Charlotte, NC (TLS). The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama outfit that has taken up every extremist, ultra-Leftwing cause imaginable, has designated a highly respected, long-standing conservative group as a 'hate group.'
In the April issue of its monthly publication, the Southern Poverty Law Center plans to name 'Young Americans for Freedom' at Michigan State University as a 'hate group' along with subversive groups such as the Klu Klux Klan, Aryan Nation, and the Nazis.
Young Americans for Freedom was founded in 1960 by venerable conservative intellectual William F. Buckley. The late actor John Wayne had been a member.
During the early 1970s as I was making one of my first forays into politics, I became a member of Young Americans for Freedom, primarily due to the fact that in those days the organization was raising funds for and promoting the candidacy of Ronald Reagan for the U.S. Presidency.
I had become profoundly disillusioned with both Democrats and Republicans during those years. It seemed that Democrats were slowly but surely embracing radical extremism represented by the likes of Hanoi Jane Fonda, George McGovern, John Kerry, and dozens of others. Republicans had been moving leftward after the Watergate scandal under 'moderates' such as Gerald Ford, Nelson Rockefeller, and Henry Kissinger, who had decided the best we could do with Communism was declare a standoff--which back then was referred to as 'detente.'
'Detente' was the brain-child of appeasement-oriented advisers such as Kissinger, who believed that if the Soviet Union and the United States would simply agree that since we both had enough nukes to end the world, we should simply agree not to use them. The world could attain peace through the recognition that if either power launched a missile, the other would respond in kind, resulting in complete global annihilation.
The problem was that 'detente' did not result in peace.
The Soviet Union continued its march toward world domination through intimidation, such as the shooting down of civilian airliners and other such acts of barbarism--and, invading Afghanistan.
Reagan believed there was a better way.
And he was right. Reagan believed the only way to achieve a peaceful solution to the menace of Soviet Communism was to build up America's military and munitions arsenals so thoroughly that an economically unstable Soviet Union would crumble attempting to keep up.
Ever since Reagan delivered a keynote address on national TV in 1964 endorsing Presidential contender Barry Goldwater, I knew that this was a man who not only had the message but the communication skills to take that message to the American public in a highly effective manner.
Reagan believed in peace through strength; that America should accept nothing less than being the absolute best at everything we did, and that included becoming the world's ONLY superpower; that the average citizens were ultimately good and trustworthy and did not need 'big brother' watching over every move they made; that big government is bad and small government is good, as Jefferson maintained; and thus, that lower taxes were the only road to true economic prosperity, that when government is cut back to live within its means, the people are left with more of their own money to spend as they see fit.
For these reasons Young Americans for Freedom jumped on the Reagan bandwagon. And this was the primary reason for my involvement.
There was never any hate or animosity expressed toward anyone of any color, creed, or gender, or nationality. In fact, the Reagan revolution consisted of people from every walk of life--Caucasian, Black, American Indian, Hispanic, poor, middle class, upper class, blue collar workers and white collar workers.
One of Reagan's largest sources of support came from 'rust belt' blue collar workers who feared their jobs were endangered due to a small but growing phenomenon called 'overseas outsourcing.' These were known as 'Reagan Democrats' as they had traditionally voted for Democrat candidates but were solidly in Reagan's corner.
We didn't care about race, gender, religion, or nationality when it came to supporting Reagan. All we cared about was patriotism, optimism and hope, the belief that America's best days were ahead and not behind us, and a stubborn unwillingness to accept the intellectual elite's prognosis that America was in decline and that we had best accept our fate as a former world power.
This was what Young Americans for Freedom was all about.
Yet here comes that consortium of Leftist ideologues of the Southern Poverty Law Center who have now decided that Young Americans for Freedom is a 'hate group.'
Their reason? The Michigan State University chapter of Young Americans for Freedom stands for enforcing the nation's laws on illegal aliens, the definition of marriage as being that between a man and a woman, and the belief that affirmative action is a racist/sexist program that makes decisions based solely on race and gender when the goal is for persons to be selected for their intellect and skill no matter what their race or gender.
For this the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated Young Americans for Freedom as a 'hate group.'
My friends, this should be an outrage to any sincere, patriotic American. The definition of what constitutes a 'hate group' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center includes the vast majority of American citizens! Most credible national surveys show the vast majority of Americans believe that the flow of illegal aliens into this country should stop, that marriage is a sacred commitment between a man and a woman, and that you don't correct past racism/sexism by perpetrating MORE racism/sexism through affirmative action.
If we let the Southern Poverty Law Center get away with this, you can rest assured they will not stop there. They will proceed to designate other groups as 'hate groups.'
Here are some examples:
If you attend a Baptist church, and your preacher reads from the Bible that marriage is between a man and a woman only, you can count on Southern Poverty Law Center to designate your church as a 'hate group.'
If you are a member of any gun rights group, such as the NRA, Gun Owners of America, and other 2nd Amendment advocacy groups, then you can expect that the Southern Poverty Law Center will more than likely designate your group as a 'hate group.'
Remember, we've already had a Leftwing, gun-hating columnist in the Roanoke Times compare gun owners to child molesters!
Thus, if you believe that it is OK for a citizen to own a handgun and use a handgun in self-defense, then you will be labeled by these purveyors of hate in the name of stamping out hate.
Remember, U.S. Rep. John Conyers, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center affirms as a shining example of what a politician should be, given that he agrees with all of their views, has proposed legislation that would make your preacher guilty of uttering 'hate speech' if he publicly reads from the Bible in church that homosexuality is a sin.
I am thinking about putting together my own list to include such extremist mobs as the Southern Poverty Law Center. I will call it, 'The Anti-Freedom Black List of Subversives.'
And you can bet your last bowl of grits that heading that list will be the Southern Poverty Law Center.
