In the early 1950's in Hawaii, the organizers of the sugar plantation workers were arrested as "communist" and charged under the Smith Act as attempting to overthrow the goverment by means of violence and force. With the overturning of guilty verdicts by the federal appeals court, it became clear that this was nothing more than union "busting" than any legitimate concern over subversion. The penultimate result was the rise of political leaders from the labor movement and a leveling of the playing field between workers and the major landowners/business community in Hawaii.

Consider what the McCarthy-Army hearings did for television news, especially CBS. It forged the shape of the so-called "liberal media" to this day.

Simple lesson, love your country but be suspicious of your leaders.