I've always been fascinated by Lyndon LaRouche, his abundant literature, and band of 20-something followers. Though I don't see many of them here in D.C., they were ubiquitous in Seattle, my last home. I've always wanted to write something on them, mostly because whenever one of the LaRouchies approaches me with a pile of pamphlets and asks if I want to help them impeach Cheney, I can't help but get a little sad for the loss of someone who might have been a progressive activist had they not decided to commit their life to singing in perfect pitch and convincing the world of a need for a trans-Atlantic railroad. What if all these kids were using their power for something constructive?
I never got around to writing about them, but here comes Avi Klein with a fascinating look at the demise of one of LaRouche's most faithful supporters, some of the history of the vanity press surrounding him, and plenty of bizarre background on a crazed weirdo and his followers in this month's Washington Monthly. Seems the LaRouche cult might be exterminated by the suicide of the printer who made all those pamphlets possible, and their fear of the internet. Oh, and their prodigious amount of crazy. Things have gotten so bad, LaRouche isn't even running for president this year – the first time in 32 years that he's not making an attempt. Though LaRouche isn't really relevant to politics in the real world, it's a captivating account of a movement that Klein finds "remarkable in its impotence."
--Kate Sheppard
