Robert LaFollette, Jr. On War In A Democracy

My Wisconsin chum — Tom Terrific (Robertson) — more widely read than I — sent along this excerpt from the recent biography of the eldest son of "Fightin' Bob." The elder LaFollette opposed U. S. entry in the Great War (1917-1918). Young Bob, also a Senator from Wisconsin, did not vote against the declaration of war in 1941, but he had serious misgivings about the impact of war on society. Ultimately, Young Bob committed suicide in 1953 and the interpretation provided in this recent biography is that LaFollette, Jr. was driven to this tragic end by the machinations of Joseph R. McCarthy. McCarthy had defeated LaFollette for that Senate seat in 1946. LaFollette was projected as a primary opponent of McCarthy in 1952. LaFollette admitted that young people with a brief Communist past had served on his Senate committee staff in the late 1930s. Rather than face the McCarthyite smear campaign, Young Bob committed suicide (according to Professor Maney).

Now, we have the rightwing, blonde, bimbo: Ann Coulter. Coulter — whose book, Treason — pollutes the NYTimes best seller list for non-fiction. Coulter is attempting a resuscitation of Joe McCarthy. Liberals are traitors in Coulter-world. And the sickest thing is that people are buying this garbage. I detect the fine hand of Karl Rove in all of this defamation. Paralyze W's opponents and W sweeps to a victory as a wartime president. In the meantime, young people who are infintely better than Coulter, Rove, and W are in harm's way in Iraq. Next, we will send fine young people into that piece of Hell on Earth known as Liberia. Bring 'em on! If this be treason, make the most of it.

I came across this paragraph in Patrick J. Maney's YOUNG BOB A Biography of Robert M. LaFollette, Jr. from a speech LaFollette made in 1941 (CR 77:1, 1941, vol.87, pt. 2, pp. 1302, 1307) which I think sheds light on all wars this country has been in at all times including today:

"La Follette spoke more passionately and more emotionally about the domestic repercussions of war than he did about any other subject. 'Modern war' he said, 'poisons democracy, often fatally. Men cannot speak, think, or write freely. No longer do they participate as citizens of a free state.' He predicted that if the United States ever again became involved in war, 'tolerance will die. Hate will be mobilized by the Government itself. Neighbor will be set to spy on neighbor; bigotry will stalk the land; labor, industry, agriculture, and finance will be regimented, if not taken over, by the Central Government.' In short, war would create a dictatorship and destroy democracy, perhaps permanently. La Follette sometimes sounded like a pacifist, but he was not. He believed that if a foreign power attacked the United States, its possessions, or other nations in the Western Hemisphere, the United States would have to fight. But he considered such an attack unlikely."
(Maney, Patrick; YOUNG BOB; pgs.229-230)

The more things change, the more they are the same! 1941 or 2003?