Today is Independence Day 2012 and in the spirit of the holiday, I have a few independent  things to say. I found this on one of my favorite FaceBook sites this week and was stunned to make the historic connection between the John Birch Society circa 1962 and today's right wing. This is the same fractured  philosophy that is alive and well among the so called Tea Party (or should we say Tea Company because they are a corporate sponsored group) and consistent with today, they didn't know how to spell back then either. See if you can find the misspelling.

You could put President Obama's face on this document with  the same wild allegations and never know it was 50 years old!  I particularly love the reference to the United Nations taking over the country. They are all riled up again today by something called Agenda 21...another UN plot to enslave us in planned communities and sustainable developments.

This is troubling for a number of reasons - same wild and divisive allegations - from the same sources. For those who may not know, a founding member of the John Birch Society was Fred Koch. The same Fred Koch whose sons Charles and David have pledged a billion dollars to defeat Obama and the Democrats;  and because despite education and access to information the same insidious evil still energizes some people and corrupts  our political discourse. Rather than talk about policy, we have to deal with this crazy, hate-filled and paranoid rhetoric.  Are these people gaining strength or just becoming more vocal? Will we  wake up before it is too late -- if it isn't too late already?