In honor of All in the Family creator Norman Lear, who died at the age of 101 this week, here's a 50-year-old clip of Archie Bunker setting 2023 GOP policy on gun control and abortion.
He sounds like a more articulate version of Donald Trump.
In the episode, Archie is invited on TV to share his views. He introduces himself as a war veteran and begins his editorial:
"Question: What was the first thing that the communists done when they took over Russia? Answer: Gun control. There are a lot of people in this country who want to do the same thing to us here in a kind of conspiracy, see? Take your big international bankers. They wanna, whaddya you call, emasticate the people of this country like puppets on a wing. And then, when they get that done, they're going to bring us over to the commies.
He then moves onto the subject of "stick ups and skyjackings":
"I could end the skyjacking tomorrow. All you gotta do is arm all your passengers." He explains that the airlines could pass out a pistol to every passenger to keep with them on the plane, and then collect them when the passengers get off the plane. "Case closed."
Unsurprisingly, many YouTube commenters are in full agreement with Archie:
"I've been watching reruns of All in the Family recently. It's almost scary how right Archie was on a variety of subjects," says one.
"I remember when this show aired, as a little kid, and thinking, 'He's right….'" says another.
"We need more people like Archie, the world would be a better place," says another.
Poe's law never fails.
