Conservative pundits in the press and government alike have always utilized pseudo-Marxist language in order to cast liberal minded individuals as the dreaded American political "Other": The Communist. The tactic of lumping all dissenters under general terms like communist, socialist, or referring to them as "Reds", dates back to the early 20th century. The Palmer Raids from 1919-1920 were a government led initiative to snuff out any attempt by the laboring masses to form collective bodies of self governance. Immigrants throughout the nation were labeled communist, treated as foreign antagonizers and deported by the thousands. American citizens were imprisoned for "subversion." A young Eugene McArthy would learn many of the tactics for harassing liberal minded Americans during this period under the tutelage of J. Edgar Hoover. Several decades later during the 1950's McArthy as a U.S. Senator, would lead what historians refer to as the "Red Scare", attempting to label hundreds of liberal Americans as Communist sympathizers and spies.
The idea of referring to dissenting, liberal minded American as "commie's" would only gain popularity during the 1960's and 1970's when every oppressed socio-economic group began to assert itself politically within the American social matrix. J. Edgar Hoover would counter this revolution with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's C.O.I.N.I.N.T.E.L. Program which was designed to infiltrate all "leftist" American organizations. Homosexuals, women, Hispanics, African-Americans, anti-war activists, really anyone who championed Civil Rights was immediately given a condescending label denoting liberal political activity. It was the status quo that was at the center of the government's desire to socially marginalize and economically ostracize liberal minorities during the 20th century. Popular culture supported by an educational system designed to promote a homogeneous W.A.S.P. perspective, created a social dynamic where only the white, upper class male, was able to take advantage of the economic structures of social mobility.
The 2008 Presidential cycle will stand as one of America's greatest moments. The election of an individual of African American descent was an unprecedented step, considering less than fifty years prior Jim Crowe legislation was still wreaking havoc on the American social fabric. Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a Kenyan national diplomat and an American military brat turned anthropologist from Kansas, would face a daunting backlash of racist hysteria in the wake of his ascension to Commander-in-Chief. Tragically, President Obama is serving in the opening stages of a post-politically correct society. The Conservative ideology of the 20th century in which simple mudslinging was all that was necessary in order to invalidate an opponent, has returned. As President Obama began his progression to the Supreme Office pundits, critics and racists alike took every opportunity to apply as many misnomers as possible. Conservatives referred to the President as a non-native, socialist, anti-Christian, anti-American, and even a fascist.
The polemics of "namery" rests in the ideal of social intolerance. The former status quo of White Anglo Saxon Protestant Americans, elected its last president in George W. Bush. The election of Barack Obama signifies a shifting status quo that represents a changing United States social demographic. Hispanics, African Americans, Jewish Americans, Homosexuals, and women as whole are all beginning to assert themselves as viable outlets for American electorate support.
In the post-politically correct World, we have already witnessed the rise of White supremacy in the form of fascist political ideology once more. The violent actions of Anders Brevik in Denmark, the English Defense League in England, even the actions in the United States of the Hutatree, the Tulsa Oklahoma Shooters and George Zimmeran highlight a society no longer willing to take a sensitive approach in developing social equality. President Obama’s administration represents a unique time in American history in which those who have championed Civil Rights since the Declaration of Independence, may raise their chins high when thinking of the American society. Unfortunately, a revolution of change is still a revolution. All progressive revolutions must face an equal or greater counter-revolution. In the United States, we begin to see the tide of counter-revolutionary discontent in the ignorant and racist “namery” used to invalidate the honor of our nation’s leader, President Barack Obama.
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