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...which we seem to be experiencing as a whole society, it might be useful to remember the great Red hunts of the 50's and Edward R. Murrows' commentary.--blj

EDWARD R MURROW EDITORIAL ON JOSEPH MCCARTHY (1954)
Closing a half-hour television report on Senator Joseph McCarthy in March 1954, American journalist Edward R Murrow delivered a stinging editorial about McCarthy’s tactics and their impact:

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Yesterday (March 21, 2022) Thom Hartmann wrote a terrific essay, titled “Is America facing the ‘Doom Loop’ of democracy?” 
Is America Facing The “Doom Loop” of Democracy? (hartmannreport.com)
It is an essay about the present state of political affairs in both the US and Russia, which are both dominated by factions bought by a wealthy few, “oligarchs” or “plutocrats,” who use factions of bought-and-sold “elected” politicians to form governments for their donors/owners. 

“Rational argument can be conducted with some prospect of success only so long as the emotionality of a given situation does not exceed a certain critical degree. If the affective temperature rises above this level, the possibility of reason’s having any effect ceases and its place is taken by slogans and chimerical wish fantasies. That is to say, a sort of collective possession results which rapidly develops into a psychic epidemic.” --CG Jung

3-8-22
The Casualties of Empire