There must be many people today who have not heard of Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin who became famous in the post-world war 2 era for his extemist views on the dangers of communism in the United States. The "McCarthy Hearings" held in the senate of that era (late 1940′s- 1950′s) were front page news for years with the hearings publicizing the possible communist party connections of multitudes of American citizens. Those especially singled out by Senator McCarthy and his supporters were government employees and people in the entertainment industry, as well as others…but all of them were American citizens. Many lives and careers were ruined in the ensuing "Red Scare" and the witch hunts conducted by McCarthy and his followers. An old saying from that era was "a communist behind every bush and under every rock." I was pretty young at the time but I do remember seeing the glowering face of Senator McCarthy in Movietone newsreels and on the front page of daily newspapers I had learned to read by that time. As a result of those senate hearings and investigations many Americans were sincerely afraid of what seemed to be an internal communist takeover within our own nation.
I have been thinking of McCarthyism in connection with some of the hysterical rhetoric spewing from Washington D.C. and other quarters, regarding the passage of Arizona’s state immigration law which has been the object of much scorn, a lot of scare tactics and plain hysterical speech and action—–all very similar to what occurred at the time McCarthyism reigned so supremely in the United States. Now it is not a "communist behind every bush or under every rock" but rather a RACIST or a RACIAL PROFILER behind the bushes and under the rocks.
Our own President—our national leader— has suggested that the Arizona immigration law will surely bring about "Racial Profiling" when local and state police forces began to investigate who the Illegals are in the state of Arizona….and one thing is for certain—-there are thousands of Illegals who have crossed the state’s border from Mexico and are living illegally in Arizona, probably moreso than other border states. In spite of the assurances of Arizona’s governor and the Arizonans who serve in the state legislature who crafted the state bill, that "racial profiling" is not part of the new law….that police will not be stopping people because of the way they look….rather if anyone is suspected of criminal activity, traffic violations, et.al. the stopping by the police for legitimate reasons…the suspects WILL BE ASKED FOR PROOF OF UNITES STATES CITIZENSHIP. And that….to the Hysterics in Washington DC….is grounds for the haunting cry (reminiscent of the McCarthy era) of "Racial Profiling" and "Racism" !!!!!
Have we not all been "profiled" when police authorities have stopped us for good reasons? I have "profiled" for speeding, for not having my current license tags not displayed , for other minor traffic or other violations. I know of a person who was detained for along time along side a highway because that person happened to be driving the same sort of vehicle and the same color vehicle as had been spotted at the scene of an armed robbery that included a pistol whipping. Now that was truly "profiling"…at least until the authorities had consulted with the State Police and License Bureau to satisfy them selves that this person was NOT the suspect in the robbery and the pistol whipping incident. There was no lawsuit filed against a state or a police force for that sort of "profiling". Nobody else got hysterical over it and the person who was detained received an apology but nothing else! We have all been "profiled" at some time or another with no terrible consequences to our persons.
I think we are moving backward in our history to bad times remembered by those who went through the time of McCarthyism. When the immigration laws of our own country are not enforced by the national government, who can blame a state who is bearing the brunt of illegal aliens and all the consequences of their illegality— for passing a state law to deal with the threat to the citizens of the state? I cannot blame them. Since the United States government is not doing much of anything about the serious problems Arizona and other border states face, perhaps they are justifed in doing what was done….passing a state law that DOES deal with illegal aliens who are overrunning the state and its neighbors on the border of Mexico. A state cannot continue to pay for social services demanded by Illegals….medical, school, living quarters, food stamps and whatever other food aid is demanded as though they actually WERE citizens. Then the Hysterics’ worries about the violation of "civil rights" is vastly misplaced since I would understand that non- citizens do not have the same "civil rights" as citizens have.
How much more silliness can we bear coming out of the mouths of those who are supposed to be protecting us from the very things that Arizonans, Texans, Californians, and New Mexicans are suffering from, via illegal aliens coming into the country in droves for years and years? When the enforcement of already-set immigration laws is questioned by our own President, what are citizens supposed to do? It is an unsolvable mystery to me.
A statement I found in the summaries of McCarthyism from a multitude of resources, mostly enclyopedic ones, posed some interesting thoughts:
"The lesson to be learned from his {McCarthy’s} hysteria and the ensuing witch hunts is that even when free speech is protected to the extent that it is in the United States, it is still vulnerable to attacks from those who wish to limit the rights of others to disagree with them."
I hear not only echoes in that statement of what happened in Arizona but also what is currently happening with the Left’s determination to "smear" the free speech of citizens who particpate in the ground level, grass roots movement called the "Tea Party". It is nearly as scary as the McCarthy Era "Red Scare" and all the resultant freedoms lost by so many citizens of that terrible time in the 1940s and 1950s.
History could be about to repeat itself.
The last poster is totally right , you are way off base here. The analogy you are trying to make is ridiculous, and a misuse of history. Ann Coulter tried to re-glorify McCarthy with her revisionist mugging of history , you should not go down that destructive road.
McCarthyism was directed at a slice of Americans who simply had different beliefs . The anti immigrant issue today has no corelation. Did the status quo go out and recruit those ‘commies’ way back in the 50′s to work in their factories and homes and slaughter houses, and then afterwards go ballastic attacking those ‘commies’ for being here ! Well that is the situation today! Today plans are being made for more big CAFO style dairies in ND. The plans include provisions to get those Mexicans to work there. Swine CAFOs have sprung up all over the state also , most with the promise of giving economic boosts to the area by providing much needed employment . After that lie was proved to be baloney , those owners just went to get the workers who were willing , and many illegal alien raids resulted at those CAFO’s. The slaughter houses in Minnesota have similar stories. Now that is analogous to McCarthyism!!! HUH! Middle America , conservative businessmen of America is providing the magnets for these workers to come , are you willing to work at those jobs -BG?
Now I wouldn’t want to work at those Cafo’s workplaces ,as a farmer I do far more than my share of SH*#y jobs , so God Bless those who do those jobs , but I get awful peeved at those immigrant bashers who really are the ‘elitists’ wanting that cheap food and ‘ horn of plenty’ available to them at their lily white kitchen tables while they condemn the peons who made it possible!
I want to clarify some things about my McCathyism blog.
Those who are getting so uptight about the AZ immigration law are ignoring something too….that the new AZ law is designed to be the same as what the U.S. law states about illegal aliens coming into the country without benefit of going through the legal process…if this is done..welcome them with open arms but not if they choose the illegal route.
Other things to consider: American citizens re routinely asked to identify themselves AS LEGAL CITIZENS. Consider the following list:
We are routinely confronted with having to prove out citizenship by showing….OUR DRIVERS’ LICENSE. ( far a huge variety of reasons) 1. When we board an airplane—also we may be asked for other papers proving our citizenship: such as a passport. In fact when boarding an airplane we are required to show a picture ID proof of our citizenship. If we write checks or make purchases in stores, we are asked to produce our Drivers’ License; when we use credit; debit cards for purchases we are asked to show our drivers’ license. When we enter certain buildings or offices (as in government)the security guards are going to ask us to show our drivers’ license; Going to a doctor’s office or a hospital involves the showing of the drivers’ licenses in most cases; when we check into hotels or motels, we are asked to produce our drivers’ license as well as the license plate IDs on our vehicles. When we purchase some over the counter drugs, we are asked to show our drivers’ license. If we go to a bar or nightclub, our drivers’ license is often required in that venue also! If we have any sort of encounter with the police, we are commanded to produce our drivers’ license.
In some new job requirements…we can be asked to not only produce our drivers’ license but may also be asked to produce our birth certificate (oops, our president did not have to do that when he took his “mew job”) or passport or other further proof of our citizenship. If anyone purchses a firearm, they just produce multiple proofs of their identity and citizenship.
So why the huge fuss over the AZ law which will ask AZ people who do the same things as the list above….to produce a drivers’ license or other proof of citizenship. IN fact right now, foreign workers in this nation are routinely asked to carry and be able to show their “green cards” to prove their legal status as foreign (not citizens) workers.
The Opposers to the AZ law are truly wasting their energy with their High Dudgeon actions.
Interesting that today’s FORUM poll asked “do you appove of the new Arizona immigration law?”
1159 people voted “yes” and only 346 voted “No”