I had a run-in with a LaRouchePAC enthusiast

[thereismore]

He was peddling some printed materials. There was a book with Cheney's face on it titled "Children of Satan", which sparked my interest, and I started thumbing through. This guy, whose name I have, started saying all the right things, like Cheney, impeachment, creeping fascism, etc. , but something bothered me about him. He was pushy and did not listen. When I pulled out a wallet to see how much cash I had, then put it back in, he accused me of making irrational decisions and that everybody who realizes what is the most important thing to do right now (to support LaRouchePAC), has to do it, otherwise he is behaving irrationally, which is exactly the problem with my generation (I could be his father). As a political liberal, I was disppointed by this young man's sweeping generalizations. Upon further discussion it transpired that he was a zealot for the cause. He reminded me of Jehovah's witnesses in their absolute belief in their truth and trashing everybody else's.

Then I looked at LaRouche's writings, and boy is he making me queasy. He says some god things but then he ruins it with crass comments a la Santorum's man-on-dog. In my limited opinion, this guy is dangerous. He is a revolutionary of some kind, but he reminds me of Leninists. Good talk about what's best for people, but then, after they get the power, major crackdown. I don't trust LaRouche. It's like choosing between Hitler and Lenin, if you get my drift.

Anybody has a comment on this?

[pocket]

1. you should have gone Al Franken on his ass

"Franken picked up the unidentified LaRouche supporter and body slammed him to the ground."

[thereismore]

5. he did that for real? nt

[pocket]

7. hell yeah he did

the guy was heckling Dean, and franken ran up behind him and body-slammed him

http://mensnewsdaily.com/archive/newswire/news2004/0104/012804-franken.htm

[Mythsaje]

2. I ran into some last summer

I found it obnoxious in the extreme that they consider THEIR way the only way to combat this administration. I took one of their pamphlets and, after a moment of leafing through it, realized that, while it made some good points on the economic side of things, its format was far too complex for general outreach. Most people aren't going to read something like that, even if they lean that way politically anyway.

I too was left with a bad taste in my mouth from the encounter.

[Botany]

3. "they" are like sucker fish under sharks

"they" use the organizing of others to promote their hate filled and
down right crazy agenda.

In 03 one showed up an anti Iraq war meeting ..... I pitched his "newspapers'
in the trash right in front of him.

[Vincardog]

4. He is all about His youth Movement and saving us with His View of the Right

Way. If you are an adult he has no use for you except for your money. You are the lost already you have not been taught how to do Critical Thinking.

BTW He is responsible for stopping SSI reform, And he nearly got aLIEto stopped.

[otohara]

6. I Went Nuts on LaRouche Telephone Call

after arguing with her on how uninformed she was, the woman said she "felt sorry for me" - at that point, I said don't bother and hung up on her.

She was badmouthing Dem Senators, but could not name one senator who was doing what she was accusing them of. (sorry I can't even remember what it was about)

She did say LaRouche was the only man who could save us. Pretty broad statement with few facts to back it up. How they got my number is a mystery.

[Booster]

21. I told the lady on the phone that, while I truly felt she believed in

LaRouche, that he was only using her as a tool to collect money which is how I believe he makes his house payment, buys groceries, etc. There was a long pause and she said "thank you for your time".

[MrBenchley]

8. LaRouche thinks the Queen of England is behind the heroin trade

Pretty much sums the repellent loony up....

[depakid]

9. And if you talk to any of them long enough

they'll be sure to bring up the Bank of England and whacky "ideas" about monetary policy. Never fails.

It's always odd, because they start out seeming reasonable enough- but it invariably degrades into utter non-sense.

[MrBenchley]

11. They used to infest the airports in the 1980s

pimping for nuclear power....

And in the 1960s, they used to turn up at Viet Nam war rallies to start fistfights and turn them violent....many people of that era thought he and his cult were some sort of "black op" by somebody....

[brooklynite]

10. He restores my faith that you can't buy elections...

...because lord knows he's tried.

I enjoy reading his material for its insanity component, and never engage in discourse with his proponents.

[bluestateguy]

12. They are real nutty people

They always set up a table in front of our campus every semester for several days at a time. The LaRouche people (and I'm sorry to stereotype here) looked like a bunch of middle aged tools with no life; the kind of people who would still be living at home in their parents basement at 40. Every year they manage to rope in a few students who are lonely, homesick and lacking social skills. They join the LaRouche organization looking for a sense of confidence and the feeling of belonging. There are always a few kids who drop out of school to work full-time for LaRouche.

[sui generis]

13. he's a charismatic

and the people he does get to follow his cultist style are as irrational and twisted as they claim the rest of the world to be.

LaDoucheBAG

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

14. LaRouche

was doing his dirty tricks ditty back in the 70s and 80s-he got on the ballot as a Dem in IL, keeping off Paul Simon, if memory serves, and basically messed up things. I've never trusted him or his followers.

[PATRICK]

15. I had an online run-in

with one of those fanatics on literature that was completely apolitical. Tireless in research and argument for predetermined conclusions he was quite impressive. HE should have been alive back in those days to preach what the poor author in question could not even have imagined in his worst visionary stupor or mischievous eclectic play with popular philosophies.

Of course my son watches the Discovery Channel and thus has complete access to all universal truth which I, with all my degrees and experience am not allowed to question. So what is the difference? The difference is between conversation and jihad, a fact you rightly seem to sense in imagining this person in a position of power. It was interesting because his research was so thorough and honest even though expectation seemed to override genuine discovery. So you can't argue with fanaticism, you can't fall into the abyss of a tireless myrmidon of argumentation and support research. In the end there is no difference between him and the better funded think tank pontificators online except his personal investment and political powerlessness as well as relying less on lazy lies give him more authenticity, as fanatics go.

I patiently suggested a literary forum of innocent scholars. I have been too chicken to check on the results of that encounter.

[LiberalEsto]

16. They are a cult just like the Moonies

I have an old friend who was a LaRouchie for years and finally left. He made it clear they were a cult.

In fact I was doing some investigation in the 1980s to see if there was a link between LaRouche and Moon. Never found anything conclusive.

However, they use many of the same tactics -- creating numerous shell organizations with ever-shifting names to lure people into their webs. They also initiate their contact with potential recruits with very plausible-sounding arguments that play on people's dreams, wishes, and hopes.

Another friend recently told me she had met some LaRouchies and they sounded very anti-Bush and progressive. She was quite enthusiastic about them and recommended that I look into them. I had to tell her what I knew. And I pointed out that LaRouchies have shifted their politics over the years whenever it becomes expedient.

[demosincebirth]

17. Many of these Nuts, run as true democrats in some

local elections and have taken votes away from real democrsts

[FormerDittoHead]

18. You should ask if LaRouche is elected will he reveal the UFOs?

At least it should make it entertaining.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Keep those tetanus boosters up to date.

LaRouche has been around for *ages*, and hasn't made much of a difference except for one really hilarious SNL spoof -- "Lyndon LaRouche theater", in which Henry Kissinger and the Queen of England exchanged valises stuffed with cash and heroin. Hard to spoof someone who's already a parody.

[OneBlueSky]

20. LaRouche sometimes makes a real contribution with his . . .

thorough analyses of the problems . . . it's his whacked out solutions that make him a nutcase . . .

[Mz Pip]

22. I he still alive?

He's been around since I was in college. That was a long time ago in a galaxy far far away. Guy must be at leat 80.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[hvn_nbr_2]

23. Different flavor of Kool-Aid

LaRouche is sometimes brilliant, sometimes crazy, always bizarre. His followers more resemble a cult than a political organization. Using your reference to Jehovah's Witnesses as a base, I think maybe we should call LaRouchies "LaRouche's Witnesses."

[frogmarch]

24. a LaRouche person was pestering me

with phone calls till I finally told her point-blank to stop.

Wasn't LaRouche thrown in prison for a time?

I'll look it up.

Okay, this is from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._LaRouche

United States v. LaRouche refers to the prosecution and conviction of controversial American political activist Lyndon LaRouche and several of his associates on charges of mail fraud, conspiracy and tax evasion. LaRouche was sentenced to a prison term of fifteen years which began in 1989. He was paroled in 1994 after serving five years.

By the 1980s LaRouche and Helga Zepp-LaRouche had built an extensive political network, including the Schiller Institute in Germany, headed by Zepp-LaRouche, with branches in several other countries. The International Caucus of Labor Committees claimed to have affiliates in France, Italy, Sweden, Canada and several South American countries. In Australia LaRouche operatives took over an older extreme-right group, the Citizens Electoral Council (CEC), and regularly contest elections. The LaRouche organisation published a weekly newspaper, The New Federalist, and a weekly newsmagazine, Executive Intelligence Review. At one time there was a LaRouche publishing house, Benjamin Franklin Books, which issued a steady stream of works by LaRouche and his followers. The real membership of LaRouche's organisation is not known.

The LaRouche organisation devotes much of its energy to the sale of literature and the soliciting of small donations at airports and on university campuses. It also solicits donations by phone. More seriously, however, LaRouche was accused of conspiring to fraudulently solicit loans, i.e. without intention to repay, including from vulnerable elderly people.