George,

In our nation's capital, at 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, you will find the the National Archives building. It houses the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and the Bill of Rights, among other documents that form the cornerstone of our Democracy.

Outside stand two statues. One is called "Study The Past" the other "The Past Is Prologue"--instructive for the era in which we now live, particularly as the past should teach us that what we are now witnessing with the fanatical Right Wing and its acolytes is nothing new in terms of their negativism and obstructionism.

Since the dawn of our Democracy, whatever the Right was called, "Know Nothings," "Tea Party" rabble rousers "John Birch Society" or whatever--they have clearly shown contempt for government and, what the preamble of our Constitution provided with guiding principles and fundamental purposes in words like "provide for the General Welfare"

Throughout the 20th Century, not one piece of progressive legislation ever received the support of the Right. . . .

They opposed The Pure Food and Drug Act, they opposed child labor laws, mine safety laws, suffrage laws for women, Social Security. Even prior to World War ll when FDR correctly saw the rising menace of dictators with militaristic designs, the Right/America Firsters called him a "war monger." Led by Right Wing Republicans, Roosevelt's efforts to fortify stategic islands in the Western Pacific were rejected and, in the case of the island of Guam, the Japanese invaders took it in a matter of hours the day after December 7, 1941. So excited was the Right Wing, they crowed FDR's efforts were "Guam With The Wind"! (it wasn't until August of 1944 that the United States secured Guam with the Japanese losing 15, 000 men, killed or captured).

They opposed unpaid family leave that would allow a worker to care for a terminally ill family member or a spouse after giving childbirth. Overwhelmingly against Medicare, Medicaid, the GI Bill, the Marshall Plan, responsible gun laws.

This list is hardly complete.

However, in bygone days, there were enough adult, responsible members of the GOP to limit the effectiveness of the malignant naysayers.

No more!

Now, the extremists of the Right and their cohorts of the media like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter, G. Gordon Liddy, Laura Ingraham, Charles Krauthammer, Kate O'Beirne, Mike Savage (appropriate name), Cal Thomas etc. etc. act as the mouthpieces to promote their agenda and Big Lies, almost completely controlling the party calling itself "republican".

The loyal opposition has disappeared.

The Democrats must realize the predictability of the Right Wing and reckon with the fact that history has shown them to be wrong on every count.

The Right's stand against any health care revision with the assistance of the "Full Mooners" will prove them to be once agan, wrong.

The past is truly prologue.

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, August 9, 2009)