McCarthy was a more than out of line, he was evil and totally dishonest. He defined "communist" as anyone who had ever supported unions, worker's rights, international cooperation, honesty in government, peace activism, detente, etc. etc. In other words, anyone who valued justice, democracy and fairness.
Remember, before the Soviets turned communism into something wrong and evil, that is a military dictatorship, communism was simply a concept by which people worked together in a community and shared the profits, helped each other out, instead of letting one boss and company store control everyone and everything like some kind of plantation. That is all a good thing. Johnny cash grew up on a cooperative farm and that was communism. He loved it. It saved those farmers' lives after the Great Depression. It worked.
So McCarthy was misusing the word "communism" to brand all liberal people who were against rightwing and corporate boss extremism. Just as the current rightwing has misused the word "liberal to brand people as weak and un-American, when just the opposite is often true. It is the current rightwing which has proved itself to be dishonest and un-American. Just look at them cheering bugging the press. That is Soviet stuff. And they have made us weak by squandering our wealth and military might. |
