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Fascism on the Rise Archives - KDA Keeping Democracy Alive Podcast & Radio Show · Burt Cohen

Why is There So Much Fear in the Strongest Country in the World?

·1 hr·3 clips
Anti-communists suppressed free speech, violated liberties, and destroyed unions—exactly what they accused communists of.
Bert Cohen and historian Denise Lin explore how governments become what they claim to fear. They trace anti-communism from the Cold War through contemporary politics, showing how it's been used to suppress civil liberties, destroy unions, silence progressive movements, and censor speech—the very freedoms it claims to protect. Key examples include Truman's domino theory, McCarthy-era harassment, FBI targeting of communists' families (including children), CIA operations preventing Vietnamese and Korean independence, and the Constitution being born in slavery despite later amendments claiming freedom. Lin argues anti-communism is fundamentally a tool for corporate and government interests to prevent democratic expansion and resource redistribution.

As heard by us

A sober look at how fear becomes policy and how that war on dissent keeps repeating.

The episode treats fear as a political instrument: weak leaders invent enemies, inflate danger, and use that panic to shrink freedom. Bert Cohen keeps the argument anchored in history, moving from Truman and McCarthy to Vietnam and the war on terror with a steady, civic-minded…

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Why you'd press play

You want a clear-eyed case for how fear narrows democracy.

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