ARE THERE ANY MARXISTS IN THE HOUSE?

The fallout from the election continues. The newest shtick is filing petitions calling for secession from the US. The reasons vary from a guy in Alabama who's ticked because an Alabama state law forced the closing of his topless car detailing business. It's a state law so he wants to secede from the US? OoooooKaaaay. And then there's the guy from Texas.  A guy who probably wouldn't recognize a Marxist if he fell over a real one. Although I would love to see Marx's reading list from the reading room of the British Museum. Which led me to remember some things. 

A couple of years ago I stumbled across the story of Oscar Romero, archbishop of San Salvador, martyred at the beginning of the more than decade long civil war in El Salvador. A war largely financed by our tax dollars by the way. Too bad we couldn't have just distributed the five billion or so we sank into this nightmare among the five million or so campesinos. Many of whom were on the run from the American trained military and paramilitary groups.

Curious, I dug deeper into the stories of the people caught between the army, the death squads, the oligarchs and US foreign policy. I discovered that Marxism was pretty much a code word for anyone you didn't agree with. People who belonged to unions. People who wanted to belong to unions. Farmers who wanted to form coops, Farmers who believed in some kind of land reform in a country where less than twenty families controlled over sixty percent of the land. The priests, nuns, missionaries and lay teachers who supported them. And finally, any civilians who might agree with them. 

Now how many Americans fit some of those categories. Union members, people who would like to join unions. Workers stuck in dead end jobs. Workers who've seen their jobs shipped overseas. Workers who work for companies that have been mismanaged for years and finally blame the bankruptcy on the unions. Need I go on. They all could be called "Marxists" and for many years in some countries that label was a death sentence. But, this is still America. Right.