Progressive Buttons Blog

When Edward R. Murrow contemplated the persecution of American artists by Senator McCarthy’s congressional hearings, he knew what was at the heart of the persecution: An attempt to suppress the freedom of dissent. By making membership in a particular political party equivalent to a crime, McCarthy sought to restrict the scope of thought itself. To express an idea itself would be impermissible.

It is this threat to American freedom that Murrow had in mind when he declared, in his famous television broadcast, “We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.”

Today, there is another fear that threatens American freedom. It is not the fear of Communism, but rather the fear of Islam (no, not terrorism - American right wing terrorists of the Timothy McVeigh variety are not its targets). There is another age of unreason, as well. It is not the age of irrational anti-Communism, but the age of irrational Homeland Security.

The unreason of Homeland Security easily matches the unreason of anti-Communism. War, arbitrary imprisonment, unjust trials, torture, government spying against citizens, and on and on, assault the machines that maintain reason in our nation.

Heed the words of Edward R. Murrow once again. Do not be driven by fear into an age of unreason.