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June 6, 2005
Who is The Redhunter?
"Who is the Redhunter?" first appeared on Warm n'Fuzzy Conserva-Puppies, which is my other blog site. As I've moved to a new website, it seemed appropriate to repost it.
A Cold Warrior
I remember the exact moment it happened. I believe I was a junior in high school, which would place the event in the 1976/77 school year. Our English classes were set up so that just as in college, students had a series of classes to choose from each quarter. As I recall, most of the classes were literature. The class I chose for that fateful class was centered on totalitarianism. We read two or three books that quarter, but there was one that made a profound impact on me.
That book was "1984" by George Orwell. To this day I remember how profoundly I was struck by this work. Like everyone else who reads it, I was rooting for Winston Smith throughout the book. When he was utterly defeated by the overpowering might of the totalitarian state, I was devastated. It was not just that they had imprisoned him, or tortured him, that hit me. It was the success of their effort at mind control. By the end, Smith is not merely forced to cooperate, he willingly converts to the belief that Big Brother is good. He becomes a total convert to Ingsoc, the state ideology. It was this, then, that hit me the hardest.
As I said, I remember the exact moment that I finished the book. Before this event, politics, and especially the Cold War struggle against the Soviet Union, were abstractions. No more. "The Soviet Union must be destroyed" went through my mind again and again.
I was never taken in by those leftists who insist on seeing Orwell's work as an attack on the west, and in particular the United States. To be sure, we can see "Orwellian" speech in our daily lives, and we sometimes say that "Big Brother" is doing this or that in our country. But there was never any doubt in my mind that Orwell's masterpiece was primarily an attack on the totalitarian mind-control ideologies of his day; Soviet communism and German Nazism. We had defeated the latter, but the former remained a significant threat.
This began a life-long study of the world around me. Over the past twenty-five or so years I have read dozens if not hundreds of books on a variety of subjects. Initially my primary reading centered around military history and totalitarian ideologies, and indeed books on these subjects still make up the majority of my library.
It always seemed natural for me to be a political conservative. My parents were Republicans, and not being a rebellious type it was natural for me to follow in their footsteps. This, coupled with my anti-Soviet crusade, led me to the right.
I suppose if I had been born twenty years earlier the chances of my going to either party were about equal. Up until the late '60s the Democrats were as anti-Soviet as the Republicans. The sea change that occurred at the end of the Vietnam war squelched any chance of my becoming a Democrat.
My beliefs have not changed that much over the years. If anything, perhaps I have become more libertarian. As I have grown more as a Christian, I have been less impressed by the "religious right"; something of a paradox, perhaps.
I then grew up as a dedicated Cold Warrior. If you check out my personal blog, you'll see that it's got a Cold War name. The story there is simple; when thinking of a title, I started looking at my book collection for inspiration. I came across William F Buckley's The Redhunter. This book tells the story of Senator Joe McCarthy in novel form. Buckley's theme is that while McCarthy and his minon Roy Cohn were scoundrels, the cause of anti-communism is noble and just. It is a theme with which I agree wholeheartedly. I therefore chose it as the title of my blog.
I therefore see our current war against the Islamofascists as in the same mold as the great twentieth-century struggles against Nazism and Communism. Different in many ways, but also quite similar. Whether we win or seek accommodation depends on our willpower. Despite occasional missteps, we prevailed against the old totalitarians. We can do so again.
Posted by Tom at June 6, 2005 10:00 PM
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Comments
Tom,
Thanks for reposting that piece. I think we have some interesting connections. While I didn't read "1984" in highschool, I did pick up "Animal Farm" which had a similar impact.
America is a great country with an amazing ability to inspire people to something greater than themselves. I hope that the nation holds true to its Judeo-Christian values, but like you, as I grow as a Christian I am nervous about how politicized religion becomes.
On a side note, you and Marvin did an excellent job on the new site. Thanks for your friendship and inspiration.
Kind regards,
Bill Rice
Posted by: Bill Rice at June 10, 2005 12:18 PM
Impressive. Great insight and writings. I am bookmarking your site and will be back. Glad that you did not get taken in by the leftists. It is up to us to bail them out when they get in trouble.
Posted by: Bos'un at December 4, 2005 11:47 PM
Can you link with these guys? They seem to be doing a great job. One of the hosts earned the Bronze medal in Iraq. Check them out!
Yours with the Republic!
http://www.trooptalkradio.com/
Posted by: Jim Comstock at September 21, 2006 2:17 AM
Very well written. I'm impressed by the background story. Thanks for sharing. :)
SP~
Posted by: Satin_patriot at December 19, 2007 3:11 PM
