Free Republic

An ideological construct that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. Throughout this primary season, Hillary Clinton and self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders have both been flogging the “crisis” of “income inequality,” which is “at the center of their campaigns,” according to CNN. Both have scourged the “greed” of the “1%,” called for higher taxes on the “rich,” and promised to expand and multiply government programs to rectify this injustice. Yet like other slogans progressives rely on, the idea of “income inequality” is an ideological construct, a statistical artifact that exploits envy and resentment for political advantage. The first problem with...

Socialism: Like a skyscraper crane about to topple in high winds, Venezuela is teetering on the brink of a horrific economic collapse. It was brought on by one thing: socialism, taken to the hilt. Yet incredibly, neither Bernie Sanders nor his voters make this connection. It’s worrisome that so many Americans see socialism in a favorable light these days. A May 2015 YouGov poll showed that socialism was viewed favored favorably by 43% of Democrats, while a June 2015 Gallup poll showed that 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist. It points to a collective loss of memory. After...

Responding to one of Anderson Cooper’s softball questions, socialist Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told the CNN Town Hall on Wednesday night that he lives a frugal life and indicated that he doesn’t care about money or status. “I have a small Chevrolet,” he said. “It is one of the smallest Chevys that they make.” He said it was about five years old.But James O’Brien, a political consultant and former publisher of Campaigns & Elections magazine, says the career politician, who has been a mayor, member of Congress and U.S. senator, has achieved the financial status of a millionaire.O’Brien has analyzed the...

HILLARY CLINTON first grabbed the national spotlight 47 years ago as an idealistic young feminist, chiding the paternalistic establishment in her Wellesley commencement speech. So it’s passing strange to watch her here, getting rebuffed by young women who believe that she lacks idealism, that she overplays her feminist hand and that she is the paternalistic establishment. Bernie Sanders may be a dead ringer for Larry David, but Hillary is running the “Curb Your Enthusiasm” campaign. She can’t fire up young voters by dwelling on what can’t be done in Washington and by explaining that she’s more prose than poetry.

If Bernie Sanders becomes the Dem nominee, the GOP might wind up having to pay royalties to Chris Matthews . . On this evening's Hardball, Matthews aired what he himself said could be an anti-Bernie Republican ad, cobbled together from clips of various radical statements Sanders has made over the years. In Chris' commercial, Sanders is seen saying he's a socialist, confirming he's not a capitalist, admitting that he applied for conscientious objector status, indicating that he would raise taxes to somewhere between 50 and 90%, and preaching political "revolution." Workers of the world: unite behind Bernie! View the video...

Hillary Clint was asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper during last night's Democratic town hall if she still believed in a "vast right wing conspiracy" working against her. The answer she gave is fairly chilling if you care whether the next president of the United States is a paranoid loon. The Hill: During the New Hampshire town hall debate on Wednesday night, CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Clinton if she still believes there is a "vast right-wing conspiracy" as she said there was during the late 90s to initially explain the Monica Lewinksy scandal. "Don't you?" Clinton replied, as the audience...

A coming change in accounting standards could do irreversible damage to community banks, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., said in a letter to the Financial Accounting Standards Board. An accounting-standards update due to be issued by the board would change the way all lenders set aside reserve funds in anticipation of possible losses. The board, wrote Tipton and Rep. Patrick Murphy, D-Fla., should take "utmost caution" in proceeding because it has the potential to "irreversibly damage community banks' and credit unions' ability to continue to adequately serve their customers/members and communities and sustain the economic recovery." ... Tipton, a member...

It was getting on toward 2 o'clock on Tuesday morning after the bewildering Iowa caucuses, so I can't be too sure about anything. As the TV coverage wound down into nothingness, Chris Matthews of MSNBC became increasingly disgruntled about the lack of clear winners and losers in the Hawkeye State, at least in the Democratic photo finish between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Getting to hear the losers make concession speeches is what makes our democracy exciting, he insisted. Iowa in 2016, according to the Matthews worldview, was not exciting. "This was just vague," he muttered. He may actually have...

Before he achieved political office, Bernie Sanders never had a steady paycheck in the first four decades of his life. Now, he aspires to the highest office in the land where he could play a decisive role in shaping the circumstances under which the rest of us work and receive (when we can) our paychecks. It is a sobering record, as Investor's Business Daily explains it:

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on Sunday shot back against House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) comments that Democrats aren't "running on any platform of raising taxes." Sanders said the U.S. is spending "far more than other countries on healthcare." "My proposal will save middle-class families thousands of dollars a year on their healthcare costs. Most people tell me, 'Yes, they would be happy to pay $1,000 more in taxes if they're paying $5,000 less in healthcare premiums,' " he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Sanders said the U.S. needs to follow every other major country in controlling healthcare...

Embracing gun control has always been a toxic issue for Democrats.  It has played well deep in their darkests bases, like New York City and the District of Columbia, where ignorance about guns and gun law is pervasive and cherished.  On the national stage, they have been careful to approach it sideways, with code words like “gun safety” and “common sense”.   In 1994, when Bill Clinton pushed it the hardest on the national stage, the Democrats suffered one of their most emphatic defeats; the Republican revolution of 1994.  President Clinton even acknowledged that his gun control push was a...

Europe, whose economic struggles have grown that much greater with recent problems in crucial markets like China and Russia, is rushing to do business with a newly accessible and eager, if still problematic, partner: Iran. With the lifting of sanctions after its nuclear deal with the West, Tehran has gone shopping this week, bringing its checkbook and a long list of items it had been unable to acquire for years. Despite lingering animosities and the United States' designation of Iran as a sponsor of terrorist groups, European governments and corporations have made it clear that economic opportunity is going to...

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday that Trump's popularity is evidence that "nationalism and populism have overtaken conservatism" in the Republican Party "The Trump triumph - the Trump coalition - is exposing the fact that it isn't conservative orthodoxy, or conservatism or any of the hard work of the conservative elite," explained Limbaugh, "that is causing people to be conservative." LIMBAUGH: It's something really simple... They're fed up with the modern day Democratic Party... The Republican Party establishment does not understand this. They do not know who their conservative voters are. They've over-estimated their conservatism... They're not liberals. They're...

Bernie Sanders is no one's idea of a camera-ready presidential candidate. He's a "democratic socialist" running against an icon of the Democratic establishment. (And as satisfying as anti-establishment sentiment may feel for some right now -- the establishment is still pretty damn important.) His white hair is kind of wild, he's awkward, doesn't smile much, he hunches over and waves his arms when he speaks. He campaigns in rolled-up shirtsleeves and has pens in his shirt pocket. When it comes down to it, his radical policy positions and general cranky-grandpa vibe don't exactly scream "President of the United States."

1) "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money." -- Margaret Thatcher 2) "It is the common error of Socialists to overlook the natural indolence of mankind; their tendency to be passive, to be the slaves of habit, to persist indefinitely in a course once chosen. Let them once attain any state of existence which they consider tolerable, and the danger to be apprehended is that they will thenceforth stagnate; will not exert themselves to improve, and by letting their faculties rust, will lose even the energy required to preserve them from deterioration. Competition...

Washington (CNN)--A sense of anxiety is cascading through Hillary Clinton's campaign, with an increasing sense of urgency the primary fight with Bernie Sanders is far more of a threat than once imagined, unlikely to be extinguished after the first contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Clinton has gone from all but ignoring Sanders to fiercely engaging him in recent days, a reflection of public and private polling that points to a race that is uncomfortably competitive for the Democratic front-runner. She openly questions his electability and argues that he is out of step with the party on guns and other...

Characterizing Wall Street as an industry run on "greed, fraud, dishonesty and arrogance," Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders pledged to break up the country's biggest financial firms within a year and limit banking fees placed on consumers, should he become president, in a fiery speech on Tuesday. He coupled that promise, delivered in front of a raucous crowd just a few subway stops from Wall Street, with a series of attacks on rival Hillary Clinton, arguing her personal and political ties make her unable to truly take on the financial industry. "To those on Wall Street who may be listening...

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) says that America has practiced the free market system over the last 40 years and "that it doesn't work." Johnson made the comments while speaking on the House floor Thursday against the Sunshine For Regulatory Decrees and Settlements Act. The bill aims at making the government give public notice when entering into legal negotiations that may result in new regulations. ...

Politics: The trouble that Hillary Clinton had distinguishing a Democrat from a socialist during an MSNBC interview was understandable. It´s like describing the difference between a dog and a canine. At the tail end of a series of beach-ball-soft questions, "Hardball" host Chris Matthews asked Clinton: "Now, Bernie (Sanders) calls himself a socialist. ... You´re a Democrat. ... What´s the difference between a socialist and a Democrat?" Clinton: "Well, I can tell you what I am. I am a progressive Democrat." Matthews: "How is that different than a socialist?" Clinton: Hamana, hamana, mumble, mumble, "we have got to get all...

Gosh. Why is this question so hard to answer? You may recall that, a few months ago, Chris Matthews made waves by asking DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz a very simple question: “What’s the difference between a Democrat and a Socialist? After all, Bernie Sanders is a proud socialist and Dems like to claim that label doesn’t apply to them. Wasserman Schultz, unsurprisingly, couldn’t answer the question. Apparently she found it difficult to outline a difference where none exists.