The Myth of McCarthyism

The title is the title of a recent article written by Roger Kimball. It was a well-researched piece, and essentially based upon truth; but it remains a presentation which has to be analyzed for the motivation behind it's writing. What were the precepts behind the article?

It firmly establishes that the American Communist Party did exist, and was in the employ of the Soviet Internationale during the McCarthy era. It asserts Those who were convicted and sentenced for espionage and subverion were actually guilty. It states that the American legal system worked, therefore McCarthyism as outlined by Liberals was basically a Myth. Kimball claims this based upon revealed Soviet records currently available.

The trouble comes in Kimball's denial of American history. Thousands of Americans were harassed and threatened, Many were ruined professionally; All without resort to the American legal system. The American Communist Party was probably the third largest political Party in the United States in the midst of the Great Depression. The evil and political suppression of the Soviet system was not known during this Period among the general American Public, and the American Communist Party lost a vast majority of it's membership with the revelation of the nature of the Soviet regime in the 1940s. McCarthyism still branded All who had any affliation with the American Communist Party in their lives.

McCarthyism was a direct Conservative attack upon American Civil Liberties, then and now. The Author says Now because it is still alive and well. Thousands of American Citizens were arrested after 9/11, simply because they were of Middle Eastern origin. American Citizens were derided Publicly and Privately for disagreeing with activities of a Conservative-run Justice Dept., provisions of the Patriot Act, and political actions of a Conservative Bush administration. We find mistreatment of Prisoners held by the Justice Dept. and U.S. Military, with denial of basic Civil Liberties of legal representation, access to legal recourses guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, or even the assurance of Detainees to hear on what Charges they were being held. Iraq, Afghanistan, Quantamio Bay, and the United States began to resemble Totalitarian regimes, with Arrest without Charge or Trial. We finish with learning Detainees were shipped Overseas so other more Totalitarian regimes could physically torture them without American Public attention.

McCarthyism is alive and well, revived by a Conservative Base concerned only with the elements of Power; they call themselves NeoCons now. lgl