One of the founding members of the American Civil Liberties Union, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, launched a campaign for the release of prisoners involved in the Foley Square trial but, in June 1951, was herself arrested in the second wave of arrests and prosecuted under the Smith Act with sixteen other Communist Party members. Of course, I am describing the beginnings of McCarthyism of the 1950s.

During the McCarthy era, hundreds of Americans were accused of being Communists or Communist sympathizers; they became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private industry panels, committees, and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, academicians, and labor-union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person's real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs were sometimes exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment or destruction of their careers; some were imprisoned. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts that were later overturned, laws that were later declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures, such as informal blacklists, that would come into general disrepute.

It does not matter if you are within your societal rights if that society wishes to overpower you because you don't believe what they do. History is replete with such oppressive activities by the rich and powerful.

I admire your virtue, Rainbowloom. But I also would caution you to be careful and vigilant of those who would find you contemptible simply because you don't think the way they want you to think. They might, then, throw you in jail for being a Martian or some such irrelevance.