LIKE A FIRE BELL IN THE NIGHT, AWAKENED AND FILLED ME WITH TERROR - THOMAS JEFFERSON

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 At the height of the Cold War in the 1960's I was living next to a Civil Defense air raid siren. We lived on the backside of Eastland Baptist church. There was a siren on top of the church building that was tested once a week at noon. I was terrified at the thought of a nuclear war and when it was tested I would always check the time and would breathe a sigh of relief if it were 12:00 PM. Since we were so close that siren was extremely loud and could be heard for miles. They were strategically placed all over Nashville. If it had gone off at midnight I'm sure I would have crapped my pants. During the late 1940's and early 1950's there was a fear that the Soviets were planting Communist agents among our population and in our government. There is no doubt that to some extent the Republicans were using this as a campaign issue to capitalize on American fears. They had been out of power since the early 1930's and had been blamed, unjustly I believe, for the depression. The threat, however; was real. There were Communists who had infiltrated American society. Klaus Fuchs, Alger Hiss, and the Rosenberg's were evidence of this.


  After listening to the sound bites of Nikki Haley's rebuttal to Obama's State of the Union speech I am convinced more than ever that she is solidly in the establishment Republican camp. In addition I wonder a lot lately if the Republican Party hasn't been infiltrated by Democrats posing as Republicans in much the same way as we feared that Communists were infiltrating America. Far too many of the Republicans sound like they would feel more comfortable as Democrats. They might as well be because they are a rubber stamp to everything that the Democrats want. Nikki thinks we need to be quieter so we can hear what the other side has to say. No Nikki we don't need to be quieter. I know what the other side wants and I reject it. Our leaders need to be like that air raid siren of my youth. It is midnight. Too many American's are asleep and that siren needs to blow. Not as a call to anarchy or revolution, although a revolution is badly needed, but to alert the people to the danger that they and their Republic are in. For me louder is better.     

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