Irrational fear of Soviet communism in the late 1940s led to the Red Scare of the 1950s, in which thousands of ordinary Americans were required to go to extreme lengths in order to prove that they had no affiliation with communists or communist sympathizers. During this shameful period of United States history, unsubstantiated accusations were made against the innocent.

As a result of the Red Scare, promising careers were demolished, the innocent were illegally imprisoned, and the reputations of many were unfairly, yet permanently, tarnished.

One of the most deplorable developments during the cultural phenomenon of McCarthyism was the setting up of countless "loyalty review boards" in all levels of government.

These review boards were an outgrowth of Executive Order 9835, signed by President Truman in 1947. It was an order essentially calling for all Americans to pledge their loyalty and to disavow any affiliation with leftist subversive groups.

Over the next decade, it became a necessity for liberals and progressives to publicly disavow, denounce and condemn communist ideology if they wished to appease state and federal "loyalty review boards." In most cases, their very jobs and careers depended on it.

Today, we look back on McCarthyism and see it for what it really was -- an egregious violation of civil liberties.

Fast forward to August, 2017-- a time historians will perhaps refer to as the White Scare, characterized by an irrational fear of white nationalism.

You can never appease the left

The news of the week is no longer the cowardly murder of a counter-protester in Charlottesville at the hands of a deranged white supremacist, but the president's denouncement.

The witchhunters of the left found his original condemnation lacking, declaring that it wasn't "full-throated" enough. Many were angered that the president spoke out against "all" violence, because they wanted to hear him call out white supremacists by name.

When he finally did so, the witchhunters of the left said, "Sorry, but that's not good enough. You should've done it sooner."

Since then, virtually every Republican lawmaker has been forced to publicly disavow the heinous actions of a few for fear of being blacklisted, all in order to appease the liberal media -- the modern equivalent of McCarthy-era "loyalty review boards."

Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have issued public denouncements, along with many others who had no hand in the Charlottesville protests whatsoever.

Even my own senator, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, issued a Facebook denouncement, which begs the question: Why should a senator from Pennsylvania be forced to disavow the actions of a domestic terrorist from Ohio for an incident that took place in Virginia?

The answer, of course, is that he shouldn't. And, if you're a proud conservative, neither should you.

Placing the blame where it belongs

It is shameful to think that we live in an era when some innocent Americans -- citizens who had absolutely no role in the Charlottesville rally -- are still expected to go out of their way to disavow the actions of someone they've never met who happens to embrace political and personal beliefs far outside the accepted norm.

Imagine if Republicans demanded that Democrats disavow marital infidelity after it became known that Bill Clinton had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky. Imagine if whites demanded that the black community disavow sexual assault because of Bill Cosby. These scenarios would be pretty ridiculous, yet no more ridiculous than expecting conservatives to publicly denounce the actions of a white supremacist. If you happen to disagree, it's probably because you honestly believe that all conservatives and Republicans are racists. That, in my book, makes you a bigot.

The only individuals who bear the blame for what happened in Charlottesville are those who participated. Do not let yourself be bullied into the left's game of "justify your existence" just to appease the liberals when they demand that you, as a conservative, "prove" that you are not a racist. Instead, let them go out of their way to prove that you are.