Fascism in the United States (McCarthyism).

Fascism in the United States

A fascist regime is a system of government that distrusts reason, denies citizens of basic human equality, uses violence, censorship, and deceit to forcibly suppress all opposition, supports power given to an elite group, exploits racism, and emphasizes the importance of warfare. A fascist regime must also practice totalitarianism, or the controlling of all aspects of human life through institutionalized violence, chauvinism, and manipulation. Generally, when we think of the major fascist governments, we instantly recognize the regimes of Hitler and Mussolini. Fascism is most commonly identified with the countries of Germany and Italy. In contrast, the United States is rarely perceived as a fascist state but rather as an unyielding democratic institution that questions the inhumane disposition of non-democratic states such as those of the Communists or the fascists. However, during the dark age of McCarthyism, America had itself embraced numerous aspects of fascism.

United States

United States

United States

In fact, the United States was essentially closer to fascism than democracy. The only real democratic characteristic that remained was its free-elections.

McCarthyism was a period of intense anti-communism that subsisted in the United States from 1948 to about 1956, when the national government aggressively persecuted members of the Communist Party in the country. During this period, distrust of reason, the denial of human equality to citizens, the use of violence, censorship, and deceit to suppress opposition (communism), racial discrimination, and the continuation of hostilities toward Communist nations were all manifested in America. The distrust of reason was apparent in the fanatical persecution of Communists in the United States. The Smith Act was passed in 1940, making advocacy of revolution a punishable offense and embracing fascist dogma. Then in 1950, the United States passed the Internal Security Act, which called for the deportation of all Communist immigrants and the prohibition...