Socialism
January 13, 2019 — Paul Mirengoff
This New York Times article is called “Ocasio-Cortez Pushes Democrats to the Left, Whether They Like It or Not.” The Times’ Shane Goldmacher writes: Not so long ago, left-wing activists were dismissed as fringe or even kooky when they pressed for proposals to tax the superrich at 70 percent, to produce all of America’s power through renewable resources or to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Then along came Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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January 7, 2019 — Scott Johnson
When it comes to the state of the art on the left, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is (to borrow an expression) the tippy tops. She is an idiot’s idiot with a little girl voice that gives expressive form to her thoughts and dreams. If only she were given absolute power, she could produce the kind of rapid change (to borrow another expression) that has reduced Venezuela to poverty and starvation. 60 Minutes
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December 29, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Reuters headlines: “‘Reality’ bites: Cuba plans more austerity as finances worsen.” Cash-strapped Cuba plans fresh austerity measures and will pressure the sluggish bureaucracy to tighten its belt and cut red tape to address weak growth, falling export earnings and rising debt. So “Cuba” is going to “pressure the sluggish bureaucracy” to deliver better results? Who is “Cuba,” other than the Communist apparatchiks–bureaucrats–who supposedly will be pressured? The economy has averaged
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December 26, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Here in the U.S., the press enthusiastically cheers on “democratic socialists” like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. But in the real home of democratic socialism, Venezuela, things aren’t so rosy. We have been covering for some time the long, catastrophic collapse of that country. If you have no need of toilet paper and like to eat rats for dinner–when you can catch them before your neighbors do–socialism is the system
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November 22, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Paul A. Rahe holds the Charles O. Lee and Louise K. Lee Chair in the Western Heritage at Hillsdale College and has established himself as one of the country’s most distinguished scholars of history and politics. In view of his study of Republics Ancient and Modern, Professor Rahe is the academy’s foremost authority on the history of republics. Although his more recent work on Soft Despotism was not far from
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November 7, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Josh Kraushaar compiled what he calls the progressive scorecard from last night. Note that it includes only seriously contested races. (Bernie Sanders won, as did the 29 year-old airhead from New York with the hyphenated name): Arizona governor: Garcia loses Florida governor: Gillum loses Georgia governor: Abrams loses Maryland governor: Jealous loses Texas senator: O’Rourke loses California 45th: Porter trails Nebraska 2nd: Eastman loses Pennsylvania 1st: Wallace loses Virginia 5th:
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November 2, 2018 — Scott Johnson
National Security Advisor John Bolton gave a speech naming and denouncing the Troika of Tyranny in our hemisphere — Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela. Bolton gave the speech in Miami, where the Miami Herald’s Franco Ordoñez wrote it up in a page-one story. Referring to the leaders of these leftist kleptocracies, Bolton called disparaged them as “clowns” and poured on the abuse: “These tyrants fancy themselves strongmen and revolutionaries, icon and
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October 23, 2018 — Steven Hayward
With socialism becoming the new fad for Democrats, good to see the Trump White House getting out ahead of it. Today the Council of Economic Advisers released a 72-page report entitled “The Opportunity Costs of Socialism” that clearly and succinctly lays out a powerful case against all of the leading Democratic nostrums that are likely to be the heart of the Democrats’ 2020 platform. Here’s a bit of the executive
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September 7, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Following the lead of Bernie Sanders, many Democrats advocate “Medicare for All.” It’s a smart move. Most old folks, including me, are very happy with the insurance Medicare provides. Many non-old folks realize this and wish they had coverage as good. But Wesley Smith argues that Sanders is actually offering Medicaid for all. Medicaid is a troubled health insurance program for the poor and, thanks to expansion, some who are
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August 30, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Why are democratic socialists performing so well in Democratic primaries including, most recently, in the non-blue state of Florida? The answer resides partly in the ignorance of many Democratic voters, especially young ones. They know little about history and less about economics (or is it the other way around?). But there’s an additional explanation: funding. Benjamin Wallace-Wells of the New Yorker reported: Gillum [the far-leftist who won the Florida primary]
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August 28, 2018 — Steven Hayward
So I arrive on campus for the first day of classes yesterday, where I am greeted with this large poster: Just how to think about this? That it is good to see that college folk still have a sense of humor? A “Civil War on the Left” entry? Or opportunity for satire: “In this corner, Tweedledee; in that corner, Tweedledum.” Maybe an occasion to modify an old joke: “The problem
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August 27, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Daniel Pipes has a column in the Wall Street Journal on Venezuela which, if you are not a subscriber, you can read a portion of at Pipes’s web site. A key paragraph: The story of Venezuela, brought from affluence to misery by its own madman in authority, makes this point with singular clarity. In 1914, the discovery of oil on Venezuelan land brought the country vast revenues and produced a
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August 23, 2018 — Scott Johnson
Socialism is a dark evil hiding under a mask of good intentions. Its millennial proponents have ignorance and stupidity going for them. James Piereson seeks to cure some of the ignorance in a New Criterion column with a twist “Socialism as a hate crime.” Piereson’s column renders The Black Book of Communism into a manifesto for the masses. Piereson writes: “Socialism always and everywhere begins with humanistic promises and ends
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August 22, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
David McReynolds died a few days ago. McReynolds came to semi-prominence as an anti-war activist in the 1960s. He devoted the rest of his life to advocating and organizing for socialism and pacifism. He ran for president twice as the candidate of the Socialist Party USA. The Washington Post’s obituary is here. The following paragraph near the end jumped out at me: In 2015, he resigned from the Socialist Party
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August 13, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Not that many readers here need to be persuaded that Democrats are deep down in their hearts socialists, but it is nice to see the folks at Gallup release solid new survey evidence for this fact: Democrats More Positive About Socialism Than Capitalism WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the first time in Gallup’s measurement over the past decade, Democrats have a more positive image of socialism than they do of capitalism.
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August 10, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, girl socialist, may know what the Gini coefficient is, but she doesn’t know much else. The Washington Post fact checked a series of recent claims by Ocasio-Cortez and found all of them to be false. Let’s look at each claim: 1. “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and can barely feed their family.”
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August 9, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Remember the good old days when socialism was “scientific”? Keep in mind that the orthodox Marxism of “dialectical materialism” was understood as a scientific doctrine of history, not advocacy based on the abstract principles of egalitarianism. But then socialism crashed and burned everywhere (except on college campuses), which is why today socialism comes to sight as a religious faith, a trait it always had from the beginning, which is why
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