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« Reply #1 on: May 03, 2017, 06:24:04 PM » |
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The Patriot Post Digest 5-3-2017
From The Federalist Patriot
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The great irony is this: Only through the blessings of living in a constitutional republic which guarantees their right to hold these views, and of living in a free market economy that not only sustains their basic needs but affords them a level of luxury not even enjoyed by royalty of a half century ago, can they engage in such immoral, historically uninformed indulgence.
Thus we watch in disbelief as an angry, self-proclaimed socialist septuagenarian nearly secures the Democrat presidential nomination, bolstered by throngs of progressive snowflakes who protest and riot in favor of “LGBT rights” and against income inequality and the “evils” of the free market while tweeting from their $800 iPhones, sipping $8 cups of coffee, and sporting Che Guevara t-shirts as a form of virtue signaling.
Yet how many of these socialist/communist sympathizers know their beloved Che was Castro’s enforcer and executioner? He was nicknamed “The Butcher of La Cabana” for his brutal reign over the La Cabana prison, where political dissenters, including artists and musicians like the ones who idolize him today, were tortured and killed.
How many know Chairman Mao slaughtered 10 times more Chinese peasants than the number of Jews killed by Adolf Hitler? How many know that in Stalinist Russia, homosexuality was a crime punishable by imprisonment and hard labor, or that Stalin murdered tens of millions of people?
Why, with mountains of historical evidence documenting the atrocities of these sister ideologies, do we today have millions of Americans who openly embrace them? When faced with a recitation of its evils and failures, a common refrain is that communism/socialism is the ideal form of government; it just hasn’t yet been implemented properly.
To argue that the failures of communism/socialism — nearly 170 years after the publication of Marx’s Communist Manifesto — is a failure of leadership is to argue the movement has been led by crooks or incompetents for nearly two centuries. If so, what does that say about the followers?
Interestingly, it is the clear-eyed proponents of communism/socialism who are the most truthful about what the ideologies are and are not. Friedrich Nietzsche, the nihilist German philosopher who greatly influenced Hitler and his NAZIs (an acronym for the National SOCIALIST German Workers Party), declared, “Socialism is the fantastic younger brother of despotism, which it wants to inherit. Socialism wants to have the fullness of state force which before only existed in despotism.”
It would seem that a large number of the Americans who embrace socialism/communism are utterly ignorant of the misery these ideologies birth. According to a recent YouGov survey25, nearly half of Millennials were unfamiliar with Mao and Che (though they still wear t-shirts emblazoned with their images). A third were unfamiliar with Lenin and Marx. Of course, it doesn’t help when the nation’s “newspaper of record” has long been a journalistic fangirl for oppressive regimes26.
It is such ignorance that turns out tens of thousands of progressive idealists to rallies for Bernie Sanders, a self-avowed socialist who decries the evils of capitalism27 despite having recently bought his third home28, this one a $600,000 vacation home on the shores of Lake Champlain. One thing is for sure; he is living better in evil, capitalist American than he would in Venezuela, the socialist paradise he says we should emulate — a paradise where millions are starving and have no bread, medicine or toilet paper29.
In the meantime, oblivious to the irony, good little progressives march and riot against “fascists” in America (a term they define as “anyone who disagrees with them”), demanding free speech protections even as they beat up political opponents30.
We would do well to remember Thomas Jefferson’s words in an 1816 letter to his friend Charles Yancey: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.”
MORE ANALYSIS FROM THE PATRIOT POST
Trump’s Agenda Is All the Things31 — The president has accomplished a lot in his first 100 days, but if everything becomes a priority, then nothing is.
USDA Trashes Onerous Lunch Standards32 — Good motives don’t excuse government overreach. Fortunately, the USDA is taking note.
Facebook’s Face-Plant33 — The social media giant’s “gender equality” champion isn’t practicing what she preaches. Big surprise.
BEST OF RIGHT OPINION
Star Parker: Trump vs. Schumer on Taxes34
Michelle Malkin: A Thinking Mom’s Message for Jimmy Kimmel35
Jonah Goldberg: Columnist Stephens Stirs Up a Climate of Anger36
For more, visit Right Opinion37.
OPINION IN BRIEF
Star Parker: “Liberals think that you help Peter by taking from Paul. I think you help both Peter and Paul by creating the best possible conditions for opportunity for both of them. How do you create the best possible conditions for opportunity for both Peter and Paul? Freedom. Tons of data and studies show that countries that have the most economic freedom … are the most prosperous. And even the poorest in these countries are far better off than the poorest in countries without economic freedom. You don’t need a Ph.D. in economics to understand that a country that punishes success is going to be less wealthy than a country that rewards it. The last eight years under liberal control have been a disaster economically. From 1950 until 2000, on average the U.S. economy grew at 3.5 percent per year. Since 2008, it has grown barely 2 percent per year. What does this mean? Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane points out that average American income, adjusted for inflation, grew from $16,000 in 1952 to $50,000 in 2008. If the economy over this period grew at 2 percent instead of 3.5 percent, average income in 2008 would have been $23,000 instead of $50,000. Why the great economic slowdown after 2008? No, not because there was a recession when President Obama took over. … The great slowdown was because of the explosion of government, thanks to liberals. Explosion of spending, explosion of debt, explosion of regulations, explosion of taxation. Economies, like people, thrive when they can breathe, not when they are being strangled.”
SHORT CUTS
Spin machine: “Yes, I did support [Trump’s aerial attack on Syria]. … But I am not convinced that it really made much of a difference, and I don’t know what kind of … backroom deals were made with the Russians.” —Hillary Clinton
Vast right-wing conspiracy: “It wasn’t a perfect campaign, there is no such thing. But I was on the way to winning until a combination of Jim Comey’s letter on October 28 and Russian WikiLeaks raised doubts in the minds of people who were inclined to vote for me but got scared off. The evidence for that intervening event is I think is compelling, and persuasive.” —Hillary Clinton, who also asserted, “If the election had been on October 27 I’d be your president”
That’s sexist! “There is an underlying issue with women.” —CNN’s Christiane Amanpour
For the record: “The Clintons have taken victimhood to a new scientific height. They are sort of the experts. The entry in the dictionary should start with them.” —Charles Krauthammer
Alternative facts: “The public knows the government shutdowns are always caused by Republicans. I mean, it’s just fact. Over the last five, 10 years, whenever there’s a shutdown, it’s usually the Tea Party that pushes for it.” —Sen. Sherrod Brown
Non Compos Mentis: “If any those of you that feel like [climate change] is not a problem, I challenge you to go into your car in your garage, start your car, and see what happens there.” —Democrat House candidate Rob Quist (If Quist had put his thinking cap on, he’d know that it’s carbon monoxide, not carbon dioxide, from tailpipes that poses serious health problems. Word of advice: Don’t attempt his challenge.)
And last… “History is littered with the human wreckage of scientific errors married to political power.” —Bret Stephens
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Managing Editor Nate Jackson
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