Socialism
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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July 28, 2018 — Scott Johnson
We are suffocating in the stupidity of politicians such as up and coming Democrat Rep.-to-be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a frank socialist. We are suffocating in the stupidity of the Democratic Party’s media adjunct such as MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. Hayes fancies himself a brilliant wit and I would concede that he is half-right. If breathing weren’t an autonomic function, they both might be too stupid to breathe. Glenn Reynolds provides perspective. Venezuela
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July 27, 2018 — John Hinderaker
Just as dumb as you’ve always believed, apparently. Campus Reform sent an interviewer into Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s district to ask what they think of Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and socialism. They like both. The interviewer then asks how they think the “free stuff” will be paid for: The funny thing is, the Congressional candidate is no smarter than her soon-to-be constituents. Last night on the Daily Show, Trevor Noah asked Ocasio-Cortez how her
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July 25, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
Here are the first two paragraphs of a front-page Washington Post story by Dave Weigel: It has been a good summer for the Democratic Socialists of America. On June 20, members of the organization’s Metro D.C. chapter confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen at a Mexican restaurant downtown, chasing her out and making national news. Let that sink in. Can you imagine the Washington Post saying this about a far-right
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July 14, 2018 — Steven Hayward
Have you heard? Democratic socialism is the bright new future. New and improved! Not like that old kind of socialism that produced gulags, corrupt governments, and mediocre economies. It’s kindler, gentler socialism, all warm and fuzzy and friendly. And . . . oh, wait: Chaser:
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July 9, 2018 — Steven Hayward
This, from the Democrats’ shiny new object, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez: I assume this is not a parody account, but someone is going to have to explain to me how democracy, rather than socialism, generated 40,000 percent inflation, etc. I’m also confused. I thought the socialists have won all the elections in Venezuela for the last 20 years. I’ll look forward to Ocasio-Cortez explaining how much worse it would be if they
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July 8, 2018 — John Hinderaker
John Sexton embeds entertaining video of Tucker Carlson and Cornel West, and offers a good explanation of why socialism always fails, from the perspective of the vast majority. He focuses on a good question that Tucker asked West: If democratic socialism works, why doesn’t Venezuela have toilet paper? The video is embedded at the end of this post. Of course West’s answers are lame–“real” socialism has never been tried, blah,
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July 5, 2018 — John Hinderaker
In the Democratic Party, socialism is all the rage. Socialist Bernie Sanders probably would have won the party’s presidential nomination in 2016 if the DNC hadn’t had its thumb on the scale in favor of Mrs. Clinton, and the Democrats’ new “star” is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a socialist like Sanders albeit a far younger one. And how many times have we heard that socialism is sweeping the nation’s campuses? Of course,
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June 25, 2018 — Steven Hayward
I have begun building momentum toward my next book, which is one reason why my posts here have become a bit intermittent. I am not yet ready to reveal the topic, or even the working title (though I think it is a good one), because both may well change considerably as things unfold. I also may actually have a co-author for this project, if I can talk her into it.
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