The New Red Menace and Cold War II
By Rob Kall
Back in the fifties, sixties and seventies, the red menace referred to the Soviet Union . Now there's a new red menace that threatens to do to the US what the Communists wanted to do, that threatens to do what the southern confederacy wanted to do.
America is at risk. Democracy is at risk.
The red states are backward, endarkening parasites that live off the creativity and economic energy of the blue states. They have their dominance in politics because of archaic laws that give them disproportionately greater representation than their actual population numbers rate. It is no wonder that these leeches would want to maintain their control over the USA . While the evangelistic, right wing extremist fundamentalists play a major role there, these states and their Republican-majority voting constituents are also dupes for what is really the biggest threat to the United states-- , in a way, another "red menace."
The parasitic leech red states are accelerating the financial "Armageddon" that numerous economists are predicting. The Bush administration and the right wing are crashing us towards a red-ink crisis, through irresponsible financial leadership and profligate boondoggle deals with corporations that contributed to their causes. The red ink menace is already showing up with drops in the dollar of over 30% since Bush took office. And even with that drop in the dollar, which should make it easier for the US to sell to other countries, our national debt continues to plummet and more and more nations that formerly characterized themselves as friends are threatening to move away from the dollar standard. When that happens, the USA will become a third world country.
Part of the problem with our fiscal red menace is the Bush administration and the republican party are more loyal to transnational corporations that are happy to suck our economic lifeblood than they are too Americans-- to American energy independence, American workers and jobs, American technology, even American diplomatic assets.
America is bleeding, hemorrhaging and there is no leadership that can save her.
About 145 years ago, many of the red states sent soldiers who wore grey uniforms in their attack on the north, on the boys in blue. Now, we hear more and more often, with tongues less and less in cheek, about secession, letting the south have what they asked for 145 years ago. People say, let them go back to the dark times. There's no longer slavery, but it is clear that in the last elections, across the red USA , there were too many examples of racist tactics to prevent blacks from voting.
During the 50's through 90's the "red menace" produced the "cold war." The relationship between the red and blue states is not so different. Just substitute for the words Soviet union with "red states" and "communism" with "cultural conservatism" in the definition of the cold war described by Wikipedia.org:
"The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion, and misunderstandings by both the United States and the Soviet Union , and their allies. At times, these conditions increased the likelihood of a third world war. The United States accused the Soviet Union of seeking to expand their version of communism throughout the world. The Soviets, meanwhile, charged the United States with practicing imperialism and attempting to stop revolutionary activity in other countries.
Well, the liberals, democrats, greens and progressives in the blue states certainly are distrusted by the right wing extremists in the red states. But it gets even more interesting. Wikipedia goes on to describe how, while the cold war existed primarily between the US and the Soviet Union , and there was some outright conflict,
"much of it was conducted by or against surrogates and through spies and traitors who were working undercover. In those conflicts, the major powers operated in good part by arming or funding surrogates, a development that lessened direct impact on the populations of the major powers.
Now, we have different kinds of surrogates"" evangelist ministers and other church leaders, corporate leaders, right wing think tanks and non-profit right wing organizations, such as Focus on the Family and Judicial Watch. These act as the front line attackers, just like the third world nations' fascist governments worked with the US to fight leftist leaning leaders and governments. Even after the cold war, we still see this, as recently as last year, in Haiti .
Of course the red states are anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-government. Then again, so was Mussolini and his fascisti. Mussolini's fascists battled against socialism, against unions, while supporting business and the wealthy. Sound familiar?
During the cold war of the 40's to 90's, the actually armies of both sides really never faced actual direct combat against each other. The real action happened with espionage. Spies killed spies and espionage was executed upon civilians and military. Some of the worst abuses occurred during the McCarthy era.
Already, the talk by some of the leaders on the right about the democratic party is reaching draconian levels. The idea of battle, of conflict and war is oft raised, even though at this time, it may only be at a metaphoric level.
As the Bush administration continues to digest its November 2 "win," fraught with questions of its legitimacy as it may be, it is highly likely that this already very secretive group will crank up the espionage, the invasions of privacy, the abuses of constitutional rights to a new, much worse level. Ashcroft's replacement, Gonzalez is far worse and a much greater danger to constitutional liberties, truth and democracy.
Soon we will face a new reality. Enter a red state small town and your life may be endangered, just as it was when you entered a red country, where the police carried automatic weapons and could put you away with minimal rights or chance of relief.
But there is hope. The cold war between the US and the USSR lasted about 40 years. Then the information revolution and the collapse of the USSR 's economy led to glasnost, and the end of the cold war. Perhaps we can hope that as a new generation matures, they will see the light, even in the endarkened red states. Perhaps we can accelerate the economic fall of the red states by not doing business with them, not visiting them, except, perhaps, for the blue cities within the red states.
The internet and the media played a major roll in ending the cold war, just as the sold-out propaganda media have served the red states. We must take back the media and learn how to use them to end the new cold war II between the blue and red. The USA has two choices, regress to the anachronistic, civil war era cultural values of the red states and, in the process, lose its international hegemony as well as the respect it has already lost, or move forward and treat the red state backwards bounce as a temporary hiccup on the path to the future. Meanwhile, it will pay for us to study the cold war as a lesson on how the relationship between red and blue states will play out.
Rob Kall rob@opednews.com is editor of www.OpEdNews.com Read over 150 of his articles at Rob Kall's article archive Read his blog at www.opednews.com/robsblog.htm Rob lives in Bucks County PA, which, went for John Kerry in the 2004 election. Some of Rob's other websites include www.futurehealth.org www.storycon.org www.positivepsychology.net www.quotationscentral.com and www.sphincterpolice.com
Rob's recent articles include:
Finding the Light in the Post Nov. 2 Darkness; Out of the Chaos, hope is emerging at multiple fractal levels. by ROB KALL OpEdNews.com
Rob Kall: A Harbinger of the Dark Times to Come... Bush Appointees Go from Bad to Worse-- but there are some reasons for hope. OpEdNews.com
Civil War in America? by ROB KALL The weapons that will be used opEdNews.com
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