McCarthyism and the demolition of progress in the United States

By: Charlie Boone

Welch-McCarthy Hearings: Image via Wikimedia Commons

Wisconsin Senator, Joseph McCarthy’s corrupt and unfounded attacks on communism during the 40s and 50s, portraying the ideology as a vague, amorphous enemy have both directly and indirectly halted societal progress within the United States and influenced the right wing’s focus on culture war issues.

While a majority of McCarthy’s attacks were rooted in white supremacy, homophobia, and anti-semitism, many modern anti-communists lead with a different approach, depicting all socialization as tyrannical; typically citing nations with downfalls directly related to U.S. imperialism and intervention i.e. coups, sanctions, banana republics, etc. and blaming it all on the bogeyman of socialism. This depiction has done arguably the most damage, as it’s a very regular talking point to say that free healthcare and education are too radical, from both the left and the right. This is an intentional move from establishment capitalists, as well as the corporations in their pockets because, for example, if you explained to the average person that the LAPD was just given an extra $3.2 billion, as reported by the LA Times, and there are over 420,000 homeless people in the United States, and 37.9 million people live below the poverty line, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, I think they would agree that there’s a problem.

According to the right, America is a meritocracy, and your material conditions are exclusively a product of how hard you work, rather than an amalgamation of systemic, historical, and personal circumstances. This characterization is very obviously not true, as a person born into a wealthy family will experience distinct advantages, both economically and socially, despite not working any harder than someone born into poverty or homelessness.

It’s also important to mention that in our current economic state, upward-class mobility is nearly impossible, despite the exceptions that are often highlighted to try to dismiss the problem. Obviously, hard work is important but if you looked at two people born in completely different economic situations, both working as hard as one another, their outcome is likely going to be drastically different, which again, most people would agree is a problem. With all of the barriers set up to avoid hiring people in poverty, as well as it being pretty much impossible to find a job if you are homeless, the “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality simply does not work, especially in the United States where just under 900,000 Americans die in poverty, as cited by the University of Columbia in 2010, and 45,000 Americans die as a direct result of lack of access to healthcare each year according to a 2009 report by the Harvard Medical School.

The fundamental idea of capitalism is the maximization of profit for the corporation while spending the least amount of money on labor. This is important because the capitalist does not necessarily hate the worker, they simply view them as disposable, and a means to make a profit. This inevitably leads to an insane gap of wealth between the working class and the CEOs, where the workers are barely making a fraction’s worth of their labor.

My point here in explaining the exploitation and inherent inequality of capitalism is to say that without McCarthy and the general right’s demonization of communism and socialism, a much larger number of Americans would agree that the current system at the very least needs serious reform. I also believe that there would be a much larger number of prominent socialist politicians that aren’t constantly bogged down by the Democratic party without McCarthy’s direct career-ruining actions toward anyone who presented views anywhere close to anti-capitalist.

McCarthy’s accusatory and defamatory tactics have also proven to be incredibly influential in shaping the right wing’s focus on the “culture war’”. If you’re not familiar, the term culture war is used to describe a general polarization and stark divide between societal values, typically to distract voters from the fact that a majority of their frustrations are a direct result of capitalism. One of Joseph McCarthy’s commonly used tactics was to accuse his ideological enemies of not only being communists but also homosexuals, expanding the evil, amorphous fog sent out to destroy your family and attack your children.

Over time, the fog continued to grow, collecting more marginalized groups to scapegoat issues onto, as is always the case with fascism. In 2023 alone, the republican party has passed 75 anti-trans bills with 555 proposed in total, some being as egregious as making providing gender-affirming care to someone under 26 years old a felony for healthcare providers (OK SB129). Most Americans see this as ridiculous and fascistic, the same way they looked at Joseph McCarthy, but the rapid influence of far-right legislators and echo chambers continues to push culture war issues to the point of genocidal rhetoric.

Fascism is still very much alive and well in the United States, and the lack of action from the Democratic party is worrying. It’s becoming more and more apparent that many establishment Democrats would rather have a fascist in office than a progressive, and the continued push for “business as usual” neoliberal politics is going to swing that door wide open.

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