Commies!

Americans began to be indoctrinated into fearing and hating communism and using the word “Commie” as an insult with John Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy. Everyone that didn’t agree with the system and dared to speak out was investigated and accused of being a Communist, a traitor.

Thanks to that practice, many innocent people were chastised and their lives were severely disrupted in the States. Such was the case for Sir Charles Chaplin, who fled the country and moved back to Europe – it was our loss, not his. Sean Penn’s father, Leo Penn, was also accused of this, and his acting career was seriously damaged, he never was able to act again but against all odds, Mr. Penn became a successful director.

Today, even after the fall of the Soviet Union we still hear the word “Commie” popping up, is the favorite insult Republicans and Conservatives use when confronted with the truth. For the conservatives, anyone who is not a sheep then must be a Commie, period.

If you are a socialist, for the uneducated Right that means you are a communist. You want universal healthcare? Commie! You want to end poverty and hunger? Commie! You want equal rights for all… Commie!

These accusations are always perpetrated by Conservatives, which are still stuck in the 1950s and want the rest of America to go back in time with them.

My family brought me here from a Communist country when I was in my early teens, which gives me the advantage of remembering how things were in my there and the similarities with what is happening here.

In my country, being gay was against the law. If you were a man and your pants were too tight, a soldier would cut them open by the seams; if a young man had long hair he was viewed by the government as gay or feminized and that was enough to take them to jail. Homosexuality was unacceptable.

Abortions were also banned, not because the Communist leaders believed in any deity but because for a Communist country the people are the workers that will bring progress to the land – they all work for almost nothing and can’t own anything it’s all profits for the government, and it was in the government’s best interest to keep the population growing. Food was rationalized, so the more people the less food there was, but that didn’t apply to the leaders so the lack of food was inconsequential. In countries where everything is owned by the government, Unions do not exist because the government will not allow it.

There are two things provided by the Communists that can be associated with Democrats: education and healthcare. Socialist and Communist countries (similar ideology but not equal) are for free education and free healthcare for every individual. It’s the only undeniable good in a communist political system.

The universal color for any Communist country is red, even China’s flag shows that color. In countries that were under that regime, people from the Communist Party were called the Right, not the Left. Lefties were the rebels; the ones not conformed to the regime.

Conservatives use the term Commie to describe those of us that are liberal, progressive or simply Democrats. However, Republicans color is red, they are the Right wing, are against unions, against gay rights, against abortion… That makes 5 similarities between Communists and Republicans. Communists are for free education and healthcare, so are Democrats, that’s two similarities... and the Right wing dares to call us “Commies"!