"Should any political party attempt to abolish Social Security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things, but their number is negligible and”–and the president says–”their number is negligible and they are stupid." The reason I say it speaks to the dramatic shift in people's view of social justice is that this isn't from Huey Long or FDR; it was Dwight Eisenhower. Can you imagine a GOP leader espousing this today?!
The piece traces the fringe rights origins from Robert Welch and his John Birch Society to their current cheerleader, Glenn Beck. -It was a fantastic read, I suggest checking it out. After reading it, I'm convinced that the people Eisenhower is referring to as "stupid" are those in the John Birch Society and their ilk. Below is an excerpt: "In a tract Welch wrote titled “The Politician,” he attacked President Dwight D. Eisenhower as “a dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy”
It's hard for people to live in a world where no one is to blame for their lot in life. -I'm not saying that policy makers don't effect the lives of their constituents, I'm just saying it's a whole lot easier to call Obama a socialist muslim that wasn't born in the US than it is to recognize that you are unemployed because you are uneducated or not skilled. Wow! $455 bond vs. $50. -That's a sizable variance. Is your point that when contemplating the death of your ideology one is likely to go to extreme lengths in response? A knee jerk reaction to the "lunatic fringe"?
IMO this is idealism on a quasi-religious level. It's less about evidence, and more about principle. The idea that 'government is the problem' has spread very effectively. I think it satisfies some basic need.