[On Wednesday, *Editor & Publisher* called attention to a disturbing statement from the "national commander" of the American Legion.[1] -- Thomas Cadmus
(photo here http://tinyurl.com/aeoj7 ) criticized antiwar protestors, urging those opposed to the war to confine themselves to "correspondence to their elected officials" lest their "public media events" be "picked up and used as tools of encouragement by our enemies." -- "Public protests . . . only provide aid and comfort to our enemies." -- The American Legion, an organization of veterans who have served in wartime, claims almost three million members. -- It was founded in 1919, and is an archetypal expression of American anti-radicalism. -- Its understanding of American patriotism has been noxious from the start. -- In the 1933, a number of its leaders, including the plot's original financier, conspired to overthrow the Franklin Roosevelt in a fascist coup d'état, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_Plot ) the commander-in-chief of the American Legion having endorsed Mussolini and fascism in 1923. -- Mussolini was invited repeatedly to address the organization. -- Despite its regular invocation of "freedom" the Legion generally practices an illiberal politics of *ressentiment*... -- Thanks to Mark Nagel for sending this piece. --Mark]

http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/3328/