Paul Adair is a 21-year Germantown resident, retired scientist, writer, and lecturer.
Every couple of months, some strange people set-up signs in front of the Germantown Post Office. One sign reads “Dump Obama”, and has a portrait of our President sporting a Hitler-style moustache. Another says “Pull Over to Impeach Obama”. Who are these weirdos and what do they want?
I first noticed these folks last winter, while driving down Pilgrim. Curiosity got the best of me and I pulled over. The fellow manning the display soon identified himself as an adherent of the political philosophy of Lyndon LaRouche. I had heard of LaRouche before, a perennial Presidential candidate known for his wack-a-doo ideas. I knew that I wasn't dealing with a rational person.
Lyndon LaRouche was born in 1922 in New Hampshire. He became a Marxist and was active in various far left organizations from the late fifties through the early seventies. His views gradually evolved into what many call neo-fascism, with strong elements of anti-Semitism. LaRouche has parlayed his bizarre ideas into a multi-million dollar publishing empire.
His current front organization is called the National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) . He maintains absolute control over the group. In 1988, LaRouche was convicted of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and served five years of a 15-year sentence. For years, he was a Presidential candidate, running in every election from 1976 to 2004 but never gaining a substantial number of votes.
One of the most well-known LaRouche causes is the impeachment of the President. He is particularly incensed over the use of drone strikes in the War on Terror. Despite espousing a single-payer national health system, he claims that the President should be impeached over Obamacare. A third cited reason for impeachment is the current NASA program to encourage commercial companies to develop launch capabilities.
However, LaRouche is an equal opportunity wing-nut. He also called for the impeachment of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, (complete with Hitler 'stache posters). The cult especially dislikes Cheney. They published a booklet called Children of Satan, with Cheney's picture on the front. (Hey, I'm keeping an open mind on that one!)
In LaRouche's world view, the “British Empire” is an evil force that controls our history and current world events. He believes that the British were responsible for the assassination of Lincoln and for installing US leaders such as Truman and Barack Obama. The British keep us all under control through an odd and secret coalition of the KGB, the FBI, the Anti-Defamation League, the Rockefellers, and the Rothchilds. The population is kept docile by an international drug cartel headed-up by the The Queen of England herself.
A glance through the website of the LaRouche movement makes it difficult to put an ideological label on the organization. Their stands are neither primarily left or right. Trying to sort-out the bizarre array of positions is guaranteed to cause a headache. Among the current oddball LaRouche assertions:
- The Obama administration is allied with al-Qaeda in trying to turn Syria and Libya into terrorist havens.
AIDS was developed by the Soviet military, with US compliance. It was unleashed on Africa to depopulate the continent.
There should be mass strikes across the US to resist the secret British world control.
LaRouche himself invented the Star Wars missile defense system. He was persecuted by the Soviets for his role in its development.
- CFC's do not impact the the ozone layer and the scientific evidence was all concocted by DuPont in order to sell more expensive refrigerants.
All of the scientific evidence to the contrary, global warming is not real. It is all a plot by eco-terrorists.
The 9/11 attacks were an inside job and part of an attempted coup-d'etat.
Rock and roll (especially the Beatles) was a British plot to lead the world into a new Dark Age.
The Glass-Steagall Act should be reinstated to separate commercial banking from investment banking. (Hey, if you say enough things, eventually you will say something correct.)
The LaRouche website is full of pseudoscientific technobabble. They state the Second Law of Thermodynamics to be false. They claim to have developed a new physics of cosmology and a new theory of evolution. Oh, if only the scientific community could see the error of its ways!
The conservative Heritage Foundation says that LaRouche "leads what may well be one of the strangest political groups in American history”. I agree. Many claims by the group are outlandish, moon-batty, and downright false. However, they are often entertaining.
The funniest thing about the appearance of the LaRouche organization in Germantown is that many local Tea Party/Republicans, seeing the Impeach Obama signs think-”Hey, that's our folks!” Frequently, people signal the LaRouchies with a thumbs-up or a honk, or even stop by to encourage these nuts. Little do they know of the organization's Marxist and Fascist underpinnings. Little do they know of the conspiracy theories and the other kooky views of the bizarre LaRouche cult.