There is never a justification for the government to investigate, intimidate, or invalidate an American solely based on their political persuasions. In this vein, Senator Joseph McCarthy undeniably overstepped the reasonable and ethical boundaries erected between the government and the people, boundaries enshrined by the constitution, when he set his congressional attack dogs loose on Americans with political and economic views steeped in communism. That being said, no patriot can ignore the fact that the epidemic, the sickness, the infectious and insidious disease known as communism has swept across the fruited plains and purple mountains of this beautiful country we call America.

McCarthy may have been wildly out of bounds in his approach to addressing the growth of communism in the United States, however, his fear of a communist invasion in America was not the result of some pervasive paranoia caused by political propaganda. Communism has existed in America since the dawn of the ideology. In fact, the progressive era in the United States began right around the same time as the communist revolution occurred in the former Russian Empire. The communist party in the US was founded in 1919, two years after the revolution. Socialism in America dates back even further.

But what is the difference between socialism and communism? Senator Bernie Sanders proudly characterizes himself as a “democratic socialist.” What’s that? How can we, as proud patriots, discern which policies and politicians are socialist and which ones are communist? It’s quite simple really; socialists want to redistribute wealth, communists want to exercise ownership and control over all private property, and the Bernie Sanders version of both uses democracy as the means to achieve its desired ends. Food stamps are a socialist policy, while minimum wage laws are communist. Medicaid is a product of socialism and the Food and Drug Administration is a communist agency through and through.

Since the mid-1970s, more than 195,000 rules and regulations have been issued by the Federal Government that adversely affect countless businesses and industries. Every single ounce of ink used to print the thousands of pages of regulations on the Federal Register comes at the expense of the private property rights of business owners across the United States. It’s representative of the slow, methodical, and diabolical transfer of ownership from American citizens to the state; the transformation of our country from one of free markets and free people into one that is increasingly tyrannical in nature.

The condition of our society at the state level is no different. Rhode Island has become a communist paradise. The new “earned” sick time law is a perfect example of the government taking ownership away from private property holders. Instead of employers and employees negotiating the terms of their working relationship, the state has taken away the decision making ability of businessmen and women to manage production the way they see fit. Likewise, employees no longer have the freedom to negotiate their own contracts. Some employees may favor sick days, others may favor vacation time, and others may opt for a higher rate of pay in lieu of both.

You might ask, if communism is so prevalent, why is it that we never hear the word? McCarthy’s witch hunts turned communists in the United States into martyrs, victims of an oppressive government seeking to ruin their lives. As a result, freedom lovers shifted their gaze to the specter of communism abroad as opposed to fighting it at home. Let’s be clear; the real communist threat was always right here at home, and instead of fighting an ideological battle on our own soil we decided to waste incalculable amounts of blood and treasure in places like Korea and Vietnam. While we were busy waging war around the world, the communist affliction slowly spread through our government, universities, churches, and countless other institutions. Today, as if infected by a zombie virus, America is the walking dead, limping along mindlessly, driven by an endless hunger to feed on the flesh of the living, continuously striving to convert every last free citizen into slaves of its condition.

The reluctance of liberty-minded citizens in our country to call the enemy by its real name has enabled it to prosper under euphemistic monikers such as social liberalism and compassionate conservatism. It’s time we call those in the political class who seek ever-expanding power and influence over private property owners what they really are; communists. We can wage both ideological and philosophical warfare without the kind of reckless persecution of the McCarthy era. The hour for passivity is over. The stakes are greater than ever. We must dive headlong into the trenches, refusing to yield an inch of ground to those who would gladly destroy the last shreds of freedom we have left. We must fight until our voices grow hoarse and our ink runs dry, and when that happens, we must lean on one another, brothers and sisters in Liberty, to pick up the slack, sending our final and most desperate appeals to Heaven for the strength, the courage, and the will to carry on in the face of such incredibly long odds. Together we can succeed in this fight; alone we will most certainly fail.