Anti-Fascism as a Unifying Force

[Bob Butler 54]

HUAC was a congressional committee.  While some such committees are really gathering important information that will help Congress pass good legislation, a lot of time, money and energy being expended by these committees is politicians trying to score political points.  They produce more propaganda than actionable information.  Thus, while I might agree that fascists must be watched and constrained more, I'm not looking to trust politicians to be at the center of organizing things

The FBI, NSA and similar organizations are currently watching for middle eastern violent extremists.  You might want an informant in every urban mosque, a nerd watching every jihad recruitment and propaganda web page, agents tracking movements in and out of ISIS training camps, etc...  I could see a similar program targeting fascists and their ilk, run by professional investigators rather than politicians.

But the amount of effort and dollars spent should reflect the degree of the threat.  Right now the middle eastern terrorists are detonating more bombs than the fascists.  Now, I have no love of fascists, but the current batch is far more into talk than action.  If you can show me a spiral of violence, if you can show a pattern of violent crimes being committed, I'll be a lot more enthusiastic about spending money to spy on Americans.  Getting the government in the habit of spying on citizens isn't a good idea unless there is a real benefit.