The so-called “counterculture of the 1960s” was lost to me as a lad of 5 or ten years old. The “Movement” at the time laid the foundation for several radical organizations that over time morphed, that became aligned and in many cases integrated into the Democrat Party.
The Cuban Revolution and subsequent Communist insurgencies and revolts throughout Latin America made heroes of Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to radical leftists and Democrats in the United States, both of whom are glorified by the Democrat party “resistance” to this very day.
Che hats and shirts are still the rage on college campuses and are worn by kids who have no clue about his bloody past and the sheer level of his violence. A whole host of trendy revolutionary-style grassroots groups sprang up in the US in the ‘60s that were focused on the civil rights movement, “revolutionary change,” and, later, anti-Vietnam War protests. You may remember some of the names:
- The Weather Underground (Weathermen: Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, etc.)
- Black Panther Party (Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, etc.)
- Black Liberation Army (the 1970s)
Plus other smaller entities tied to Mao, Marx, Trotsky, and Lenin, as well as radical leftist political parties: Communist Party USA, Industrial Workers of the World, Workers World Party, Socialist Workers Party, etc.
The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1965, the signing into law of LBJ’s Great Society social welfare programs (Medicare, Medicaid and the “War on Poverty”), and the end of the Vietnam War in 1975 took the wind out of the sails of many of the radical organizations. However, one, in particular, survived and swept up a number of the members of the older organizations over time.
Remember the Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN)? It was formed in the 1970s as, for all practical purposes, a Communist front organization for “organizing the urban poor.” ACORN promoted an agenda of anti-capitalism, central planning, victimology, and government handouts to the poor.
This was the organization in which Obama got his start as the proverbial “community organizer” in Chicago. ACORN was first started in Bill Clinton’s Arkansas, of all places (the “A” in ACORN originally standing for Arkansas!).
Their goal through the years was “anti-capitalist redistributionism” as a means of promoting a radical restructuring of America’s capitalist economy. ACORN departed from the violent acts of ‘60s-era radicals by exploiting the political tactic of “burrowing from within” a given city’s political system.
They used “in your face” peaceful confrontations, protests, and controlled riots to gain political power in cities like Baltimore, Chicago, and Detroit. Peaceful confrontation did not change the world fast enough. The change over the last twenty years in the Democrat party has replaced its original militant arm, the KKK, with Antifa.
There is no doubt that Antifa is now the militant, fascist arm of the Democrat Party. Yes, that’s exactly what Antifa is. Its political objectives align perfectly with the goals of the left-wing, progressive, “resistance” core of the Democrat Party.
Antifa is the current manifestation of the authoritarian Left in America, seeking to suppress any dissenting political speech on college campuses and in the streets and using the tried-and-true ACORN tactics of personal confrontation with the threat of physical violence always percolating under the surface.
Antifa, BLM, and OFA are the current manifestations of leftwing (Democrat) activism. That movement continues with the full-on rush toward “democratic socialism” espoused by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her “Squad.” The Democrat presidential wannabes have all embraced various socialist policies during the recent debates.
How many Democrat presidential contenders have condemned the violence perpetrated by Antifa? And how many main-stream media figures have asked them directly for an opinion on the subject? Don’t hold your breath, because Antifa serves Democrat political objectives. Oh, by the way, there is a new petition up on the White House website to designate Antifa as a terrorist organization.
These Democrat activists need to be confronted, especially when they violate public safety and public access laws at the local level. They are the modern-day version of Hitler’s Brown Shirts and must not be allowed to get away with their violent acts. The Democrat Party, pushed by their leftwing activist core, is moving to the far left, using these thugs to quash resistance.
The KKK was organized in 1865 to oppose the Republican party’s goals of opposing slavery in the South. For over one hundred fifty years, the Klan “enforced” Democrat party objectives using violence and fear as its primary weapon. Will it take another one hundred fifty years to removes its successor, Antifa! It would be a huge step in Making America Great Again!
