NEDERLAND — It was called the “American Liberty League,” and its avowed goal was to... “defend and uphold the Constitution, foster the right to work, earn, save, and acquire property.” It spent millions and was funded by the DuPont family, US Steel, General Motors, General Foods, Standard Oil, Birdseye, Colgate, Heinz Foods, Chase National Bank, Goodyear Tire and Rubber, and other prominent members of Corporate America at the time.

Formed in 1934 — 76 years ago — its other goal was to oppose President Franklin Roosevelt, liberal Democrats, and the New Deal. Using the same fear tactics as today, it pronounced, “Social Security will be the end of Democracy.”

In today's parlance it was the first “Tea Party” group since the Boston original.

And, for the last 76 years, it has proven to be what ultra-conservatives often leap toward whenever a Democrat is elected President of the United States.

So, jump ahead to the 1960s and consider another one — the John Birch Society, that pushed into the public eye during the reign of  John F. Kennedy.

The Birch Society opposed the civil rights movement in the 1960s because it was so concerned about “the godless communists” taking over aspects of civil rights. They opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Lyndon Johnson because they decided it was against the 10th Amendment and bypassed states' rights. The Birch Society was also against what they called “one world government.”

(Which makes one wonder which way they'll jump when they realize Corporate America is fast drawing ever closer to that very world governorship.)

During that era, Bob Dylan was moved to (probably facetiously) write a song called, “Talkin' John Birch Society Paranoid Blues”.

One stanza says...

“I was lookin' high and low for them Reds everywhere

“I was lookin' in the sink and underneath the chair

“I looked way up my chimney hole

“I even looked deep inside my toilet bowl

“They got away...”

Birch members supported Barry Goldwater for president in 1964, and even went so far as to call Dwight Eisenhower “a tool of the communists.” And when John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, many people believed the Birch Society was responsible.

Next, along came the “Arkansas Project,” funded by multi-millionaire Richard Mellon Sciafe, which aimed at President Bill Clinton. Sciafe spent $2 million of his own money to damage Bill Clinton in any way he could, hoping to end Clinton's presidency.

An examination of Clinton White House aide Vincent Foster's death — which had already been ruled a suicide — an investigation of a real estate investment Bill and Hillary made, called Whitewater, and charges that Bill had sexually harassed an Arkansas government employee, all were used in an effort to damage or get rid of Bill Clinton.

Sciffe's “Arkansas Project” mostly concerned itself with the Whitewater investments which led to a Sciaffe conspiracy theory about the death of Vince Foster, who had some connection to Whitewater. Newspapers and even books were published, articles claiming Clinton was responsible for Foster's suicide.

Therefore, the various and sundry “Tea Party” gigs reached from 1934 to the late 1990's.

Which, of course, brings us to the present and the next Democrat elected President of the U.S., Mr. Barack Obama. And, as previously printed in this space, our current president has two problems he cannot overcome — he's a black man and he has a strange Muslim-sounding name. So, say what they might, in my humble opinion and several research polls, his race and name greatly encourage his detractors.

The Tea Party movement says its protests are mainly against the following — the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act, and health care reform.

73 percent of Tea Party supporters are against Obama's policy of  talking to Muslim countries, 88 percent of them approve the new Arizona immigration law, and 82 percent believe “gays and lesbians have too much political power.” Those statistics are from a University of Washington poll.

But the American Liberty League, the John Birch Society, and the Arkansas project didn't have Fox (Faux?) News and talk radio — nor Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, so the Tea Party movement has grown much quicker than those before them. But the Gallup Poll organization avers the movement “is more rebranding of core Republicanism than a new or distinct entity on the American political scene.”

So the Tea Party crap ain't nothin' new ya'll. It's just another thing to show how far right(Nazi-Fascist?) the Republican Party actually is and has been.

Neal Morgan of Nederland is a retired educator. Contact him at neal.morgan1@yahoo.com.