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 At various times in our nation’s history we have been invaded by malcontent Martians, body snatchers, migrant caravans and a loud-mouth narcissist with shiny shoes and a flap of hair.

Prepare once again to be invaded by the most threatening of all, those darn evil socialists. Yes, President Narcissist has now declared that the good old USA will not become a socialist country and you can bet that the rest of the right wing blab-o-sphere will sing right along as the 2020 election looms in the distance. Yes, over the next 20 months or so the crack reporting of the fake news will discover socialists lurking in nearly every nook and cranny of our society, ready to pounce and make all of us march in lock step to a tune of Marxism, with plenty of help from bad guys Lenin, Stalin and Mao and those crazy Venezuelans thrown in to boot.

   Yes, the socialist menace is back according to the fear mongers on the right—just in time for an election.

Another fake threat, like our southern border, is upon us.

Watch for the talking points relating modern day social democracies to the Soviet Union or East Germany. Cuba will be vilified again. Watch for newsreels of Hugo Chavez nationalizing the oil industry in Venezuela and listen to President Rumpt exhort during another truth-free rally, “It can happen here if you vote for them, those bad socialists! It can happen here! But we won’t let it happen here! I’ll protect you and defeat them with my bare hands—just like I defeated ISIS!”

Or you can pick up a copy of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors recent report about the threat to the US Economocracy from crazy Medicare-for-all and tax the rich proposals. I believe the word “socialism” turned up over 200 times in the document.

   These folks are sharing the fear like a bunch of drunken sailors sharing the rum. The right wing blab-o-sphere is only too happy to have this kind of political candy to toss out at the parade.

Socialism! Socialism! Socialism!

Never mind that we have this thing called the Constitution, you know, the thing that contains the directions for our republic to operate under. No one asking for a fair and just democracy is threatening to toss it in favor of some kind of authoritarian regime. Well, President Rumpt is hoping we all ignore the Constitution in his behalf. No matter, he’ll be gone soon enough if we all remember not to scatter when he deflects his misdeeds by shouting that we’re all Socialists! Socialists! for wanting a fair and just society. 

   I used to wander around at Tea Party rallies and ask the nervous people carrying their fearful signs about health care or religion or guns, “What kind of country is Sweden?”

“Socialist,” they’d say, each and every one of them.

And then I’d say, “So the parliamentary democracy with constitutional law that Sweden operates under is socialist?”

“Yes,” they’d say, each and every one of them.

Leaving it at that I’d then ask, “So what kind of economy does Sweden have?”

“Socialist,” they’d say, each and every one of them.

And then I’d say, “So the free market capitalist-based economy that Sweden operates under is socialist?”

“Yes,” they’d say, each and every one of them. With blank stares, I might add.

   Whew. The pump of propaganda has been primed. There is a segment of the population willing to be led into fear and misinformation as easily as a herd of cows is led to pasture.

Mark my words, the notion of a social contract with the 99 percent of the people in our country is already being routed toward a new red scare. The propagandists have been very busy these last few decades. 

But we have them outnumbered.        

   A majority of citizens agree that the rich and corporations have stolen our democracy, that health care should be universal, that climate change is real, that education should be free, that income inequality, racial and women’s injustice are still rooted in our society.

We have them outnumbered.

Don’t ever forget that.