"McCarthyism"
<The phrase refers not to a total lack of basis for suspicion of anyone but unreasonable persecution and conviction by accusation of many innocents.
Ideally, yes. But in fact, the phrase is usually used whenever the very term "communism" is raised in any debate, or even "socialism." Reasonable or not, innocent or not.
In fact, the term is often used whenever anything remotely accusatory is said about anyone who is remotely leftist. Note the term being used in the Dixie Chicks controversy. Try a Google search on the terms: mccarthyism "dixie chicks"