The Return of McCarthyism

In the period immediately following World War II, the United States quaked under the fear of infiltration, spying and sabotage by the Soviet Union –the Red Scare. Behind every tree, under every rock, around every corner there was fear of encountering a spy or saboteur. Into that era of fear stepped a Republican backbencher named Senator Joe McCarthy (R-WI). He was a bully – brash, unrestrained, voluble and completely lacking any scruples in pursuit of power and position. He accused literally hundreds of men and women of being Communists, Communist sympathizers, or homosexuals without a shred of proof. Those who disagreed with him, those who doubted his veracity and those who asked for proof, were promptly labeled Communists or Communist sympathizers. He relied on smears, innuendo, and guilt by association. He was one of the worst human beings to ever be elected to Congress – until now.

The #MeToo movement was long overdue. Men in power in virtually every aspect of the business, entertainment and sports world used those positions to opportune women. It’s never quite clear if that was to satisfy sexual urges or simply to dominate others. It appears to occur with greater frequency in the sports and entertainment business where public adulation is never enough until all bend a knee to their superiority. Likewise the world of politics. Many of the people who inhabit those worlds are shallow, uncertain and insecure. Using power to secure sex or obedience appeared to be commonplace – Messrs. Harvey Weinstein, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose. Bill Cosby, Al Franken, Bill Clinton, and this list can go on forever. The Achilles heel of these predators was that they did it repeatedly with multiple different women.

It took great courage for a woman to stand tall and publicly accuse these powerful miscreants. After all, the accused often did use their power and influence to ruin the lives of their accusers. They would be fired, banished from an industry, publicly held up as loose women, trailer trash and gold diggers. Over time the list of victims got longer and that provided an opportunity for the victims. It became easier for the victims to come forward when others stood with them – told their own stories of similar abuse and harassment. That was the essence of the #MeToo movement – to stand together, to support other victims and to give credence to accusations of what might otherwise be buried as private conduct.

But, like so many other legitimate movements – unions movements, civil rights movements, women’s rights movements, gay/lesbian movements, etc. – the #MeToo movement was corrupted into another political opportunity by the liberal/progressive politicians. Public employee unions became the principle political fund raising arm of the Democrat Party through mandatory dues payments by union and nonunion members alike.

The civil rights leaders were replaced by race hustlers like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson who gained stature in the Democrat Party by trading the support of their flocks for positions of power in the Democrat Party. They isolated other people of color who did not toe the Democrat line by referring to them as “Oreos”, Uncle Toms, or race traitors. The result has been a nearly ninety-percent vote for Democrats despite the fact that the Democrats have done virtually nothing to improve the lot of people of color. Well that is unless you think increased welfare rolls improves the lives of people of color.

Likewise, the women’s movement which organized initially to supports women but now just Democrat women. So co-opted is the women’s movement that they routinely support white, liberal/progressive men against eminently qualified conservative women, If you are a woman and you oppose government funded abortion on demand than you are considered a traitor. Even Hillary Clinton, the self-proclaimed feminist leader, concurred with the assertion that white women allowed their male spouses, bosses and children to dictate their opinions and votes. In other words you cannot be a feminist unless you are a Democrat.

And the same holds true for the #MeToo movement that has been hijacked by the Democrats. Accusation of sexual harassment, assault or discrimination demand that the accusers be believed – unless, of course, the accused is a Democrat in which case if you are a Democrat senator from Ohio (Sherrod Brown) or the vice-chairman of the Democrat National Committee (Rep. Keith Ellision (D-MN)) accusations of assault by your wife are ignored.  To do otherwise would require Democrats to condemn such Democrat luminaries as President John F. Kennedy who treated women as workout equipment, and President Bill Clinton who was not just a serial cheater, but an aggressive womanizer who physically and sexually assaulted his victims. In those instances Democrats, including Ms. Clinton, vilified the women who lay victim to these men’s carnal desires.

All of this leads up to the current time when a woman has accused Judge Brent Kavanaugh – nominee to the Supreme Court – of engaging in sexual assault thirty plus years ago when he was seventeen and she was fifteen. Democrats have demanded that the accusers be “believed”, but what they really mean is that accusations are dispositive of the matter. In support of their demands they assert that the accuser would not have created the havoc that has accompanied her life unless her accusations are true. But let’s remember that she did not intend to create the havoc. In fact, she made the accusations privately on the condition that she not be identified. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) used that as the excuse for not disclosing the information during the FBI’s background investigation of Mr. Kavanaugh, nor during the hearings, and not during the follow up written committee inquiries. Only when the hearing was over, was the identity and information “leaked” to the press forcing the accuser into the limelight. In other words, the havoc was not the accuser’s doing but rather some Democrat who ignored the protests of the accuser in order to further the Democrat agenda. And thus, the accuser becomes the victim of public scrutiny at the hands of the very people she believed would protect her.

Be that as it may, is Mr. Kavanaugh’s accuser entitled to be believed? No. She is entitled to be heard. She is entitled to have her accusations be taken seriously. She is entitled to not be ignored or dismissed as had been the case in so many such allegations – including allegations made against liberal/progressives in the Democrat party. She is entitled to be treated with the same regard as the accused, Mr. Kavanaugh. And in the end, she is entitled a determination by the triers of fact, free from bias, political motivation or personal animus. That is all to which any of us are entitled.

But the Senate Democrats care little about Mr. Kavanaugh’s accuser or even the facts. They outed her, they exposed her to the public scrutiny, taunts and judgements that she sought to avoid. They used her like a piece of meat to satisfy their bloodlust. I don’t know whether the accused was the victim of an assault by Mr. Kavanaugh but I do know she is the demonstrable victim of the Senate Democrats and the mainstream media. They are lynch mob who have abandoned any sense of justice. There is no one amongst them to moderate their actions. Each accusation, each slur, each outrageous demand is cheered heartily giving rise to the next even greater outrageous demand. In total they demand guilt without a hearing. As the Wall Street Journal noted on Tuesday:

“Say this for Deborah Ramirez. The second woman to accuse Brett Kavanaugh of committing sexual assault more than 30 years ago may not clearly recall what happened, but her story does clarify the ugly politics at play. Democrats are using the #MeToo movement as a weapon of political destruction to defeat a Supreme Court nominee and retake Congress.”

The incessant demands for guilt without a hearing by the likes of Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Maxine Waters, and others have created and embraced the New McCarthysim. Where in the Democrat Party or the mainstream media is today’s Edward R. Murrow responding to the outrages of Joe McCarthy:

“Have you no sense of decency, sir”