"58 percent of millennials prefer socialism/communism/fascism over capitalist system." - Nov. 2017 Gallup poll
"Poll finds majority of Democrats say socialism has positive impact." - Politico (2017)
It seems the party of John F. Kennedy would not even consider nominating him these days. It has moved so far left that even JFK's "A rising tide lifts all boats" speech would be booed by the new Democrat Party as a capitalist statement.
We know now that modern-day "progressives" are just rebranded Marxists or, best case, socialists. And we are again seeing how socialism plays out in a rich nation like Venezuela. After not letting his duly elected opponent take power, using the might of the central government's military, President Maduro's strong-arm tactics prevail, as they always do in socialist/Marxist countries. As the people starve, inflation rages and chaos escalates, the U.S. is trying to help Maduro's duly elected opposition leader, Juan Guido. It is not a good sign when Maduro's opponent returns a call from the U.S. from inside the trunk of a 1978 Datsun.
Lenin said, "The goal of socialism is communism." In that quote, the "Father of Soviet Communism" acknowledged that totalitarian rule is so disgusting to people in free and prosperous capitalist nations that it must be quietly slipped into those societies in bits and pieces over time. It is through that incremental process that socialism serves as an under-the-radar, transitional gateway to the inevitable oppression: communism.
The premise of the new "AOC" (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) progressive wing of the Democrat Party is that the USA is a mean, misogynistic, hate-filled, racist, white-privileged and exploitative country. They want to welcome as many illegal immigrants as possible to our shores to enjoy this wonderful country.
One has to wonder. When Elizabeth Warren tells us that there is such white privilege in America, why did she pretend to be a minority Native American to advance her academic career?
We saw the hypocrisy of the left in Virginia when racist white Democrats failed to be honest about blackface pictures from their past. Virginia Gov. Northam said he put on blackface and moonwalked. He was just one step away from moonwalking at his news conference when he was stopped by his smart(er) spouse. Maybe "moonwalking" should replace the donkey as the Democrats' mascot. Moonwalking best describes their devastating policies, where they make it appear they are walking forward (progressing), yet in reality they are moving backward.
The "Green New Deal" proposed by AOC and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Massachusetts, is an idiotic move toward total government control. Some of the gems in this resolution:
1. No more meat.
2. No more airplane travel, few cars, only train travel (bad news for Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, who signed on; I'm not sure she thought that one through).
3. Free jobs for those who want to work, and income for those who do not want to work.
4. Taxes as high as 70 percent on those who do choose to be productive. Then they are taxed again on assets and when they die.
The childish notion that government can solve any problem in 12 years (because that is when AOC says the world will end) is stupid. Government never solves anything. We still have troops in Germany, Japan and Korea.
To achieve their agenda, the Dems must convict Trump of manufactured crimes with their deep-state friends. Their narrative is that the GOP loves the Russian communists now; the Democrats are Middle East war hawks and deficit cutters. It is like a football game where they switched sides at halftime.
The new left of the Democrat party will not win with such unreasonable arguments. And they will not stop Trump. But libs can take comfort in that California liberated the world from plastic straws.
Contact Ron Hart, a libertarian op-ed satirist, at Ron@RonaldHart.com or @RonaldHart on Twitter.