Friday night, just got paid ...

A few weeks ago, I received this 25-page pamphlet/booklet in the mail entitled "No mandate, no surrender," by some guy named Sam Webb. The cover of the pamphlet shows an artist's rendering of some folks raising up this white flag with a red "peace" symbol, in the style of that now-famous military image of troops raising the Stars and Stripes. (Thanks to Paul for the URL) Since it was a pretty substantial pamphlet/booklet, I thought I'd save it for later to read, if I was bored or something.

To be honest, when I first saw it, I had no idea what it was, or where it came from, so I really didn't give it much thought. One day - probably a week after throwing the pamphlet/booklet on my already-crowded desk - I looked on the inside cover and found out that Mr. Webb is the National Chairman of the Communist Party, USA.

Of course, I thought this was hilarious. I mean, I'm a registered Democrat, and I like to think of myself as somewhat of a progressive thinker, but how the hell did the Communist Party, USA get my address? Did that last pair of low-rise jeans I purchased online land me a spot on their affiliate sharing list or something?

Growing up, the resounding message has always been "Communists, bad." As a student, I never really understood why - I mean, in THEORY, Communism sounds great: collective ownership of property and organization of labor for the benefit of all members. Everyone's equal, right? Everyone is working for the common good of man, right? All good intentions to be sure, but History tells us the concept doesn't exactly work.

So - for curiosity's sake - I just gotta read this thing. I can't throw it away. I mean, how often does the Communist Party, USA send you stuff?

And then, this thought pops into my head: Does this mean I'm on some blacklist somewhere? If we were to have another McCarthy-esque run, would I be "outed" as a pinko?

Too funny.

... or is it?

Anyway, if this pamphlet/booklet turns out to be interesting reading, I'll share my thoughts on it here. I'm pretty sure it's some poorly written piece of propaganda though, and I'll end up throwing it in the garbage after reading three pages into it. We'll see.