Why Socialism, and Why Now?

Townhall.com ^ | August 29, 2019 | Victor Davis Hanson

[Kaslin]

"Socialist! is no longer a McCarthyite slur.

Rather, the fresh celebrity "Squad" of newly elected identity-politics congresswomen -- Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) -- often either claim to be socialists or embrace socialist ideas. A recent Harris poll showed that about half of so-called millennials would like to live in a socialist country. Five years ago, septuagenarian Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) was considered an irrelevant lone socialist in the U.S. Senate -- Vermont's trademark contribution to cranky quirkiness. But in 2016, Sanders' improbable Democratic primary run almost knocked off front-runner Hillary Clinton, even as socialist governments were either imploding or stagnating the world over.

After Clinton's loss to Donald Trump in the 2016 general election, Sanders is back, running as a socialist warhorse, promising endless amounts of free stuff, with those promises suddenly being taken seriously.

Sanders, like the members of the Squad, has limited political power. But the celebrity and social media influence of these new and retread socialists has been on the upswing -- especially in the current 21st century climate of radical transformations in economic and political life.

Note the shock over Clinton's 2016 defeat, the furor directed at a take-no-prisoners Trump, and sudden progressive criticism of the Obama presidency as too temporizing, weak and ineffectual. And there are still other undercurrents that explain why currently socialism polls so well among young Americans.

[Migraine]

Why now? Because brocko and bernie made it OK to say in public discourse what the US universities have been saying for 35 years or more.

Now, it’s the daily spue of demwit politicians. It’s out of the bag/closet for the worst.

[Boomer]

And here I was thinking the education indoctrination system had succeeded in ruining the minds of far too many young people.

[tomkat]

The handmaiden of failed socialist regimes has always been ignorance of the past and present. And that is never truer than among today's American college-degreed (but otherwise economically and historically illiterate) youth.

Amen !

[Gen.Blather]

Socialism is NOW because, recall, when Obama was elected it was the end of conservativism forever. The Dems controlled both houses and the presidency and “we are the ones we have been waiting for.” (Obama quote.) Obama care meant there was no turning back. Then, as victims of their onw success, the Dems started losing and fracturing. Part of their hysteria now is that they had it all for two years and it is slipping rapidly away. They are desperate to put the nation back on their chosen course. It has to be soon or this priceless opportunity will disappear forever. (I have news. Obama killed any chance of socialism in the near future. We saw where it leads and balked.)

[Yosemitest]

Haven't you been paying attention ?
It's INTENTIONAL !
And this is the SAME PLAN they're instigating on us here in the United States !

POTUS, Unions & Progressives: Top-Down Bottom-Up, Inside-Out CHAOS! ( 3:24 )
Uploaded on Feb 22, 2011
2/18/2011 - After the chaos and unrest in Europe, then in the Middle East, just as Glenn Beck predicted,
the TOP-DOWN, BOTTOM UP and INSIDE OUT strategy talked about by Van Jones is coming to pass.
Along with Jones' incitement to get liberal progressive to act on his model, there have been stories published and written by Frances Fox Piven,
again, inciting people to get mad at the government, in a sense, inciting unrest and riots, due in part to the economic conditions of our nation.
This is what one would consider a well orchestrated "insurrection" by the mainstream media, unions and even the government.
How will it end?



Top Down, Inside Out--Cyprus - TheBlazeTV - The Glenn Beck Program - 2013.03.25 ( 6:48 )
Published on Mar 26, 2013
The political, social, and economic fallout of the Cyprus bailout.



Top Down, Bottom Up--War - TheBlazeTV - The Glenn Beck Program - 2013.03.25 ( 12:21 )
Published on Mar 28, 2013
What is happening in the Middle East and what are the potential ramifications?.



Top Down, Bottom Up--Guns - TheBlazeTV - The Glenn Beck Program - 2013.03.25 ( 9:00 )
Published on Mar 28, 2013
Progressives are flipping the Constitution by going after guns
and trying to ram gun control down the throats of the American people.



Chaos Begins To Mount - TheBlazeTV - The Glenn Beck Radio Program - 2013.03.25 ( 15:27 )
Published on Mar 29, 2013
The clock is ticking and Cyprus is the latest warning that trouble is on the horizon.



Glenn Beck Exposes Obama's Fraudulent History and Radicalized Beliefs ( 41:55 )
Published on Feb 16, 2014
Obama's supporters love him for the same reason they loved Bill Clinton, not just because he lies, but because he lies to them so well.
They absolutely swoon at the way these guys lie and spin.
I thought Clinton was the most transparently fake and phoney politicians in history in the style of Jimmy Swaggart
but that is the same reason why the Left loved him.
Now we are seeing this with Obama all over again.
Obama blows smoke up the ass of the Left
and they absolutely love him for it.


Many of us have said for many years that Obama was doing this INTENTIONALLY.
He was using the old Soviet Plan from 1934 or earlier.



They've lied to us, constantly, and really are "Collapsing the System".
And now, these "Useful IDIOTS" who voted for them, are buying the LIES that "Obamacare was designed to work." ?
It was designed to fail from the start.
THEN ... THEY GO TO THE "SINGLE-PAYER SYSTEM".
Flashback: Obama's Campaign to Transition to Single Payer Health Care (VIDEO)


obama master plan on health careover the years in his own words--SINGLE PAYER!!! ( 3:38 )
They've been sucking our wallets dry for decades now on the "Obamacare" LIE.
AND NOW THEY WANT MORE TAXES ?
Our Founding Fathers would have hung them already!

Lets review:
Who was it that cut future funding for Medicare by $575 billion?

...the president and the Democratic Party successfully bamboozle voters... The 2012 election could turn on this falsehood.
The truth is that the Obama health law reduces future funding for Medicare by $575 billion over the next 10 years ...

Mr. Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius frequently make that false claim.
Indeed, even Medicare's mailings to seniors repeat the claim
that reducing spending on Medicare will make it more financially secure for future years.
The fact is that Mr. Obama's law raids Medicare.

"In early 1968 President Lyndon Johnson [DEMOCRAT] made a change in the budget presentation by including Social Security and all other trust funds in a"unified budget." "

Who was it that expanded Medicare and Medicaid to cover many, many more people than it was originally designed to cover?

The History of Medicare

In 1965, the Social Security Act established both Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare was a responsibility of the Social Security Administration (SSA), while Federal assistance to the State Medicaid programs was administered by the Social and Rehabilitation Service (SRS). SSA and SRS were agencies in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW). In 1977, the Health Care Financing Administration was created under HEW to effectively coordinate Medicare and Medicaid. In 1980 HEW was divided into the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The first U.S. President to propose a prepaid health insurance plan was Harry S. Truman [DEMOCRAT]. On November 19, 1945, in a special message to Congress, President Truman outlined a comprehensive, prepaid medical insurance plan for all people through the Social Security system. The plan included doctors and hospitals, and nursing, laboratory, and dental services; it was dubbed "National Health Insurance." Furthermore, medical insurance benefits for needy people were to be financed from Federal revenues.

Over the years, lawmakers narrowed the field of health insurance recipients largely to social security beneficiaries. A national survey found that only 56 percent of those 65 years of age or older had health insurance. President John F. Kennedy [DEMOCRAT] pressed legislators for health insurance for the aged. However, it wasn't until 1965 that President Lyndon B. Johnson signed H.R. 6675 (The Social Security Act of 1965; PL 89-97) to provide health insurance for the elderly and the poor.

On July 30, 1965, President Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid Bill (Title XVIII and Title XIX of the Social Security Act) in Independence, Missouri in the presence of former President Truman, who received the first Medicare card at the ceremony; Lady Bird Johnson, Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, and Mrs. Truman also were present. President Johnson remarked: "We marvel not simply at the passage of this Bill but that it took so many years to pass it."

Medicare extended health coverage to almost all Americans aged 65 or older. About 19 million beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare in the first year of the program. Medicaid provided access to health care services for certain low-income persons and expanded the existing Federal-State welfare structure that assisted the poor.

The 1972 Social Security Amendments expanded Medicare to provide coverage to two additional high risk groups disabled persons receiving cash benefits for 24 months under the social security program and persons suffering from end-stage renal disease.

...(continued at link)

So Democrats,

YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE
FOR INSURING THE FAILURE
OF THE MEDICARE/MEDICAID PROGRAM,
and now YOU DEMOCRATS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF THE U.S.A. ECONOMY!!!

So DEMOCRATS ... SHUT UP!!!

You have no integrity!!!

And you "ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICANS" ...
You need to SHUT UP ALSO,
because y'all funded everything they asked for !

Sen Mark Kirk's statement Thursday, Dec 1, 2011 ...

"There are 55 million Social Security beneficiaries that will see little or no extra cash from this 2012 tax holiday;
instead, the dedicated payroll contributions meant to pay for future benefits are being diverted from the Trust Fund
and replaced with Treasury debt that does not even have a AAA credit rating.
Social Security was designed to be independent and free from the danger of Congressional manipulation,
and maintaining the firewall between the Social Security Trust Fund and general government funding is the best way to maintain the solvency of this important program.
Neither bill protects the Social Security Trust Fund
so I voted no. "

It's not our fault that DEMOCRATS raided the Social Security Trust Fund.
Let's remember ...

Not ALL are to blame for the empty lock box.

It's the Democrats Communists.

Let's take a deeper look.

Obama: "I Don't Want the Folks who Created the Mess to do a lot of Talking" "

Okay, then the DEMOCRATS, AND the "ESTABLISHMENT REPUBLICANS",
need to SHUT UP ! ! !

[momincombatboots]

Even here on FR people are in the socialism pot, defending their monthly dependence on the government as... getting back what I paid in. The instant masses of more than 50 percent of the population submitted the very life and breath they take to “free healthcare”... it was done.
Suddenly they have no choice, but to surrender one right after another.
There are Freepers supporting “red flag rules”.
The greatest generation saw the firsthand evidence of free stuff government... they are gone, making this the best opportunity to install the fullness of socialism.
The water is starting to boil, frogs.

[NFHale]

“..”Socialist! is no longer a McCarthyite slur. ...”

Nope. It’s STILL a slur.

And McCarthy was absolutely correct and should be honored for trying to expose the danger.

For my money, they guy is a Hero, and that is how I refer to him in conversation, always.

[NFHale]

One Hell of a post, Yose...

[Yosemitest]

Just documents facts and history.

[FreedomPoster]

Absolutely. Proven correct by Soviet archives.

Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies
https://www.amazon.com/Blacklisted-History-Senator-McCarthy-Americas/dp/1400081068

[FrdmLvr]

I believe the reason it’s “now” is because the Fabian socialists, being slow and methodical in their approach, have finally attained their goal. They have been trying to bring socialism to this country for 100 years. They have infiltrated all facets of our institutions from the seminaries and churches, to the pop culture, to the mass media, to the government and military, and to the educational system from K-12 through university level. Virtually all of our American institutions have been subverted and the American people indoctrinated by immersing them in socialist and communist thought and ideas and mocking and suppressing traditional American thought and values. Resistant generations have died off or are senior citizens. It has been for the most part a quiet revolution.

[Vlad The Inhaler]

[wastoute]

When they convinced generations of “younger” Americans Socdialism=Free Stuff, they won.

[LouAvul]

Anybody who thinks this current iteration of socialism is new to the scene has been asleep for the past 60 years. Communism became "cool" when the "cool kids" ran away from home to live in drug addled squalor in communes in the 60s.

Then when the novelty wore off, "the man" stopped giving them food and supplies. The Man realized they were just a bunch of addict bums.

So the addicts had to find work or starve. They were too stupid and lazy to do much, so they went into education and politics.

Now they've come of age. That's why socialism is acceptable. Our kids have been hearing its virtue in their public schools for decades. And decent folk have been powerless to stop it.

[NFHale]

Good post. Lots of info.

[NFHale]

Senator Joe McCarthy has been proven right time and again.
About time our side stands up for him.

[DoodleDawg]

Both sides embrace socialism in their own way.

[ScottinVA]

In time, this country is going to be socialist; it’s only a matter of when. The younger voters want it, because the “rugged individualism” that typified what it means to be an American has been excoriated as evil.

[norwaypinesavage]

"many students borrowed to focus on mostly irrelevant college majors. Such degrees usually offer few opportunities to find jobs high-paying enough to pay back staggering obligations."

There is a simple fix for this major cause of student debt:

Most universities have huge endowments from previous students who have become rich, and given back some of their largess to the universities who started their success. Since these universities are so proud of their curricula, they should be required to fund student loans in these curricula from the university's own endowments. If the students are successful, the loans will be repaid. If not, the universities will change the curricula, and not allow students to have loans for worthless degrees.