Those of a certain age — meaning roughly 65 or older — will recall the “Bicentennial Minute.” These were one-minute homages to the mostly good history of America that ran on CBS 1974 through 1976 to mark America’s 200th anniversary. Politicians, celebrities and average Americans of all political stripes appeared in the videos. It was a mostly unifying time following the divisive Vietnam War and the political scandal known as Watergate.

As socialism appears to be sweeping big cities and universities as we approach our 250th anniversary, a small organization has decided to fight back, using the ideological equivalent of a fire extinguisher.

The Washington Times reports an anti-communist film festival is being planned for October by conservative activist Mark Judge in partnership with the Victims of Communism Foundation.

Judge and the organization are raising money to show anti-communist films like “Dr. Zhivago” and “Red Dawn” so that people who have forgotten, or were never told what communism and socialism looked like and the evils they perpetrated, might re-think their attraction to these warped ideological and political philosophies.

These films and this campaign to strike back against socialism and communism need a wider platform than a single location in Washington and a single month. They need to be shown at universities and in public schools which seem to have become training grounds for a new generation of left-wing believers.

It’s time to fight back against these twin evils, or we risk being overwhelmed not only on this anniversary of a country some of us still remember as different from what it is rapidly becoming, but for many anniversaries to come.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).