As progressives wring their hands over what Republican control of Congress will mean, many pundits are lookingto history for silver linings. The GOP now has the biggest majority since Herbert Hoover in the 1930s, who did such a lousy job that Americans embraced Franklin Delano Roosevelt and what became the New Deal. Such fanciful thinking ignores the damage that gets done when right-wingers rule. In 1946, when the GOP won a congressional majority for the first time in two decades, the country was introduced to two of the 20th century’s worst American politicians, Rep. Richard Nixon and Sen. Joseph McCarthy. Two years later, Harry Truman held onto the White House and Democrats retook Congress, but that didn’t stop those toxic men from wreaking havoc for decades. Is there 21st-century Nixon or McCarthy in the next Congress? The answer is a strong quite possibly. The list of potential troublemakers includes newcomers as well as incumbent Republicans such as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Utah Sen. Mike Lee, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan. After Election Day, Politico penned a much-cited article, "Animal House?" It said, “There could be as many as 10 or 20 [Michelle] Bachmanns coming to Washington,” referring to the loony but retiring Minnesota congresswoman who led the House Tea Party Caucus and ran for president in 2012. However, Politico only identified four crazed House Republican freshmen: Wisconsin’s Glenn Grothman, Georgia’s Jody Hice, North Carolina’s Mark Walker, and Montana’s Ryan Zinke. AlterNet fills out this list, introducing a dozen newly elected over-the-edge Republicans. These are politicans who believe moderation is a vice, who want to reduce the role of government, and who tend to trust Wall Street and religious institutions more than the public sphere. One can only hope these extremists will not wreak great havoc before being driven from office, as was the case with Nixon and McCarthy. 1. Glenn Grothman (Wisconsin 6). Maybe the fact that the 6th congressional district is 95.3%white explains how Grothman can get away with mocking the African-American holiday, Kwanzaa, saying it should be treated with “contempt.” Or calling the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday “an insult.” Or saying the anti-poverty food stamp program “encourage(s) sloth.” Or calling teachers who protested GOP Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union laws “a bunch of slobs.” Or bemoaning the “war on men” to conservative activists. Amazingly, Grothman ended his recent campaign with ads saying he was a quiet guy who wanted to solve problems. 2. Jody Hice (Georgia 10). The 54-year-old reverend and nationally syndicated radio hostbelieves America needs to return to its Christian roots, forgetting the founders intentionally established a separation of church and state. Before running for office, he spent years fighting (and losing in court to) the ACLU over displaying the 10 Commandments in a county courthouse. He’s written a book that says Muslims don’t deserve First Amendment rights and he believes homosexuality is a choice that can be cured with prayer. 3. Mark Walker (North Carolina 6). The 45-year-old Alabama native is a Baptist preacher and worship leader who never held elected office before winning his congressional seat. Apart from his conservative religious views, Walker not only said the National Guard should be deployed on the Mexican border to stop illegal immigration, but that the military should shoot at migrants. “We got to go laser or blitz somebody with a couple of fighter jets for a little while to make our point,” he said in a September debate, prompting the moderator to ask if he was saying the U.S. should start a war with Mexico. “Well, we did it before, if we need to do it again, I don’t have a qualm about it,” he replied. more . . .