There comes a time to stop beating a dead horse. But there are full-time beaters of dead horses who just cannot bring themselves to admit that the horse is dead.
A recent example of dead-besting is a documentary, Agenda: Grinding America Down (2010). It argues that Communism in America is not only alive and well, it is about to conquer America. In fact, we are almost out of time. Communism is about to take over.
I assume that your initial reaction is this: “This is nuts.” That was my reaction when I first viewed it. But, believe it or not, this documentary has begun to gain a following among fundamentalists who believe that Jesus is coming soon to set up His millennial kingdom. This theory of history teaches that everything must get worse and worse until a time when Christians are about to be overwhelmed by the forces of evil. Jesus will come and take them all to heaven for seven years, and then Jesus, His angels, and the resurrected perfect and immortal followers will return to set up an international bureaucracy to run the world. This theory is called premillennial, pretribulational dispensationalism. (That’s a mouthful.)
The fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 created a major crisis for this system of Bible interpretation. The “Beast from the North,” the USSR, collapsed. This ended the USSR’s supposed threat to the nation of Israel, which is central to this theory of world history. The nation of the north was now gone. So, how could Jesus’ return to whisk away his helpless church be imminent? I wrote a book on this topic in 1993, Rapture Fever. It’s here for free: http://bit.ly/gnrapture.
Then, in 2010, a fundamentalist offered the answer. Communism really did not die. Not at all. It is about to take over the USA. The visible collapse of Communism was really part of a Communist plot.
The fall of the USSR was not a hoax. The collapse of Communism in America immediately followed. Hardly anyone noticed. That was because American working class members had never accepted the idea of bloody proletarian revolution as an inevitable way of liberation. They hated Communism.
Why would anyone believe this documentary? Because it’s slick. It is based on a omplete misreading of Communist history. It is also based on a series of deceptions. Conservatives cannot believe that someone would deliberately deceive them. So, they believe this message.
But what if the deception was based on self-deception? What if the producer is simply misinformed? What if he is a self-taught man who picked up a few unconnected (and erroneous) bits of information and tried to connect them by means of a thesis that seems superficially plausible? What if his sincerity is not backed up by the facts? What if the average viewer of his documentary is ignorant about these supposed facts? Then the viewer becomes a victim.
I don’t want you to be a victim. That is why I am writing this report.
THE LEGACY OF FRED SCHWARZ
The documentary is dedicated to Fred Schwarz. This indicates the degree of the writer-producer’s ignorance.
In 1996, Schwarz, the anti-Communist lecturer who brought me into the conservative movement in 1956 with one powerful speech, wrote a testament: Beating the Unbeatable Foe: One Man’s Victory Over Communism, Leviathan, and the Last Enemy.
That testament resonated with me. His one-hour lecture in 1956 was the most important lecture I ever heard, before or since. I was confronted with what seemed to be a well-organized, ruthless, and relentless enemy: international Communism. It controlled the USSR. The USSR controlled Eastern Europe. Communism controlled China. It had a vision of victory. It had an agenda. It had a comprehensive theory of historical causation: dialectical materialism. The USSR had enormous military power. It looked unbeatable.
Nevertheless, I signed up with Schwarz’s Christian Anti-Communism Crusade. I was not yet a Christian. I even sent him $100 for a lifetime membership, which was about $850 in today’s purchasing power. I was 14 years old. I earned $1 an hour before taxes at a local record store.
A decade later, I began work on my book, Marx’s Religion of Revolution. It was published in 1968. Download it here: http://bit.ly/gnmror. That book goes into detail on the philosophy of Marx and Engels. That philosophy is now dead. So is its economic analysis.
On December 31, 1991, the Communist Party of the USSR committed suicide. It disbursed the funds and shut down. The war was over.
Today, all that remains are North Korea and Cuba. The defeat of Communism is best seen in the satellite photograph of the Korean peninsula.
Schwarz knew it was over for Communism by 1996. He admitted that he was amazed that it fell so fast.
(For my full report, click the link.)
This is why there is separation of church and state. When religious fanatics get control of government they're always ready to set the world on fire for their convictions and get everyone killed because "I'm saved and I know where I'm going".
Do Not Get Sucked In By This Misleading Review
No, I haven't seen the film yet…but let's please remember that Mr. North also attacked Dinesh D'Souza's recent documentary "2016: Obama's America" which, along with Mr. D'Souza's book "The Roots of Obama's Rage" (upon which the film was partially based), is without doubt the most complete and coherent structural/ideological explanation of Obama's conduct in office yet to be produced.
Mr. North's highly idiosyncratic brand of "conservatism" should not be swallowed whole without SUBSTANTIAL concurrent exposure to more legitimate/scholarly streams of conservative and libertarian thought.
Everyone should look up, read, and print out the "communist goals of 1963. It is found in the "Congressional record–Appendix,pp.A34-A35 January 10, 1963Current Communist Goals". Another must know is, Agenda 21. This is the UN plan to do away with private property, move people into "population centers" cities, control food, control energy, control how much space you have to live in, and others. Go to http://www.ICLEI.org. While there go to "members", then "global members" and see if your city has signed on to this freedon destroying plan. Also http://www.agenda21today.com, http://www.democratsagainstagenda21.com, http://www.UN.org, and many others that point to a communist movement under a different name.
This article could not be more incorrect and misleading. I read the entire article on North's site. Skousen never felt the threat of Communism was over. Check out his videos on Youtube.
For some reason, most politicians ignore the most successful Communist country that has existed, and is thriving, right now, and is colonizing America.
http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/45-sign…
Besides Death by China, there are several other excellent and recent books that cover the issue of “one world” domination by Red China.
China, Inc. by Ted C. Fishman
When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order: Second Edition by Martin Jacques
The Death By China documentary, written by a very well respected economist and an American businessman is excellent. It is in theaters, now. I have seen it twice, the long version is more detailed and explains how the CCP is using mercantilist economc policies while we practice "free trade" and they are wiping out our manufacturing, making us dependent on them.
.http://www.youtube.com/user/DeathByChina?blend=21&ob=5
The Feds show us this happening every month:
We now have the most massive foreign aid program in world history. An average 700 Billion Dollar per year trade deficit for 10 years.
Last year alone, the Communist Chinese Government enjoyed a 300 Billion Dollar trade surplus subsidy from the USA. 40% of the massive US trade imbalance goes to a single Communist country.
http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700…
China is thriving and America is in decline because the Chinese manufacture goods that the world wants to buy. All America has to offer anymore is compound interest, debt and war.
"The world's most populous nation and soon-to-be largest economy is rapidly turning into the planet's most efficient assassin. Unscrupulous Chinese entrepreneurs are flooding world markets with lethal products. China's perverse form of capitalism combines illegal mercantilist and protectionist weapons to pick off American industries, job by job. China's emboldened military is racing towards head-on confrontation with the U.S. Meanwhile, America's executives, politicians, and even academics remain silent about the looming threat. Now, best-selling author and noted economist Peter Navarro meticulously exposes every form of "Death by China," drawing on the latest trends and events to show a relationship spiraling out of control.
how the media distorts the China story–including a "Hall of Shame" of America's worst China apologists.
This book doesn't just catalogue China's abuses: It presents a call to action and a survival guide for a critical juncture in America's history–and the world's"
http://www.amazon.com/Death-China-Confronting-Dra…
Part of the establishment clause deals with preventing the gov't from establishing a state religion; such as was in England.
It did NOT intend for gov't or so-called "critical thinkers", who believe Darwin's lie, to allow God to be removed from every facet of our lives, remove school prayer, attack memorials because they hate Christian symbols, or allow anything to be taught to school children, but never mantion Jesus, or God.
Hello Menott, I do not agree with the main stream explanation of US decline. There is no realistic explanation, other than an action results in an equal and opposite reaction. We are in decline because of poor planning by the Federal government.
Short term profiteering policies lead to long term bankruptcy.
A basic history of the real policies of the Founders and why they worked long term, until we abandoned their thoughts, in 1970. Old school Republicanism. Think Reagan, Barry Goldwater, Jesse Helms, William McKinley, U S Grant:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iosP-Bn6scw
China (along with Putin's Russia) is the agreed-on new bogeyman for neocons to wag their finger at, instead of admitting that America has destroyed itself through unpayable endless debt, war and having surrendered our manufacturing supremacy to other nations. The federal government — GOP and Democrat alike — thought it could sustain a First World highly industrialized economy by sending all the high-paying manufacturing jobs to other countries.
Now is the time when the anti-"anybody" propaganda cranks up, just like it has in the past. It's always the "Huns", the "Gooks", the "Ay-rabs" or some other convenient target is at fault for America's problems of its own making.
Menott, perhaps you are not of an age to really understand Communism. I am not being rude, most people are simply not old enough now to know what they are up against.
I would suggest reading Skousen's "The Naked Communist" for a basic understaning of this issue. There are many more excellent references to learn from, however his was written specifically as a "primer" for High School seniors, which is where I read it.
4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
The list of communist goals contained in the book was read into the Congressional Record by U.S. Congressman Albert S. Herlong, Jr. of Florida, on January 10, 1963.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Communist
"Menott, perhaps you are not of an age to really understand Communism."
LOL. I still remember vividly where I was when JFK was shot.
You don't really come out and say "all America's problems are China's fault" but truth is, if China really wanted to bring down the "running dog capitalist white devil America" (to revive some phraseology that old-line Cold Warriors are still fetched by) all they would have to do is dump all the US dollars they're holding. America has undermined itself and we're at the stage where the political class is scapegoating the rest of the world because it has no idea how to fix any of them.
If religious fundamentalists weren't so unbalanced and blinkered when it comes to solving problems with anything other than "this is what the Good Book says", I wouldn't be alarmed. God's agents on earth are also responsible for witch-burning, pedophile priests and the collective national insanity called Prohibition (which in the name of eradicating "the demon rum" created more alcoholism, contempt for the law and gave organized crime its first significant foothold in America). But I digress.
I believe in kindness and compassion, but the same mentality that tortured Galileo into publicly renouncing the "heresy" that the earth revolves around the sun (and not vice-versa) is trying to set off World War III as I write this.
Make no mistake: World War III will start with nuclear weapons, and America cannot win it because we don't have the troop strength, manufacturing supremacy, tax base or morale to survive another big mistake.
Gary North did attack Dinesh D'Souza's film. I recently saw the movie and while it was interesting there was nothing particularly useful about the film except that it shows how obviously the media covered up for Obama's past. In fact I would argue that the film didn't even go that deep into Obama's controversial past. If the point of the film was to prove how obviously biased the media was for not reporting Obama's past, which would have mean he would never be president, then fair enough.
However Obama's past aside it doesn't prove that Obama is an anti colonialist as D'Souza claims. All presidents are vetted before they get that far in the system and it is incredibly naive for conservatives to think somebody who doesn't support the interest of the Washington establishment would be allowed in the "club". For example are the big differences between Obama and Clinton or other democratic politicians? No not really and most support him.
And nobody gave a coherent defence of D'Souza's film in the comment sections last time around. It was just screaming and shouting. If you are serious that D'Souza was correc then tell me the major points that Gary North got wrong in his review or point me to an article that confirms D'Souza's conclusions.
Joe, all the pre-approved talking points in the world will not change the fact that China has a huge trade surplus with the US because they send us their real goods, while we send them nothing but more fiat currency. We produce nothing anymore the world wants to buy…except trouble. The demonization is a prelude to the federal government declaring war or breaking off diplomatic ties in order to cancel our enormous debt to China.
Apparently you are confusing Christianity with the leaders of the Catholic church; they are not synonymous, they are antithetical to each other.
As to WW3, apparently you are unaware that it has already started, & it is not America alone as you erroneously suppose, it is the USA & NATO against "Them", & I'll let you ponder who "Them" is to allow you to self-educate & actually learn something instead of spewing out wild speculations.
Thirdly, the whole premise of thermonuclear warfare is to destroy everything so that there is nothing left to fight with including troops. That why the term "Mutual Assured Destruction" was coined as a deterrent against using these types of advanced weaponry, because in thermonuclear war, no one wins…
The nuclear bombs have not started dropping yet, and your tinfoil hat will not shield you either.
Apparently you have not updated your education on weaponry since WW2. We now are using guided missiles instead of airplanes carrying bombs, & it only takes them about 15 minutes are so to deliver their payloads to the target.
As far as your tinfoil hat comment goes, it doesn't surprise me that you went there considering the rest of your dimwitted posts…
I am the film maker and I did supply Gary with the facts of the "45 Current Communist Goals" from Cleon Skousen's book. I gave him the edition, 1962 and the page number 259. The fact that he still says on his website that I didn't provide them shows me he is a man with no integrity, so my comment for people who read his articles, "buyer beware." My only comment to him is, "pride goeth before destruction." Best regards, Curtis
The writer of this wants one to see his fictions in the facts, put on his blinders. The following posts are loaded with people spewing their religious take, the blinders show.
GOD believers do not corner the market of narrow views, judgments and convictions. The results of many topics posted here have two edges. Results cut both ways and science does more to raise morality than any teacher of GOD’s word.
The loudest protesters of the findings from hard science come from those ill taught of GOD’s word and those that hate or distrust what has been written thousands of years ago. Because hard science has proven those words to be true and their views, judgments and convictions false.
No I am not a Scientologists, have no idea what that is nor have I read the bible. Parts of the bible and the Koran, yes. It amazes me how much they knew thousands of years ago and I wonder if experience or a Devine spirit taught them and inspired them to put it in writing.
Just like today, experience holds little weight with the young especially when they’re not yours. A logical reason for being inventive in your passion to pass down wisdom and spare someone from falling prey to ignorance. http://www.numbersusa.com / http://www.goooh.com
It doesn't surprise me that you minions in the military-security-industrial complex, where war is very big business and massive fraud is the byword, are practically orgasmic at the thought of another WW. I'm sure there is a recruitment center near you that will be glad to provide you with an M-16, parachute and paid passage to the Mideast where you can live out your Maj. Kong fantasy.