Few historical judgments appear so unassailable as the almost universal condemnation of the harassment inflicted on Americans accused of Communist sympathies barely a quarter of a century ago. Only a few isolated sectarians on the far right today revere the memory of Senator Joseph McCarthy, whose name has become the identifying tag for the period and a synonym for extreme and mendacious attacks on political opponents. The other day my local newspaper published a cartoon depicting the ghostly likeness of Senator McCarthy emerging from a cupboard carrying a pot of paint bearing the name of Proposition 6, the anti-homosexual referendum in the state of Californi...