I'm 27 years old, so these events were certainly before my time. Anyway, when I learned about Joseph McCarthy in high school, I was taught that he was basically an authoritarian who abused his power to falsely accuse and punish people for being communist. This era of American history was referred to as 'The Red Scare' in our history books. I even remember writing a paper in AP Language Arts comparing Arthur Miller's The Crucible to the Red Scare, likening the hysteria-fueled literal witch hunt in The Crucible to the "witch hunt" for communists during the Red Scare. I also recall Hollywood celebrities being targeted by McCarthy during the Red Scare. Even today, the word McCarthyism is used to describe witch hunts, and I'm fairly certain President Trump has even used the phrase in reference to the Russia hoax. When I learned about these events in school, I remember thinking McCarthy was a total dick. I thought to myself, even if the accused were communists, why does it matter? America is all about free speech right ?

So that brings us to today. We live in a surreal world where communists totally dominate Hollywood, the music and entertainment industry, the public school and university system, the Associated Press, the corporate news media apparatus,and most of the federal bureaucracy and political establishment. Marxism is embedded in everything now, from the news, to our education, to football games, music, movies, and even kids cartoon shows. So. looking back, was Joe McCarthy right all along? He was under the impression that communists were infiltrating our government and trying to subvert our culture. And that is exactly what happened. In retrospect, it looks like McCarthy was trying to drain the swamp before it was cool. I would love to hear your thoughts on this.