Return of the know nothings.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: COMMENT - Republican Party - Viewpoint essay

In the 1850s, the Know Nothing movement swept across America, peddling a mean-spirited, ignorant politics propelled by the fear that immigrants were overrunning the country.

Today, we are experiencing a Know Nothing revival.

In November, Republicans assumed control of the U.S. Senate, Congressional districts, and statehouses all over the country with the help of television ads that stoked fears of immigrants, ISIS, and Ebola. The ads were funded by an enormous cash infusion from shadowy rightwing donors led by the Koch brothers, who made their fortune in fossil fuel.

These same forces are now determined to destroy progressive gains, starting with President Obama's efforts to curb climate change.

Pushing through the climate-killing Keystone pipeline and rolling back EPA rules on carbon emissions are the new Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's top priorities, along with undermining Obama's historic accord with China to reduce emissions.

Talk about Know Nothings: The Environment and Public Works Committee is now chaired by Senator James Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, and author of The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.

The Affordable Care Act is also in danger, as the Supreme Court takes one more run at it.

And Obama is under enormous pressure to green-light job-killing trade deals--one area where the President said, ominously, that he sees common ground with McConnell.

But the leading edge of the Know Nothings' assault on civil society is in the states, where aggressive rightwing governors like Wisconsin's Scott Walker have been attacking unions, environmental regulation, funding for public education, and, through laws to restrict voting, democracy itself.

Walker, having survived a recall and won reelection, is now a top Republican contender for President of the United States.

In a recent interview on Meet the Press, he had this to say about his third win in four years:

"Independent voters who decide things in swing states like ours want people to lead. They want people to have big, bold ideas and then act on them." Four years ago, the Republicans were out of power in Wisconsin, Walker noted. "Right after the November election of 2010, I told Republicans in the legislature, 'It's put up or shut up time,' " he said, "meaning that if we were just a little bit less bad than the Democrats were before us, the voters would have every reason to throw us out. Four years later, here we are. Not only did I win...