Glenn was really, truly once upon a time. I loved listening to him in the morning, particularly if I was going somewhere to a meeting. Then he started the John Birch Society - Cleon Skousen conspiracy nonsense, and it all went down from there. I remember when he immediately pounced on the administration when the Abu Graib stuff started coming out and was verified. I thought, "right wing and right on!" All gone now.
The John Birch Society is a political advocacy group that supports what it considers traditionally conservative causes such as the private ownership of property, the rule of law and U.S. sovereignty but opposes globalism.[1] The society is on the far right of the American political spectrum.[2][3] Founded by Robert W. Welch Jr. in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1958 the society was named after John Birch, a United States military intelligence officer and Baptist missionary in World War II, who was killed in 1945 by supporters of the Communist Party of China.[4] Birch's parents joined the society as life members.[5] Currently based in Appleton, Wisconsin, the society has local chapters in all 50 states. It owns American Opinion Publishing which publishes the journal The New American.[6]
The society says it is anti-totalitarian, particularly anti-socialist and anti-communist, and leans to right-libertarian. It seeks to limit the powers of government and defends what it sees as the original intention of the U.S. Constitution, based on Judeo-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 chairman, characterized the society as belonging to the Old Right rather than the new right.[7]
The society opposed aspects of the civil rights movement in the 1960s because of its concerns that the movement had communists in important positions. At that time, however, there were more reports that Hollywood was harboring "Communists in high positions" than the Civil Rights Movement.[citation needed] The society opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, 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.
John Birch Society - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
OOOhhh scary