Tag Archives: socialism

How does one deal with people this ignorant?

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Ignorance double plus with an extra dash of stupidity: POLL: Socialism Popular Among Democrats.

A Gallup poll released on Sunday shows 57-percent of democrat respondents view socialism positively.

For comparison, 16-percent of republicans polled had a positive outlook on socialism.

In the same poll, young Americans are more-likely to favor the political ideology than those who are older.

To which may be added:

Ocasio-Cortez Calls Trump Racist…
Says She’s Creating Another Sweden, Not Venezuela… 

She is actually too ignorant to know what she’s creating, but she is young and Democrat so she represents her demographic. Such as here:

Julian Castro cites 90 percent tax
on rich in defending Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez on tax hikes
Washington Examiner, by Naomi Lim    Original Article
Likely 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro agrees with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that tax rates on some of the wealthiest Americans should skyrocket. “Oh, I can support folks at the top paying their fair share,” Castro told ABC News´ “This Week” on Sunday when asked directly whether he could endorse the high-profile New York Democrat´s idea. The Obama-era Housing and Urban Development secretary, who is expected to officially announce he´s running for the White House this week, made the comments after Ocasio-Cortez caught flak for suggesting people earning more than $10 million could be taxed between “60 or 70 percent.”

Speaking of Castro, this is a different Castro, but no doubt from the same ideological family: Grandson of Fidel Castro shares his life of luxury aboard yachts and more on Instagram.

There is no reasoning with these people. I wouldn’t even mind if they got their wish and they had to live in the world of their own creation, but they intend to take the rest of us along with them into the new Venezuelas they are creating.

It’s such a new world out there

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So much going on in America at the moment. Start with this:

DC UGLY: New Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib Goes off on Trump: We're Going to 'Impeach the Motherf*cker!'
Video... 

And then there’s this:


PELOSI IN CONTROL…
Won’t rule out indictment, impeachment…
Speaker botches speech…
CNN Takes Her Out For Ice Cream…
PEW: Christians ‘overrepresented’ in Congress…
Paul Ryan exits at 12% favorability…

Not to mention this:


Ocasio-Cortez’s Radical Mandate for Govt Control…
Gender-based justice, Reparations, Universal income, Medicare for All… 
Venezuela Economic Collapse Has Lessons for America’s Socialists…

But it’s that last one I like the best since these are the lessons from Venezuela, and this is from Bloomberg!

Socialists in the U.S. should take note — if there’s a right way to do socialism, this isn’t it. Instead of cautious policies like those of Bolivia, Venezuela’s leaders chose to ignore the menace of hyperinflation, nationalize private businesses across the economy, and muck up the smooth operations of PDVSA. The result was predictable — one of the worst self-inflicted economic catastrophes of the century so far.

That’s right, if you want to introduce socialism, don’t do it like in Venezuela, do it like they did in Bolivia! If you thought the 20th century was bad, just wait till you see what happens now.

The poisonous malignancy of the left

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This is how we start the year with this set of predictions form Dennis Prager: The left will make 2019 a dark year. These are not people of kindness and charity, seeking the greatest good for the greatest number. They are selfish power-hungry vermin without a trace of goodwill or human kindness. There is history enough to learn about what happens if a community is put into the hands of a Mao, Lenin or Castro, but there they line up, moronic fools, whose self-hatred and envy of others drives them into madness and their own ultimate self-destruction. This is part of what is written at the link but the whole piece is short and worth your time.

There is nothing Trump or any member of his administration has done that is comparable to Hillary Clinton’s use of her own email server while U.S. secretary of state, or her destroying tens of thousands of emails after they were subpoenaed by Congress, or foreign governments’ and corporations’ paying vast sums of money to Bill Clinton and The Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state. Nor is there anything Trump or anyone in his administration has done comparable to the Obama administration’s use of the IRS to suppress conservative nonprofits; its selling guns to Mexican drug cartels, at least one of which was later found at the scene where a Border Patrol officer was killed; or the lies it told about the cause of the murder of a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans in Benghazi. Yet any suggestion by Republicans that these activities be investigated is effectively shouted down by the Democrats and the media. And let’s not talk about the real collusion in 2016 – between the FBI, the State Department, the Clinton campaign and the Obama White House, using material sourced in part from the Russian government – to undermine the Republican candidate for president and his presidency. The mainstream media aren’t interested in that.

In other words, the Democratic Party and the media will do to American political life what it has done to the arts; the universities; the high schools; the Boy Scouts; race relations; religion; the happiness of so many women (misled by feminism regarding marriage and career); the moral fabric of American life (morality reduced to feelings); late-night television; mainstream Judaism, Catholicism and Protestantism; pro football; and the sexual innocence of the young: It will poison it.

A reminder of what we are up against

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First this, since this is the existential threat to our entire Western Civilisation, spelled out as clearly as could be said: Merkel: “Nation states must today be prepared to give up their sovereignty”.

This is what German Chancellor Angela Merkel told attendants at an event by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin on Wednesday.

“In an orderly fashion of course,” Merkel went on to say. She even went so far as to condemn those in her own Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party who think Germany should withdraw from the controversial UN migration pact [as Australia has done]:

“There were [politicians]who believed that they could decide when these agreements are no longer valid because they are representing The People”.

And that is what they say in public.

And then there is this from Powerline which comes under the heading: Progressives are Crazy, which is more than evident

That is a proposition for which we see overwhelming evidence on a daily basis. For today, consider these two videos of progressives gone mad.

The first features, to all appearances, a man with long hair. But he goes insane in a game store when he considers himself to be “misgendered.” My favorite moment is when he threatens to “tell the entire LGBTQ community” about the horror he has experienced. PJMedia posted the Facebook video with a headline referring to ‘roid rage, which seems right. But do men take anabolic steroids when they transition? Not that I know of. The video has been viewed more than 9 million times so far:

The second video is another instance of progressive rage, although in this case the lefty doesn’t look like a steroid user. A guy goes into a vape shop wearing a MAGA hat, and the progressive clerk refuses to serve him. The customer gets out his phone and starts filming, which sends the clerk into a liberal rage against President Trump and free enterprise:

It would be a mistake, of course, to draw conclusions from just two data points. Nevertheless, I will hazard this observation: progressives are crazy.

Not to mention climate change [aka global warming]. This via Instapundit:

SNOWFALLS ARE JUST A THING OF THE PAST: How to Understand The Religion of Climate Change and Those Who Believe In The End Times.

Related: Absolutely Clueless: Meet the Press just devoted an entire hour to what Dems apparently think is the top issue for America.

And then there’s this from Nancy Pelosi but could just as easily have been our own Malcolm: ‘The Existential Threat of the Climate Crisis’ Threatens ‘The Whole of God’s Creation’.

“The American people have demanded action to combat the climate crisis, which threatens our public health, our economy, our national security and the whole of God’s creation. Together, we must protect public health by reducing air pollution, create jobs by making America preeminent in green technologies, defend our national security by preventing climate-driven instability and uphold our sacred moral responsibility to leave a healthy, sustainable future for generations to come.”

Nor finally can we leave out their wish to impose a socialist state on the rest of us, from Teen Vogue of all things: The Economic Crisis in Venezuela, Explained. I’m not sure it was explained, but at least it was described. But this is where they will take us if we let them.

Einstein when it came to economics was no Einstein

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This was written by Albert Einstein, yes that Albert Einstein, in 1949: Why Socialism?. He begins:

Is it advisable for one who is not an expert on economic and social issues to express views on the subject of socialism? I believe for a number of reasons that it is.

One reason being to discover that however high someone’s IQ, when it comes to economics there is no guarantee they won’t be a complete idiot. You should read it all, but here is the core proposition:

I have now reached the point where I may indicate briefly what to me constitutes the essence of the crisis of our time. It concerns the relationship of the individual to society. The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate. All human beings, whatever their position in society, are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life. Man can find meaning in life, short and perilous as it is, only through devoting himself to society.

The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in my opinion, the real source of the evil. We see before us a huge community of producers the members of which are unceasingly striving to deprive each other of the fruits of their collective labor—not by force, but on the whole in faithful compliance with legally established rules. In this respect, it is important to realize that the means of production—that is to say, the entire productive capacity that is needed for producing consumer goods as well as additional capital goods—may legally be, and for the most part are, the private property of individuals.

The “today” of “as it exists today” was 1949. This was at the height of the Cold War when Stalin’s Russia – The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics – threatened the peace and prosperity of the entire planet, the year of the Communist Revolution in China. And if you read the article through, it states every cliché known to every soapbox revolutionary since the start of time. Even geniuses can be morons.

Socialism kills

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Socialism is even more devastating to your life than smoking – fantastically bad for your health and welfare, will ruin your income-earning potential, and cost you your freedom. It might even kill you just as it has done for so many others.

You might think socialism is cool and you might think it’s chic, but if you do, you are historically illiterate and ignorant to a fanastic extent. The evidence of its massive dangers is everywhere; there is no counter story. Socialism brings ruin.

And yet, even with all the evidence everywhere available, people do smoke, in the same way that people line up to become socialists and support political leaders who would lead them into slavery, economic ruin and for many into death if those whom they follow ever end up with their hands on the levers of power. With all the warnings in the world, and all the evidence at every turn, all too many, because they think they are too smart to need such warning, will trundle down these doom-ridden paths.

As with cigarettes, socialism is a habit often commenced in youth, an intellectual disease which poisons the mind, which try as one might, can becomes an addictive belief system impossible to shed until dragged down by the inevitable harm that it creates if by fate one happens to find their own community, the one in which they live, has become yet one more socialist entity. Living in a socialist state is the surest cure for this addiction, but by then it is too late.

With socialism, just as with cigarettes, there is no reason for anyone to be unaware of the harm it brings. We have known its folly since even before the first disastrous socialist experiments were tried, which began just over a century ago. We have seen the ruin of one economy after another, from Russia in 1917 to Venezuela today. Yet there are always some who think they can beat the odds, that they know best, that next time will be different.

Do not be a fool. Do not support anyone or any party who offers you socialism as the answer to any actual existing problem. We know already what will happen. A tiny handful will scramble to the top who will then oppress everyone else – including you. Socialism creates poverty, misery and death. Socialism has never succeeded at any time in any place ever. The next time will be the same as all the other times.

If you call yourself a socialist, you are a fool. There are no exceptions.

A political horror story

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From The Oz: Brexit is diverting attention from Jeremy Corbyn’s red flag radicalism. And do not for a second think this might not happen here.

Jeremy Corbyn vowed to reverse Thatcherism at last month’s British Labour conference in Liverpool. Picture: AFP
Jeremy Corbyn vowed to reverse Thatcherism at last month’s British Labour conference in Liverpool. Picture: AFP

If next year Jeremy Corbyn becomes prime minister of Britain, this political figure, hitherto dwelling in the margins of politics, becomes a world historical figure.

Historic figure? After being in politics for 35 years and serving on the frontbench only when he became leader? But how else to view it? Corbyn is proposing the reversal of Thatcherism, the 1980s program of privatisation and union-busting implemented under the Iron Lady’s leadership, and thought by all to be irreversible.

One columnist has branded Corbyn’s program an “unapologetic onslaught on the crumbling neoliberal order”. He should have added, “And not just in Britain.” If Corbyn wins and starts peeling Thatcherism from the statutes, he will provide an irresistible model for other European centre-left parties being devoured by right-wing nationalists.

Given this, it’s surprising the reaction to his speech to the British Labour Party conference on September 26 was so muted. Here he was proposing the renationalisation of water, rail and the Royal Mail; a tax on second homes to fund expansion of public housing; board-level representation of employees; and pulling 65 per cent of workers under 25 on to a guaranteed minimum wage. Most radically, his government would appro­priate 10 per cent of every company’s shareholdings on behalf of employees and the state. Plus grant free childcare.

In 1983, the last time the Left controlled British Labour, MP Gerald Kaufman branded its explicitly socialist manifesto “the longest suicide note in history”. It helped Margaret Thatcher consign Labour to 27.6 per cent of the vote in her 1983 landslide.

Right now, however, the red flag radicalism is escaping attention because the debate over Brexit is sucking the air out of British politics. But there is another factor: a striking shift in opinion. Fear of nationalisation and chaotic economic management were, until Tony Blair, well-tested rallying cries against Labour. No more. Expanding the state is popular. Two-thirds of the electorate wants railways back in public ownership. Only 17 per cent of the electorate think capitalism is working for them. Voters born after Thatcher are Corbyn’s strongest supporters.

“A Sociopathic Philosophy Conceived in Gross Error and Ignorance”

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A note to me from the author.

If you want to stop and reverse the resurgence of socialist ideas on campus and elsewhere, here’s an excellent vehicle for doing it:

This thirty-three thousand word essay is now available in Kindle format at Amazon.com for just 99¢. Go here to order it.

Royalty free licenses are available for anyone who wants to assign the essay to a class or distribute it to any special group, such as the members of an organization or its contributors, or to one’s personal list of friends and associates. Write to me at g.reisman@capitalism.net to request such a license along with a copy from which duplicates can be made either for distribution online or in hardcopy format.

You gotta try, but the hill to climb does keep getting steeper and more difficult. Might just mention Scott Johnson discusses just this today: Socialism as a Hate Crime. What is there not to understand about one of the most intense political failures in the history of the human race? But whatever there is, no actual real world experience ever seems to get vast numbers to see the disastrous futures they plan for themselves should they actually achieve their political ends.

The left are like locusts. They cannot help destroying

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From Sarah Hoyt, where I have extracted her core argument which really gets to the heart of things as they now are. Her title is: The Left are the Locusts of Culture.

There is a scene in Independence Day where the character mind-melds with the alien, and receives a sudden understanding of the peril the Earth is in.

Quoting from memory, he says something like “They’re like locusts. They move from planet to planet, take everything it has to give and move on.”

For some time now, I’ve thought this applies to the left. Certainly, entire fields of endeavor, entire expanses of human knowledge, science, and interest, seem to collapse in the wake of an infestation by the left….

I don’t know if it’s possible for any field to stand in the face of such an onslaught. Perhaps an unskilled labor field, where it doesn’t matter which pair of hands is doing things, and the requirements are minimal.

Certainly not any field that requires expertise, specialized techniques or even – like mere writing – craftsmanship.

And because they’re everywhere and attacking all at the same time, even in fields of endeavor you’d think would be beneath their notice, we risk a systemic collapse of society….

Yes, sure, many people on our side think that’s what the left wants. They’re not even wrong, insofar as there are some on the left who want it, but the majority? The majority have no idea of the complex interweb of relationships, or the weave of technology, finance and just plain work that allows them their comfortable first world lives. They have no idea what it would mean if it collapsed….

Let’s be frank, the left don’t really mean to destroy anything, any more than the locusts mean to destroy farmers’ crops. They don’t even have an understanding of farmers’ crops or of destroying, just like the left doesn’t understand economics or society enough to know what they’re doing.

In the end, locusts want to survive and to make more locusts… and the left wants the same, which is why no club, no hobby, no field of endeavor will be left alone. They must enforce their way of thinking and their image of the world everywhere until in the ruins of a destroyed world there stand a group of leftists discussing the wonders of Marx and preening for the few survivors.

The analogy is near perfect, but not quite exact. The ones who are left standing could not care less about Marx or ideology but only about the plunder they have gained for themselves through their lies and deceit. Worse still, the problem is much deeper since even those on the right cannot imagine the collapse that will follow from the success of the left. They see the Soviet Union, Cuba, Venezuela and even then think it can’t happen here. But it can if we firstly fail to understand how much is genuinely at risk, and then secondly, fail to treat the problem with the seriousness that it deserves.

The future of their party and who knows who else

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Via Steve Hayward.

And yet another take:

1) I am not sorry.
2) It’s not coming down.
3) I will make another one.
4) You don’t have to hate Trump to use humor.
5) I don’t have to warn you when I’m about to tell a joke.

Allie Beth Stuckey

Enlightening & hard-hitting interview with Socialist “it girl” and fellow millennial, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [it is a joke]

https://youtu.be/LG4C2SQN_FI

So let us see what her supporters are like, although the reality is that you cannot parody them since they are such ignorant fodder for a tyranny they have no conception of. It’s only a not very random sample, but there are plenty more like them everywhere.

They are the very definition of drongo. Know-nothings about anything they need to know, whose arrogant stupidity may yet drag us into an abyss out of which even a century from now there will be no coming out of the depths into which our economies might yet descend.