Even Those Who Do Remember the Past Are Doomed to Repeat It

While we're all talking about the parallels between the paranoid right of the 1960's and today's Tea Partiers, may I suggest taking the time to read (or reread) Richard Hofstadter's classic essay "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" (alternate link)? It's sort of the 1960's version of this conversation, demonstrating that the John Birch Society wasn't any more novel a phenomenon in its day than the Tea Parties are today.