In his book, “The Naked Communist,” Cleon Skousen listed 45 goals of the US Communist Party’s 1936 Platform. These were also noted in the 1962 Congressional Record. Among these were:

* Soften school curriculum.

* Eliminate obscenity laws as violating free speech.

* Break standards of morality by promoting pornography.

* Present homosexuality and promiscuity as natural and normal.

* Discredit the Bible.

* Eliminate prayer from schools.

* Discredit the American Founding Fathers; present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the “common man.”

* Discredit the family and encourage easy divorce.

* Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

Does any of this sound familiar to you?

All of these goals were designed to destroy the moral framework of our country and traditional American values. Skousen was pilloried as a paranoid right wing “Bircher,” among other things, and a program to discredit him was successful. What cannot be discredited, however, is that more than 30 of his stated goals have been implemented.

Coincidence or the natural “evolution” of our Republic? Food for thought.

The same convention that set up the goals, also instructed its members to work to help overwhelm the public assistance programs and to not call themselves communists or socialists, nor liberals, but to label themselves progressives. The end goal was to divide America, create class warfare, race and age confrontations and divisive violent confrontations so that government has to expand and step in to stop the chaos by limiting our liberty.

This may all be paranoia, but let’s at least be aware and not become what Lenin himself termed “useful idiots.”

Greg Theriault, Skowhegan