Nat Hentoff Quotes
I say this because the Left has taken what passes for their principles as an absolute religion. They don't think anymore. They just react. When they have somebody like [Barack] Obama whom they put into office, they believed in the religious sense and, of course, that is a large part of the reason for their silence on these issues.
Hentoff, Nat. Interview by Ginni Thomas. The Daily Caller, 2010.
Examples were: “God & Country,” “Patriotism,” “Freedom of the Press,” “Honesty,” and “Loyalty.” Not much as changed in political discourse although different terms are injected in each age.
President Lyndon Johnson was distressed over the effectiveness of the anti-war protests and thought that the American leftists, who were among the organizers of the protests, were acting under direction of Russia. He had previously ordered Helms to investigate that, which was (and is) technically illegal. Helms complied, but what the CIA found was not what the president wanted to hear. He told Helms to keep investigating.
This quotation illustrates one end of the range of union leadership regarding communism. Some union leader were communists; some were pro Marxist but against the Russian style of dictatorial communism. Others did not care for Communism at all but saw the communists as an effective tool that really frightened American corporate management and politicians so they looked reasonable by comparison and they therefore wanted the communists around. Last were those like Reuther who was aggressively anti-communist and wanted labor to expel them whenever they turn up. However, what is ironic is that Reuther himself was labeled a Communist by many right wingers who also used Reuther’s “duck” test. Reuther wanted a national health insurance system; so did the Communists. He advocated and end to segregation; so did the Communists. He fought for workers having a say in management, a classic communist demand, and many other similarities.
Nathan Irving Hentoff was an American historian, novelist, jazz and country music critic, and syndicated columnist for United Media. Hentoff was a columnist for The Village Voice from 1958 to 2009. Following his departure from The Village Voice, Hentoff became a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and continued writing his music column for The Wall Street Journal, which published his works until his death. He often wrote on First Amendment issues, vigorously defending the freedom of the press.
