I would suggest it comes from a steady stream of propaganda. We had a similar stream in the UK - not as hateful but still 'better dead than red' stuff. We were shown how poor the Soviet countries were and encouraged to link Sovietism to Communism. My wife couldn't believe how many lies had been told about the Eastern Bloc countries, as she also discovered lies told to her by her country's regime. You will be aware it all stemmed from WWII and the fear generated by both sides when they stole German scientists who were working on propulsion and atomics. They played off against each other, making the space race and arms race something that people could feel patriotic about. The American populace were extremely worried when USSR were the first to put animals (Byelka and Stryelka) into space, then became the first to put a man (Yuriy Gagarin) in space. It's why there are conspiracy theories about the moon landing. If America had not been first there then they would have lost a great deal of political prestige and power. But with their 'witch-hunts' and propaganda they blurred the line between true communism and Sovietism. Now that the 'Iron curtain' has fallen we see that there are many capitalist entrepreneurs from the Russian region, and they're buying many of our companies. We also see that many areas were not badly off at all, but didn't have the inflation caused by Western greed. Now that they are infected with our disease they are worse than we are. True communism, as discussed by Karl Marx and implemented by Lenin is a great idea. But in practice it falls down too easily, because it is idealistic and the people who want to hold power are not. At least with Market Economy or Democracy we have a possibility of removing our despots from power, however difficult it is in reality. As a summary, we were lied to. They were lied to. The curtain has fallen but nothing changes. Only now we are all being lied to by the same people.

I like the thought of being able to start my own business without a lot of interference if I want to, or letting somebody else take the responsibility and get paid good money for helping them out. I also like knowing that my surgeon has a lot of money riding on how well he does with my surgery. I like knowing my lawyer needs to do well with my case if he wants to keep his wife happy. I like being able to have some control on what happens to me.

Maybe it is because communism has failed every time it is tried. There is not one case where communism has ever succeeded.

Because Americans believe in capitalism and freedom of individual. These two believes strongly contradicted to Communism. Furthermore, capitalism mean expanding business globally but the comunist countries during the Cold War blocked the chance of American business for having more profit around the world. Thus this acts as manifestation to the hatred of Americans toward the Commnunist

Communism is the exact opposite of what our American founding fathers had in mind when they founded this great country. Personal inalienable rights and freedoms come not from the U.S. Constitution, but directly from the Creator Himself. If you compare the Bill of Rights with Stalin's Communist System, you will see a contradiction on just about every point. "That government governs best which governs least." ~Thomas Jefferson. Communism, however, governs too much. It suffocates the freedoms that we Americans take so much for granted.

Probably has something to do with 140 million murders that happened as the direct result of Communism, which has engaged in wholesale murder and torture every place it's taken power. Here in Ukraine, where I live, one inhabitant out of every three was starved to death intentionally in the winter of 1932. In addition, for those of you who can't recognize the face of evil when you see it, but worship Gaia, the Soviet Union was the greatest ecological catastrophe in history. Toxic dumps and destroyed environments all over it, and the worst nuclear accident in history.

Probably because of the McCarthy era paranoia. People point to the USSR as an example of communism when in fact they were crypto-fascists. What is communism? Many coutries use communist/socialist concepts. America uses a graduated income tax rate. Many countries have public welfare and healthcare. When do you start calling it communism. There are as many answers to that as their are people. At any rate, McCarthy was a more or less worthless politician who rose to power by sowing Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the minds of the American people. Sound familiar? America was founded on the idea that individuals could amass great wealth if they were productive and creative. And it's a great idea. It, and the free market, inspired us to become what we are today. It drove industry and motivated people. The American view of communism is the antithesis of that. Americans understand communism to mean that the people who work hardest get less than the people who work the least. Basically, Americans fear any system which put too much power in the hands of the government. As well they should.

Communism is an altruistic theory. Sounds good but ignores human nature. The US wrote its Declaration of Independence and Constitution acknowledging what is best in human nature and encouraging individuals to be free, responsible and prosperous. Why would any person "choose" to live under any other circumstance? There are several prosperous democratic countries; USA, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Australia, Scotland, Ireland and Israel to name a few, but I know of no communist country where the standard of living even comes close. Any per capita factual response to the contrary will be enlightening.

Freedom of Worship is a key point there. Communist countries have State-held churches with puppet pastors/ministers who only spout what the state finds acceptable as a sermon. True christians in China have gone underground with their churches, just as they have in other communist countries, just so that they can hear God's word unedited, and gather together in true worship. Communist leaders can't deal with someone (Jesus Christ) having more pull than themselves.

Because daddy say so

because America, America, the land of idiots, is not that smart and all in all they're ruled by despots. yes america, america, i used to love you so, but then you got really naughty and i had to spank your bum. so please without further a do, without a gun in hand, please keep you word and shut your face, and get out of my homeland.