Rep. Allan West
Last week, Florida Representative Allen West, a Republican, stated the Democratic Party has as many as 81 card-carrying communists among its ranks. It is not hard to believe Joseph McCarthy must be his personal idol and hero. Rather than simply berate the good Representative for such an ignorant remark, it better serves us to look into his statement and its underlying attempt to instill hysteria in the Florida electorate. Then, we can berate him.
Normally, I do not give a damn about politics in Florida. I mean, after all, no one from Florida represents me in government. In this case, an exception is made as the repugnant message Rep. West puts forward is toxic and proves him to be one of the bad apples threatening the whole bunch.
First, for the particulars of the comment, Rep. West attended a “Town Hall” meeting in Palm City, Florida on April 10, 2012.[i] Rep. West was asked this direct question:
Moderator: “What percentage of the American legislature do you think are card-carrying Marxists or International Socialist?”
Rep. West: “It’s a good question. I believe there’s about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party. It’s called the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “
Let that sink in a minute. A member of the House of Representative called a good number of his colleagues communists. Specifically, his statement implies that any member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is a communist. While we may be able to overlook the incorrect subject-verb selection and miss-naming the Democratic Party within his reply, we cannot overlook his declaration that any member of the CPC is a communist. It smacks of McCarthyism. In other words, the good Representative is all too willing to make stupid remarks and prove himself to be little more than a dotter-headed jackass.
OK, it was one remark made off the cuff; all that needs to be done is to clarify it someway, then move on. That seems straight-forward enough, but Rep. West is incapable of admitting a mistake so his spokeswoman, Angela Melvin, followed with this nice little jewel:
“The Congressman was referring to the 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies. The Progressive Caucus speaks for itself. These individuals certainly aren’t proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom[ii].”
Using the same logic, everyone must accept Rep. West (who happens to be African-American) is a white-supremacist. I mean, he supports the Tea Party while Stormfront.org, a white-supremacist group, claims the Tea Party is their ally[iii]. The same logic Rep. West applies to the CPC means he, as well as every other Tea Party supporter, are white-supremacists.
That sort of corrupt logic is why I think Representative Allen West of Florida is a jackass of the first order. For instance, one day he calls Democrats fascists[iv], a few days later he calls Democratic caucus members communists[v]. He should at least make up his mind on which way he wants to go as the two ideologies are far from the same thing. It is just another example of Rep. West making inflammatory remarks he must know are not true. It illustrates that Rep. West is what is worst in politics.
It is all political theater designed to inflame the passions of his constituents. That is the very action he attributes to Democrats. This is ironic as it shows his tactics are akin to the Big Lie theory he wrongly attributes to Democrats[vi]. It shows Rep. West, just like Senator McCarthy in the 1950s, will go to any length to get his way. He will lie, distort, and mislead. It seems in his mind, the end does justify the means. Sadly, both his conclusions, as well as the tactics he employs, do not hold with the ideals of liberty and justice the United States of America was founded upon. In his mind, it is “better think like me, lock-step, or pay the price.”
Then there is the issue with him equating progressivism with communism. I guess it is the social conscience and desire for change that is the basis for doing that. Of course, it ignores the history and positive changes members of the Progressive Movement have achieved. Some of their more noteworthy supporters include Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Woodrow Wilson, Howard Taft, Thomas Edison, the Mayo Brothers (of Mayo Clinic fame), John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, Booker T. Washington, Louis Brandies and many more. Not bad company to say the least. If you start a caucus, you could do a lot worse than modeling it after the thoughts of such great thinkers.
I guess the best thing to remember is politicians talk about and name-call their opponents when they lack ideas of their own to put forward. They (Rep. West in this case) hope the public will not notice their lack of ideas by creating a dust storm to surround others in the race. It is like they want you to vote against their challenger rather than for them. The question becomes just how much longer the good people of Florida’s 22nd District are willing to put up with this buffoon.
[i] Doherty, Daniel. “Allen West: 78-81 Democrats in Congress Are Communists.” Townhall.com. 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://townhall.com/tipsheet/danieldoherty/2012/04/11/allen_west_7881_democrats_in_the_american_legislature_are_secret_communists>.
[ii] Bendery, Jennifer. “Allen West: I’ve ‘Heard’ 80 House Democrats Are Communist Party Members.” The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 04 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/11/allen-west-democrats-communist-party_n_1417279.html>.
[iii] Burghart, Devin, and Leonard Zeskind. “Tea Parties – Racism, Anti-Semitism and the Militia Impulse.” Irehr.org. The Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights, 19 Oct. 2010. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.irehr.org/issue-areas/tea-party-nationalism/the-report/tea-parties-racism-anti-semitism-and-the-militia-impulse>.
[iv] Sohn, Darren S. “Allen West: Goebbels Would Be Proud of Democrats Read More: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70521.html#ixzz1s7AvDL37.” politio.com. POLITICO, LLC, 15 Dec. 2011. Web. 15 Apr. 2012. <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70521.html>.
[v] Ibid. i.
[vi] Ibid. iii.
MHBenton's Blog 