The Know-Nothing Party, the 1920s KKK, and elements of the Tea Party: historical parallels?

[YoungDemCA]

One thing that I enjoy searching for in American history are patterns or parallels between the past and the present. One particular area of interest to me is the infamous Know-Nothing Party or movement dating from roughly the middle part of the 19th century, and how it compares and contrasts to the 1920s variant of the Ku Klux Klan (which have membership in the millions at one point),a s well as certain elements of the contemporary Tea Party (e.g. the "Birther" movement).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_Nothing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan#Second_Klan:_1915.E2.80.931944

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories

One commonality I have noticed between all three groups is their blatant xenophobia (and racism, for that matter), and their exclusionary views of who is a "real American." From that, flows the conspiratorial thinking about those they consider "Other" or "foreign" or "not-American" who are "taking over the country."

However, that begs the question: Where does all that fear come from?

I think it comes from the reality of demographic, social, cultural, and economic change, and the historically dominant group's fears of becoming a less-powerful minority group in their own country. Historically, these nativist, racist, xenophobic movements have always reached their zenith at a time of rapid changes in the country - again, demographic, social, cultural, and economic change. The fear is that those changes will sooner or later, eventually translate to political changes that will adversely affect the dominant group. It's their fear that they will lose their traditional monopoly on power in "their" country.

These are just some of my thoughts. I'm curious to read what others here think!

[retrowire]

1. Thanks for the education!

I agree with your point of view, and of course history does repeat itself!

It does certainly seem rooted in the idealogy that it's "their" country. As if they just have the short sighted memory that conveniently forgets that most of them were immigrants themselves first, and that they forcefully took this country by means of genocide and war.

I just attribute it all to the fact that there will always be a mass of human beings that are primitive in thought. This primitive mindset has a very "tribal" grasp on everything, which leads to xenophobia, racism and basically a members only mentality all around. That exclusivity does not unite people as a whole, but they don't really see outside of themselves. Outsiders aren't deserving of those rights.

It's all a primitive mindset.

Speaking of comparisons to history, I'm interested in the parallels in Hitler's rise to power by harnessing the frustrated masses willingness to blame anything for their shamble of an economy and directing that hatred at a minority (jews) to Trump's current campaign in which he appears to be doing the same thing. He's harnessing peoples current frustration with our economy by blaming a minority (mexicans).

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. When speaking of history repeating itself, remember what Karl Marx wrote

In The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte, "Hegel remarks somewhere that all great world-historic facts and personages appear, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce."

[JohnHarris]

3. Agree, and...

I agree with your analysis. At the same time, it is natural to think the way you do things is the best way. It is natural to be drawn to people like yourselves. Defeating this means we need to work inside ourselves to do this. It's not just their fear of losing the monopoly; it's also fear of the unknown. It's also natural to be anti-immigrant in times of economic hardship. Being open to a lot of these changes is hard, and I am committed to these changes. Others aren't so ready. What we are fighting is human nature.

[no bs joe]

4. "The Paranoid Style in American Politics"

Great book by Richard Hofstadter. Check it out!

[MemphisMoocows]

5. Human nature

Sadly, xenophobic and racist tendencies seem to be part of human nature. I don't know of any culture where there isn't at least some degree of ethnocentrism and suspicion of "outsiders".