"Black helicopters in whisper mode"

This post rambles a little bit, but it's definitely worth reading from Torquemada05.

I think it is perhaps worth remembering that one of William F. Buckley's best achievements in the history of modern conservatism was the expulsion of the John Birch Society from the ranks of acceptable conservatism. I'm not surprised at Ron Paul's embrace of it given that he exists in the political fringe, but I also find it nothing short of amazing that Mark [Shea], who repeatedly bemoans the current GOP's abandonment of traditional conservatism, is willing to throw away more than 50+ years of work in a warped effort to reintegrate the fringe into the mainstream. This is one of the things that happened to the Democrats in 1972 and they've been paying for it ever since.

I should note that the John Birch Society is not to be confused with being related in any way to Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer, which totally kicks butt regardless of your politics.



UPDATE: Speaking of Buckley and the Birchers, I just found this little gem on the Birch site.

Way back in 1952, when the now-wizened William F. Buckley was a winsome and witty wunderkind -- not to mention a CIA asset employed to misdirect the conservative movement -- he published an essay entitled "A Young Republican View" in the pages of The Commonweal. Disdaining those on the right who believed in the Constitution and its limitations on central government power, Buckley redefined conservatism as the unbuttoned embrace of the total state.

You. Can't. Make. This. Stuff. Up.