It’s a four letter word. Communism, that is.

I find it humorous people still throw it around as an insult as if the Red Scare were still going on. I guess maybe for some people it still is, though sometimes I think it is more about the scare than the red. I suppose fear based behaviors will always be with us.

I like the lighter side of communism myself. Quite a few years ago I went to breakfast with some people, including my brother, my good friend Dale, Marky Mark the bar owner and Dale’s friend Brian.

The conversation veered all over the place: politics, the economy, family and God knows what else. With this group you never know where it will go. Dale and Brian have no boundaries and like to whip things up. One is pretty right and the other is pretty left.

After we left the restaurant my brother turned to me and said, “Where did Dale dig up this Communist Brian guy? What a group. We have the conservative (Dale), the capitalist (the bar owner) and the communist. Geez.”

A couple days later my brother tells the story to my other brother. He’s like “you should have met this uber-lefty Communist Brian. What a freak show.” Brian was now Communist Brian.

A couple weeks later we had a martini party. Nothing too fancy but lots of fun and goofy martinis. Some people dressed up swinging cocktail style. Brian however came in full camo khakis.

The party is in full swing and my second brother shows up. He runs into camo-dressed Brian. Looks at him for a second and says, “You MUST be Communist Brian.”

‘WHAT? Who said that? Dale!” and Brian stormed off in search of Dale. Now Brian was officially Communist Brian. There was no going back.

I’m glad he is Communist Brian, both in name and action. We need people like Brian and we need communists. We need people who will buck the system. We need people who will not be cowed by towering entities who would like you to just go away, entities who think dissent is an evil.

Well, if Dissent is evil, then I am evil and all the more happy to be so. Cheers to Communist Brian.