OK, at the risk of getting myself on some Government hit list, I really want to share this.

The other day Dawn and I were watching The Majestic with Jim Carey. I really enjoyed the movie. It takes place during the McCarthyism Anti-Communism hearings.

Watching how ludicrous the hearings and investigations were depicted it made me shake my head. It reminded me of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 America. I remember my father telling me that the real witches during those trials were the ones making the acquisitions (although not the kind of witches they were hunting for). So I figured the communists, or at least the anti-Americans (subversives, etc.) were the ones orchestrating the McCarthyism trials.

Anyway, I shook my head and thought to myself of George Santayana’s quote “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Naturally I was glad that modern America is beyond that sort of stillness.

Then I started wondering if we really were. Maybe this pattern it repeating itself. Salem didn’t invent it (look at the Spanish Inquisition), so it probably won’t end with McCarthyism. So could I think of an example today? The first thing I came up with was the detention center in Guantanamo Bay (Gitmo).

Lets look at the similarities between the three: Salem, McCarthy and Gitmo:

In researching this I discovered I am by far not the first to draw these parallels which is not surprising. I was surprised to find out that considering this now makes me a Liberal Democrat. Hmm . . . interesting.