The Sixth Red Scare, Not the Second

At some point, a pathology appears often enough that we must see it as a feature, not a bug, of American politics.

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/record/image/W0131KO/mccarthyism-is-treason

Red scares are manufactured moral panics that serve three purposes:

• Justify military buildups

• Repress political enemies

• Weaken organized labor

Red Scares 1.0-5.0

The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 sparked fears of communism among American capitalists,¹ who, from the start of US involvem…