The New Right Never Gets Old

Tom McIntyre - One of the Best (0.00 / 0)

Thanks, Dean, for recognizing this prophetic statesman. . . . For those of you not familiar with McIntyre's legacy, I'd like to reprint a section of my diary last month on NH's greatest progressives:

Thomas J. McIntyre - One of Dartmouth's finest sons, Tom McIntyre was also one of New Hampshire's greatest public servants.  A decorated WWII hero and Mayor of Laconia, McIntyre beat Perkins Bass (Charlie's dad) for a Senate seat and immediately began working to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which he helped Hubert Humphrey to manage on the floor of the Senate.  

He didn't quit fighting after that - Tom McIntyre was an unabashed progressive, so much so that the John Birch Society once declared him the worst Senator in America.  (McIntyre's response:  "I must be doing something right.")  He was a leading voice for arms control on the Senate Armed Services Committee, a vocal supporter of national health care, and one of the Congress' first advocates for banning chlorofluorocarbons.  President Carter called him "the nation's leading advocate for solar energy."

Even when Tom McIntyre was wrong - as he was on the Vietnam War - he was open to change, and he abandoned his hawkish views in 1969 after he recognized the divisions that were emerging across the land he loved.  McIntyre was on the receiving end of vicious Union Leader attacks on that issue, as he was later in his career for his courageous votes in support of New York City loan guarantees and the Panama Canal Treaty.  

The GOP extremists finally defeated McIntyre in 1978, but they weren't able to shut him up.  He wrote one of the early seminal works on extremism in the Republican Party - "The Fear Brokers" - in which he wrote about "people who profess to love America more and understand it better than you or I do but whose words and deeds belie this claim."  An excellent (and prophetic) read.

I fully expect Jeanne Shaheen to take over McIntyre's title as New Hampshire's greatest senator one day.   This would be fitting.  McIntyre's top aide was James Keefe, the father of Joe and Maura - Shaheen's chief of staff today.

Tom McIntyre passed away in 1992.  If he were still alive, he would be celebrating his 95th birthday next month (February 20).  Would be a good opportunity to recognize his contributions -- and learn more from those of you who knew him well.

---

by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 12:57:04 PM CST

McIntyre was (0.00 / 0)

incorrect. The "new right" has prevailed. So far, anyway. We have the current economic collapse thanks to that. The other social ills are too numerous to mention, but outrageous child poverty statistics for an industrialized country comes to mind.

Also, people have been convinced to lobby and vote against their own self-interest, something that wasn't so common a hundred years ago, for example.

---

by: Jennifer Daler @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 15:13:36 PM CST

Glass Half Full (0.00 / 0)

The New Right differed from the Old Right not in its fiscal irresponsibility, but in its will to build a social theocratic state in the US.  Nevertheless.

* Abortion rights remain the law of land
* Prayer in schools is still unconstituational
* Gays and lesbian civil rights have made enormous strides in the past three decades, and are poised for more the next 1-2

. . . and on and on.  These battles continue, and the New Right's "rising influence" remains the threat that McIntyre anticipated.  But it has not prevailed.  Yet.

---

by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 17:41:56 PM CST

[ Parent ]

you might not want to use abortion (4.00 / 1)

as an example. Abortions increasingly difficult to get - as the number of providers is shrinking every year. NH alone has 3 bills in this legislative session attempting to make abortions more difficult for women to access.

Scott Roeder murdered Dr. George Tiller one Sunday morning as Tiller served as an usher at his church. Roeder is completely open and unapologetic about his premeditated murder of Dr. Tiller - and just last week, the judge in his case agreed that his defense may be allowed to make the case that Roeder killed Tiller out of "necessity."

No one is standing up for a woman's right to choose. No one stood up and told Nelson, Stupak, or Pitts to go mind their own fucking business. The Democratic Party's once strong pro-choice stand is increasingly weak.  

sanctimonious purist/professional lefty

---

by: susanthe @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 21:38:53 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Before making sweeping comments... (4.00 / 1)

about no one standing up for a woman's right to choose, you might think about the many members of the NH House and Senate who year after year spend countless hours beating back bill proposing limits on choice.  We will enter that particular battle again this week.

---

by: Lucy Weber @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 07:29:27 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Agree with both your comments and Lucy's (0.00 / 0)

The Right has made "progress" in undermining reproductive freedom, but our side has stopped them from achieving its core objectives. . . . And Roe v. Wade remains the law of the land.

---

by: Dartmouth Dem @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 09:26:58 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I'm sure that knowing (0.00 / 0)

Roe v. Wade is the law of the land is a huge comfort to women in states like Iowa, Idaho, and South Dakota that have only 1 clinic in their entire state.

What you're ignoring, is that on the national level, there is no one speaking up for abortion rights.  As long as Christian Taliban terrorists kill doctors with impunity, and are allowed to harass women entering clinics, the process of trying to get an abortion will continue to become more and more difficult. If there is no way to access abortions, it won't matter what the law of the land is.  

sanctimonious purist/professional lefty

---

by: susanthe @ Sun Jan 17, 2010 at 13:44:55 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Deception is the devil's game. (0.00 / 0)

We fall for it because pride makes us think we are too smart to be deceived.

---

by: hannah @ Sat Jan 16, 2010 at 17:21:58 PM CST