From Today's Headlines . . . ?

There is a loosely-defined but popular group in our country. They talk a lot about patriotism and "taking our country back", but mostly they deal in hate speech, bigotry, intolerance and, sometimes, violence. They have a special antipathy for black people, foreigners, Jews and Catholics.

Somewhere in middle America there is an ambitious man who heads up this nasty outfit in his state. His bright idea is to re-package and re-position this organization as a religious and political advocate for conservative Christian Republicans. Naturally, he himself will lead the effort.

He is successful beyond his wildest dreams. Almost half a million citizens of his state -- one third of the white males -- join his family values group. He gets most of the Republican politicians in his state to sign a pledge -- his group will support them if they, in turn, will support his group.

His organization and the pledge-signing Republicans enjoy near-absolute control of that state's politics for years. Though he never runs for office, he boasts, "In my state, I am the law."


Sound familiar? Remind you of present-day people and situations?

It should, but it isn't current events. The man described is one D.C. Stephenson. The state was Indiana. The era was the early 1920's. The organization was the Ku Klux Klan, and Stephenson was the KKK's Grand Dragon.


Food for thought, isn't it? The more things change . . .

By the way, Stephenson was convicted of murder and spent much of his adult life in prison.