The fall of the Soviet Union was a severe blow to the Conservative movement. For decades, everything that was wrong with the world was blamed on the Reds (“Reds”, in those days, meant Communists). And anyone who challenged that assertion was instantly accused of being Red himself, it was a self-reinforcing meme, any denial of it was proof of your treachery and evil. And the collapse of world Communism coincided with the Reagan Administration, so the Right immediately took the credit.

But when the Soviet and the Red Chinese Empires turned to Capitalism, the Right lost its rallying cry. It would have been like Hitler without any Jews, or Mao without any Capitalist running dogs, they no longer had a bogeyman. Only a few scattered third world hell-holes kept their Marxist ideology, and they were all useful counter-examples, not threats to the Free World. The real threats were all Capitalists now, including the crazy ultra-capitalist religious fanatics in the middle east, who refused to sell us any oil. I can still recall how happy the Right was when the Reds took over in Venezuela–at last they had a real lefty villain they could hold up to us and warn us against.

Like all fascists, the Right needs their bogeymen, and they can’t go after Jews and Negroes any more, can they? They tried others; Liberals, Leftists, Socialists, Democrats, RINOs, Rockefeller Republicans, moderates, Trade Unionists, gays, Western European and Scandinavian Social Democracies, even socialized medicine Canadians, but it still wasn’t the same, was it? They had to shift their hatred to college professors, Hollywood actors, journalists, people who read books and speak good English, and the elitists you see answering the phone on Public TV pledge breaks, but it just wasn’t the same.

Now its Mexicans. And the “Leftists” who don’t want any border security. The riot squad is restless, it needs some place to go.