Sen. Joe McCarthy, a great embarrassment to Wisconsin, was known as ‘Tailgunner’ Joe. To my knowledge, no one called that witch-hunter ‘Cheerleader’ Joe McCarthy.
And yet, the space between a supposedly positive ‘cheerleader’ and a witch-hunter in search of disloyalty isn’t a great distance. It was Rousseau, I think, who once remarked that many of those who supported the Enlightenment would have, in an earlier time, been champions of the Inquisition, merely following the fashion of an earlier movement.
There’s much more to be said about this, including the deeply un-American use of the term ‘disloyalty.’
For now, it is enough to note that it confirms the every word written in dissent, and serves as a reminder that there is so much yet to write.