Real Clear Politics -- Steve Cortes
“Today’s group hysteria comes from the left, as a fanatic political mob sees racists behind every door. Their paranoia is not harmless, as they use the racist bogeyman to intimidate political adversaries – and sometimes erstwhile friends – while seeking to silence political dialogue. As with the Red Scare, there’s some reason for vigilance regarding actual racists, as Charlottesville reminded us. But as with the hunt for Communists under every bed, the scare tactics far outweigh the actual problem.”
It is likely that the whole Resist Trump movement, which is over the top, will eventually be seen in retrospect to have many of the same elements of McCarthyism. There is usually reason for pause when the end is used to justify the means. This of course can apply to a narrow nationalism as well. The causality is civil discourse. The underlying context for this has been that for 40 years our universities, government, and the media have conveyed our primary value to be freedom or liberty rather than equality and emphasized diversity without first noting what we share in common as humans.
James H. Rutherford, M.D.
