chairman of the national Communist Party, said of the Florida Republican’s charge that about 80 House Democrats were members of the radical party.
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Cast a shadow?

In fact, West simply pointed out that the House Progressive Caucus might as well be the Communist Party. It's fair to say that's a bit over the top, but only a bit.
 
So I clicked the link and as soon as I scrolled down far enough to find a photo, I realized that this quote came from a scumbag who was never fit to hold public office in the first place, so I am not too worried about that dirtbag's ability to raise much a movement to purge the congress of the people who his ear crickets claim are commies.

Forget the torture monkey.
 
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Dunstan said:
Well, the "socialist" tag was losing its sting (polling actually showed that voters were simply viewing "socialists" more favorably), so it's unsurprising that the wingnuts would double down and go for "commie."
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That's an interesting thought. I believe the term, progressive, was itself adopted after 'liberal' was turned into a negative word.
 
Beerina said:
Well that's an interesting proposition. Suppose a new continent was discovered, and the first people there set up a new United States, where freedom from government was the rule. People flock to it. In 50 years it becomes the dominant economic entity on the planet, leaving the US in the dust the way the US left Europe in the dust.

Should populists leading people on crusades gradually hack away at that, turning it into an ever-expanding government with an ever-decreasing private sector. Iatrogenic government?

What if this is a chronic problem, with no political escape?

In a free country, you can set up your own commune. In a communist country, you are not free to set up anything else.
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What are you even talking about? Are you convinced then, that the Progressive Caucus is infested with commies?
 
Dunstan said:
Well, the "socialist" tag was losing its sting (polling actually showed that voters were simply viewing "socialists" more favorably), so it's unsurprising that the wingnuts would double down and go for "commie."
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I'm really surprised that this has not happened in reverse. The Cold War is long over. Communism just isn't the bogie man it once was. Who's afraid of the Red Scare? In particular how many twentysomethings even know what the USSR was?

I think there are few - if any - countries that explicitly advocate Communism. Cuba, some South American countries; any others? But there are plenty of countries with varying degrees of socialist policies that would seem better (read, more potent) for use as a scare tactic.
 
Brainster said:
What I love is that the CP-USA acknowledges that this would be a bad thing for Democrats:



Cast a shadow?

In fact, West simply pointed out that the House Progressive Caucus might as well be the Communist Party. It's fair to say that's a bit over the top, but only a bit.
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How do you stand it living with those socialist police and fire departments? And that commie built highway system, that must drive you nuts.
 
Brainster said:
In fact, West simply pointed out that the House Progressive Caucus might as well be the Communist Party. It's fair to say that's a bit over the top, but only a bit.
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Horse feathers. West is a ranting lunatic who would have wound up in jail had we had a decent Sec Def while he was on active duty.
 
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