While the "Reagan Revolution" made it popular in the United States once again to be openly discriminatory, neofascist thinking is presently burgeoning among the extreme right in this country. Russ Bellant, in his important book Old Nazis, the New Right, and the Republican Party, exposes the roots and growth of domestic fascist networks, which include Nazi collaborators, within the Republican Party. He reveals how such members, during the Reagan era, held positions of power on the Republican Ethnic Heritage Groups Council, an ethnic outreach division of the GOP. Bellant also scrutinizes the American Security Council for its participation in anti-Semitic and racist practices under the guise of anticommunism.

It seems to me that any educator, or any citizen for that matter, interested in protecting what is left of democracy in this country needs to engage this type of research. For those who are skeptical of Bellant's conclusions, they can either take the word of Allan A. Ryan Jr. — the former Director of the Office of Special Investigations for the Department of Justice — who says on the book's cover that it is "Well-documented and reliable," or they can begin to do some research of their own — which is what education for a responsible citizenry is supposed to be all about!