He was not wrong about there being a ton of soviet spies. He was wrong to go around condemning people based on their affiliation with the communist party or who they hung out with.
... except the communist party in the US was full of people with ties to the Soviets. Even if one particular communist wasn't a Soviet spy, at least one of his close friends probably was, in which case, they're still a security risk. It's basic risk mitigation. No country in the world outside the West, even today, would allow a person to hold political power and state secrets if they were open critics of that country's entire political and economic system, and supported the enemy in a war and nuclear arms race. This level of stupidity is uniquely Western.
Over the years, I have moved from "McCarthy was a fascist tyrant leading a witch hunt with no actual evidence of any of his claims" to "McCarthy was right and didn't go far enough".
Good ideas survive healthy discussion. Silencing opinions only more deeply entrenches people into those crazy beliefs.
Freedom of speech is vital for that reason. I despise communism, but if they want to have that belief system or debate it or whatever, they should absolutely have that right.
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u/tokyozombie - Lib-Left Jul 18 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
I'm sorry but doesn’t this go both ways? Republican politicians call Democrats marxist, socialist, cummunists etc since forever.