Saturday, November 27, 2010

Guest Post by Doreen Mcgettigan

A Guest Post
By Doreen Mcgettigan



Something has been nagging at me for the last week or so and I strongly felt the urge to share.

First things first; thank you Rebecca for giving me this opportunity to guest post for you.  You are one talented and amazing lady and I feel blessed to consider you a friend.  The truly amazing part is we have yet to meet but it looks like that just might happen in the near future!

I am a writer/storyteller so if I drag on a bit I’ll try to shake myself.  On Facebook last week there was a discussion started on the ‘old’ tuck, duck and cover exercises those of us who were born in the 50’s had the pleasure to endure.

Back then it was the Russians.  They were out to get us.  As a young child I had no clue what political propaganda was, I was just terrified.  Okay I was also a really weird little kid.  If I saw an airplane in the sky-especially the ones with the square back-the bombers, I was terrified.  I ran for cover so fast into a neighbor’s shed, under a tree or under lawn furniture.  Anyplace I could get too quickly and feel safe.  I can still feel my fear now as I type this.  The sweaty palms, my red, burning, face, my heart beating out of my chest.

As far as I know it was never talked about.  I never brought it up, my fear that is, or the weird way I would just run and hide.

Back then communist and socialist dictators and Nazi’s made really bad leaders.  Many, many people throughout history have been terrorized, tortured or murdered.  That is a fact.

Fast forward to today.  We as Americans have taken our eyes off of our flag, our constitution, and our long and hard-won fight for freedom.  We have allowed our government to take over in areas that now threaten our very freedom.

Okay; she is getting political…uggghhh!  Not really.  I am just being honest.  This is not a story about politics but a story about Americans.  I have voted in every election since I was 18.  I am very proud of that fact.  Sometimes I have been a Democrat and sometimes a Republican.

I was actually physically sick when George Bush won his second term.  I was scared to death of the puppet-masters pulling his strings.  My young daughter, who had just voted for the first time said, “Don’t worry, Mom.  We will have Hillary next time and NO one can beat her”.

Okay, we all know how that turned out.

Then the propaganda started.  My 5-year-old grandson came home singing ‘yes we can’.  Parents complained, but the campaigning continued and still does. Whether it was my candidate or yours really does not matter.  In America we do not campaign in our public schools, period!

Behind the scenes and under the radar, yet right in front of our faces I have been hearing some very frightening words.  Words that had terrified me when I was 5 and certainly scare me far more now that I am 52.  I first saw glimpses of the words on the internet.  Then I saw them on blogs.  I saw them buried way in the back of several magazines and newspapers.  The words popped up on news channels; cable, of course.

The words were ‘Communist’ and ‘Socialist.'  Of course anyone that mentioned they were seeing or hearing these words were called fear mongers or racists.  They were also called conspiracy theorists.


Whew; thank God it wasn’t for real.  I tried to put the fear towards the back of my mind.  Then I started seeing the red tee shirts everywhere.  The tee shirts with the white letters spelling the word Communist on the front.  The shirts were on children.  Now that got my attention.  Then Time Magazine and Newsweek had their ‘Socialism’ covers.




Yes my dear fellow Americans, in 2010 it has become very cool to be a Communist, Socialist or a radical.  I am so angry I could just spit!  I am angry with my fellow parents who have sent their children off to be educated and have had them returned indoctrinated.  I am angry with my fellow Americans who do not care.  I am afraid for the ones who say “It could never happen here”.  Hello, it is happening.


We all need to start sharing some history with our young people.  They say this is the most educated generation of Americans in our history.  What a shame they are also the most illiterate when it comes to history of their own country and theology.

They believe they can stand for something they do not even understand.  How dare they have the arrogance to hold all the answers before they have even paid taxes?  I would challenge them to find a time in the history of this world when communism or socialism ever ended well.  I would dare them to watch the movie “The boy in the striped pajamas”.

My 10-year-old granddaughter does not say the Pledge of Allegiance in her classroom.  The teacher does not have enough time.  She has no time to honor our flag but she has time to teach my granddaughter to bitch at me for occasionally using a plastic grocery bag. {Oh yeah; how about all those polar bear, breast cancer and rain forests eco-friendly bags I bought?}  Now they tell us they were made in China and are full of lead that is just rubbing up against the veggies and fruit we feed our kids.  Oh and the light bulbs; the twirly ones that cost a fortune.  Read the warning on them.  You need a hazmat team if you break one!

As we sit down and journal our reasons for Thanksgiving and gratitude this year, I challenge each and every one of you to have a conversation with a young person.  Share with them the reason for the holiday.  Explain to them that Americans are exceptional, and why.  Yes, we can be arrogant but we are also the most charitable country in the world.  Explain that socialism does not mean spreading the wealth around.  That is a big lie.  Socialism is stealing from the ‘haves’ and giving to those in power - not the ‘have-nots’. 

We have always been a country full of people who could grow up and be anyone or anything we dreamed we could be.  We need to make things.  Invent things.  Things that other countries want to buy from us.  We have simply become consumers.  When did we stop raising kind and empathetic children?  

When did we start raising radicals and stop raising dreamers?

Below are just a few things I found on the website:  www.cpusa.org/

This is only one example of many, many sites out there.

A better world is possible — a world where people come before profits. That’s socialism. That’s our vision. We are the Communist Party USA.





If, however, what is meant is that many more people are ready to give socialism a hearing, not reject it out of hand, then I would say, "Yes, this is a ‘socialist moment'." This is no small thing. It wasn't that long ago that socialism didn't have much currency among broad sections of the American people. It was considered a failed model, undemocratic and worse, a bankrupt idea - something best consigned to history.

122 comments:

highheeledlife said...

Doreen .. wonderfully written post .. it brings up many questions and provokes one's mind to really pause and see whats going on around us today. The faces may have changed but much seems to be the same ...

P.S. thanks for also introducing us (your) readers to this wonderful corner o BlogLand. HHL

Rebecca Rasmussen said...

Doreen is just wonderful -- and you're right HHL it does bring up many questions. Think of the masses yelling "Yes, we can" only a year ago...(and I voted for Obama), but it is propaganda. What I'm wondering is whether or not politics have ever existed without it? Hmm...thank you for stopping by to support Doreen! :)

jeanne hewell-chambers said...

i tell you what: the perils and the promise scare the bejeezus out of me. great post.

Lynne Spreen said...

I think that most logical people distrust extremism in any form. Extreme socialism = communism, which was bad of course. But certain aspects of moderate socialism, like social security and unemployment insurance, are good. Moderation is better than extremism. Thanks for reminding us of that, Doreen.

Karen Jones Gowen said...

Interesting guest post, I appreciate this viewpoint, since I too remember when Communism and Socialism were threatening world peace and of course they never worked for the USSR, what is the appeal now?

I look forward to following your blog Rebecca, and your book sounds awesome.

KarenG

Rebecca Rasmussen said...

Lynne, I am all for moderation too -- on every level. That's what I try to enact in my life daily. Thank you for you and Gilead, honey. xoxox


Karen G,
So wonderful of you to stop by! Thank you for leaving a comment to Doreeen -- this is the first guest post she's ever done, so it's nice to see people supporting her. And thank you for your kind words about my book! :)

Doreen McGettigan said...

Thank you so much everyone and you Rebecca for letting me share-I could not believe when I went to bed last night "The boy in the Striped Pajama's" was on....eerie!

Unknown said...

Doreen,
I think we started with the radical groups that turned into the everyday citizen in the Viet Nam War. And then it turned the other way with the "honorable wars," in the Middle East. Ti seems it's almost un-American to be against the war (Ten years and running!) these days.

Rebecca Rasmussen said...

Hi Ciss -- I see what you're saying...it's hard to disagree with the war in certain circles for sure. Apathy now is more acceptable, it seems. Thank you for stopping by! :)

VM Sehy Photography said...

Good post. I, too, am frustrated that we aren't standing up and we are slowly letting our freedom be robbed from us. I thank God that we live in Montana. We do have time for the Pledge of Allegiance. I stop and say it in the hall when I'm at the school. Still, I wish that people would not just spit it out by rote. It'd be nice if they'd think about the words. Then maybe they'd see that they need to keep a better eye on their government.

Leslie (Under My Apple Tree) said...

Excellent post and lots of food for thought. I'm of the same era so I can relate. I think some folks are redefining socialism to fit their own views. And it doesn't help that the schools seem to no longer teach history or geography.

Rebecca Rasmussen said...

Oh my gosh -- I LOVED history and geography, which were still taught when I was in school. We used to have a "state" fair at school where we learned about the history and customs, etc. of each US state. That was in 4th grade. Bring back those subjects, I say :)

Rebecca Rasmussen said...

Oh my gosh -- I LOVED history and geography, which were still taught when I was in school. We used to have a "state" fair at school where we learned about the history and customs, etc. of each US state. That was in 4th grade. Bring back those subjects, I say :)

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"These are the days when Birds come back/a very few/a Bird or two/to take a backward look."

"These are the days when Birds come back/a very few/a Bird or two/to take a backward look."