Michael C. Moynihan | June 26, 2009
The New York Times says that, in the era of Barack Obama, Glenn Beck, and Lou Dobbs, the anti-communist John Birch Society is seeing something that resembles a popular resurgence. No membership figures are provided, though readers are helpfully pointed to the "handsome" (and completely insane) Birch website and provided with the typical quotes of nutball members accusing Harry Truman of being a Red agent. A snippet:
Yet for others, the John Birch Society is urgently relevant to the matters of today, in its support of secure borders and limited government, its distrust of the Federal Reserve and the United Nations, and its belief in a conspiracy to merge Mexico, Canada and the United States.
This so-called North American Union, it asserts, is part of a larger plot by an amorphous, amoral group of powerful elite — including but not limited to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Trilateral Commission and the Rockefellers — to take over planet Earth. Call it the New World Order.
Some of these theories may sound like cable television chatter, or the synopsis of a Dan Brown bestseller. But Birch leaders say this plot is real, with roots going back more than 200 years to a secret, insidious brotherhood called the Illuminati, and with most American presidents among its many dupes and abettors.
“We’ve always referred to it as a Satanic conspiracy,” said Arthur Thompson, the society’s chief executive, sitting beside an American flag.
Title reference explained in the video below:
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What's worse for the face of limited government advocates? These nutjobs or moral failures like Sanford?
So was George H W Bush a Bircher? Since he believed in a "New World Order", he said that making the world safe for the hereditary dictatorship of Kuwait was part of that plan.
'Some of these theories may sound like cable television chatter,
or the synopsis of a Dan Brown bestseller.'
Ouch - Dan Brown wants his anti-Catholic nonsense to be taken
seriously, but when even the *New York Times* uses his conspiracy
theories as a punch-line, he has clearly failed.
Only weirdos and Hollywood people can keep a straight face about
Brown's ideas.
You know I am gay and an anarchist and I think Birchers, from what little I read on the net, are less stupid and dishonest than the chattering monkeys on NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN. And probably less bigoted.
If Big Bro is to be defeated, it will not be because of beltway
libertarians or libertarians afflicted with mild cases of political
correctness or libertarians who really don't mind that taxpayers
are raped so that AIPAC gets fed. That's fo sure.
Having said that, Birchers and Buddhists ain't into rent seeking.
They ain't into AIPAC. They ain't into the income tax. They ain't
into empire.
I say unto thee verily, that those who provide succour to the rent
seekers are the NUTJOBS!
"Well it's a well know fact, sonny Jim, that there's a group of the five wealthiest people in the world known as the pentaverate, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers. And meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion known as, the Meadows. 2.) So who's in this pentaverate? 1.) The Queen, The Vatican, The Gettes, The Rothchilds and Col. Sanders before he went tets up."
"..roots going back 200 years...with most American presidents
among its many dupes and abettors."
200 years and these dangerous conspirators haven't achieved their
aims yet?
100 years ago, if you gave a brief description of the powers
that the federal government now exercises over the US -- and which
all but a few so-called nutjobs now consider legitimate -- they
would dismiss you as a doomsayer and a conspiracy theorist. Look
how the conventional wisdom of the time treated the people who
hypothesized that that "emergency" income tax instituted to pay for
WW1 might become permanent and be raised as high as 10% of a
person's income!
Not saying everything the Birchers claim is true, but the knee jerk
reaction of dismissing any claim of clandestine, sinister
machinations among a small cluster of elites as "conspiracy theory"
does the cause of liberty no good. That kind of attitude is mighty
convenient for said clusters of elites.
Big Picture:
You want practical? How about this?
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
You want wimpy, worried about how it plays in politically correct
Peoria, libertarian?
Look at that those nutjob Birchers! They are insane! Ew!
Yucky!
In other news, as the war on drugs continues to escalate, there was
another tragic, isolated incident....
I say unto thee verily, that those who provide succour to
the rent seekers are the NUTJOBS!
Nothing nutty about that. There's a lot of money in the
succor-industrial complex.
200 years and these dangerous conspirators haven't achieved
their aims yet?
That's exactly what they want you to think!
libertymike,
You are not seeing the "Big Picture." The enemy of my enemy is not
my friend. A nutjob is a nutjob. A bigot is a bigot.
Oh dear. Someone has apparently never heard of the European
Coal and Steel Community.
As the old song goes, From Small Things,
Mama, Big Things Someday Come.
Even when you stand for limited government, believing in a cabal of powers working together or a "Satanic conspiracy" is fucking ridiculous and only makes those of us not on antipsychotics look like we're along for the ride.
Is there a more annoying musical form than the talking blues?
Is there a more annoying musical form than the talking
blues?
Yes. It's called "rap".
-jcr
Ah, the Illuminati! I think the only things they ever really gave us are a good book trilogy and a great strategy game.
All the ways that Michael Moynihan is an idiot is beyond the
scope of this comment.
However:
1. Father Kochtopus was one of the founders of the JBS; that
family's foundation has funded this very web site and many similar
groups (CATO, AFP, etc. etc. etc. etc.)
2. A few months ago, the phrase "NWO" was mainstreamed;
BloombergNews and many other sources mentioned it. Kissinger openly
talked about it, as did GordonBrown. In fact, there were a couple
thousand mentions in news.google.com. That would have never
happened a couple years ago; those very same Beltway hacks would
have dismissed anyone talking about a NWO as loons (like Moynihan
does above; he needs to keep up to date).
3. Here's Barack Obama seeming
to confirm the existence of something that Beltway hacks like
Moynihan would tell us doesn't exist.
4. What do you think of when you hear "fluoride"? As it turns out,
studies supporting it were hugely flawed and industry was involved
in promoting them and silencing critics, and new studies have shown
it has dangers. No, really. It's hard to unlearn programming, but
try your best.
What do you think of when you hear "fluoride"?
It helps harden tooth enamel and if you swallow too much of it
there is a slight risk of brain damage.
And, since my website hardly gets any hits (per topic I am lucky to get 5 or 6 comments), I have decided to post pictures of me performing auto fellatio to raise money.
200 years and these dangerous conspirators haven't achieved
their aims yet?
Scoff now, coward, but someday you'll be counting your lucky stars
that rough pamphleteers and blog-havers stood ready to ward off
hordes of clandestine, baby eating Jewolves on your behalf.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
How'd that work with The Taliban? Unless I know someone
personally, I can't call that person a friend. Although most of
ya'll online reasonoids are the next best thing.
DTA: not the gov't, not the anarchists.
Even when you stand for limited government, believing in a
cabal of powers working together or a "Satanic conspiracy" is
fucking ridiculous and only makes those of us not on antipsychotics
look like we're along for the ride.
Exactly.
All this "enemy of my enemy" stuff overlooks the fact that every
supporter for limited government we gain from these nutjobs is
offset by the thousand people we lose because they say, "Are you
guys affiliated with that JBS lunacy? No thanks."
Actually, it might not be a thousand. It might be ten thousand.
Ah, the Illuminati! I think the only things they ever really
gave us are a good book trilogy and a great strategy
game.
Deus Ex.
All this "enemy of my enemy" stuff overlooks the fact that every supporter for limited government we gain from these nutjobs is offset by the thousand people we lose because they say, "Are you guys affiliated with that JBS lunacy? No thanks."
The same with troofers.
The sad thing about all the conspiracists is that all the visions
of dark cabals, the machinations of secret triumvirates, never
match up to the scary, scary shit governments do in broad
daylight. And they get away with it solely because people are
unaware of the ramifications of the actions their rulers are
taking.
Getting the title reference right off the bat makes me feel smug. In this case, old as well.
Yes. It's called "rap".
I take it you haven't heard any good rap. Try Busdriver, Aesop Rock, El-P and The Roots.
'I take it you haven't heard any good rap. Try Busdriver, Aesop
Rock, El-P and The Roots.'
The John Birch Society also did some good rap.
Eisenhower was a hero to most
But he's just a Red to me
Expose the Trilateral Conspiracy
You gotta fight the powers that be
1. Only the first comment is from me; the second above is not.
Could Reason delete the imposter's comment and send me their
identifying information?
2. Here are some *raw* links relating to my last point above; some
of these contain accurate information, some don't:
lewrockwell.com/miller/miller17.html
guardian.co.uk/science/2008/feb/09/medicalresearch.health
amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-I-G-Farben/dp/0029046300
garynull.com/documents/Dental/Fluoride/fluoride2.htm
fluoridealert.org/
fluoridealert.org/iq.studies.html
abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread422784/pg1
theinfovault.net/vault/politics/fluoridenazis.html
infonews.co.nz/news.cfm?l=1&t=0&id=17791
boards.history.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800000240&messageID=800007763
1. Only the first comment is from me; the second above is
not. Could Reason delete the imposter's comment and send me
their identifying information?
You seriously do not quit. Definitely not the average troll.
You seriously do not quit. Definitely not the average
troll.
Lonewacko summers at Lake Wobegon.
Building coalitions and working with others with whom you share the objective of slaying the Leviathan is practical. Fretting about what the Southern Poverty Law Center or AIPAC thinks is for timid, cowardly losers. Its just not going to carry the day.
Bah, John Birch one of the few conservative organizations that still buys into Pat Buchanan's racist, anti-semitic warrgarble. They do realize that the Cold War is over right?
I'll have to check out Busdriver. Aesop Rock I think is crazy
overrated, but I like El-P a lot, both as an MC and on the boards.
CanOx you probly know is great, at least the first thing they put
out.
Best rap to me is the first OutKast album, KMD's Black
Bastards and Reasonable Doubt.
But honestly Talking Blues make me want to shit. I love Dylan but I
hate all his T.B's. Phil Ochs did a few that are at least clever.
And there's a verse from a Pete Seeger(?) one that I like a lot,
where some poor beleaguered union worker confronts his
boss...
"Well he's smokin' a big cee-gar,
Feelin pretty slick.
He thinks he's got your union licked,
When he looks out his window and what does he see
But a thousand pickets and they all agree:
He's a bastard.
Unfair!
Slave driver!
Bet he beats his wife.
In yet another harbinger of the coming North American Union, the
San Francisco Giants are playing in Milwaukee right now.
Milwaukee's uniforms say Cerveceros.
If anyone asks the hard questions in post-game interviews, I'll be
sure to post the answers on YouTube.
Uh oh. It's worse than I thought.
San Francisco's jerseys say Gigantes.
There's a script "C" on the mound, presumably for
Cerveceros.
And the vendors in the stands are pushing fluoridated beer.
Over at Urkobold, LoneWacko and other H&R trolls explain the news for you.
I recall reading an article about a Birch branch in Boston. They
were charmingly disorganized and adorably sincere - conventional
people who mean to do good. And then a meeting is described, and
you realize these lovely people are either desperate and sad and
grabbing whatever comes to hand to anchor their lives, or fucking
nuts. Unsavory as I may find them, can't hate 'em.
You know, though, the article might have been about LaRouchers.
Same idea, though.
BakedPenguin, I am not going to think any less of you just because of your "association" with Lonewacko.
Thx, libertymike. And you'll be happy to know your own cartoon is in the works - a death cage match with Underzoggy. All I need to do is nail down your avatar. Right now I'm leaning towards Lysander Spooner with a Hitler mustache.
BakedPenguin,
Now I know how liberals felt during the 1970s, when they realized
they had been left off of Nixon's Enemies List.
Mad Max,
When the time comes, remember that it doesn't count as martyrdom if
you fight back.
Why not just point out the real conspiracy?
Stupid people banding together to demand the right to be
stupid.
It's called leftism and since 1789, it has been destroying
productive nations and replacing them with effete wastelands.
It's called leftism and since 1789, it has been destroying productive nations and replacing them with effete wastelands.
Um. Where to begin with this statement? It's hard to refute because I'm not sure any part of it is valid.
To create some sort of left/right dichotomy and to ignore that
the worst regimes of the 20th century (see: Hitler, Stalin) defy
such easy characterization is mind-boggling.
Also, "stupid people banding together and demanding the right to be
stupid"? I don't even know what that means.
When you say stupid, do you mean:
The congenitally feeble-minded?
The willfully ignorant?
The incidentally ignorant?
From looking at his website it appears he's referring to the differently pigmented.
Kreel,
Based on his previous posts, I inferred the same. His last post
seemed kind of crazy even for him, though.
"""Deus Ex."""
Great game.
20 years ago I would have said you were a nutcase if you told me
that America would have a department of Homeland security, and that
people would openly accept domestic geospatial intelligence.
Shame on you for jumping on the left-wing bandwagon falsely smearing M. Stanton Evans as a Bircher. Quite an example of... McCarthyism?
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