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Posted on 06/21/2026 1:19:06 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
Taxing the rich sounds good, until they move away.
It has never been a better time in America to be a socialist. We aging Gen Xers who thought that socialism had been decisively refuted by the fall of the Berlin Wall have been refuted ourselves: Democratic socialists now run Seattle and New York City, and come January, probably D.C. too, where Janeese Lewis George won the Democratic primary that generally decides the district’s mayoral elections.
It is a heady moment for the left, because socialism’s tainted brand has recovered from the vivid failures of the Soviet Union. Fully 66 percent of Democrats tell Gallup they view socialism favorably, while 42 percent say the same of capitalism. This makes the left see a revolution marching toward victory, because it can promise something that the center left cannot: a disruptive break with an unsatisfying status quo.
The challenge is that socialism’s rise is spiky, concentrated in blue cities where affluent (but often downwardly mobile) college graduates cluster. That’s a problem for the Democratic Party, where the excesses of progressive governance are helping to make the party’s brand toxic in the less true-blue areas. But it’s also a challenge for the socialists, because cities are the hardest place to execute big plans for new taxing and spending.
That reality was less evident during the last decade’s urban boom; city coffers overflowed and services became easier to fund as those young, affluent residents displaced older and needier residents. But that boom has weakened, especially in D.C., where the population remains below its pre-pandemic peak.
Without the exuberant demand from an oversize millennial generation, mayors are rediscovering the hard reality of urban governance: It is much easier to leave...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
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Concentration camps, gulags, whatever you want to call them. YEAH, BABY!
often downwardly mobile
often downwardly mobile - could this be the result of a college "degree" in Gender Studies?
Many of these college "degrees" might as well be expertise in the construction of horse shoe factories.
Speaking of which, why did they adopt the rainbow colors when one would think a nice brown would have been closer to the mark?
For those who haven’t read it in a while, a quick perusal of “The Communist Manifesto” might be worth another read.
Marx wrote it at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. If you read it and replace his attacks on the technologies of the early 1800s with AI or automated technology, it sounds scary familiar.
Combine this is the frustration the younger generation feels about their potential for home ownership and the cost of everything rising…I can see where the premise of socialism and communism would be attractive.
Of course…Marx talks about stripping the wealthy of their private property because the poor folks never owned any. Bernie Sanders has been suggesting this for decades. And the angry kids eat it up like tasty soup.
To understand these morons it is important to understand where they get their ideas. Of course, these fools are “followers” of “influencers” who tell them what is “cool” to think. They seem to have missed the classes in critical thought. They do not have a basic understanding of of economics, business, taxation, or general history.
The march down the roachto a communist utopia is full of potholes and broken bridges.
So, if you haven’t ever read it, or if it’s been a while take a minute and give it a go. It is kind of eye opening.
I happen to love our capitalist system. There are currently several socialist countries throughout the world. Why should I have to change? Why don’t these socialists just relocate to a socialist county? I am sure they would take them. Then everyone would be happy.
the siren song of collectivism
Gonna work this time, we promise!
Socialism has a proven record of making everyone equal...equally poor and equally miserable.*
Cuban Fidel Castro was a billionaire, while the average Cuban worker was making 6 dollars/day circa 1965.
*Except for the 1% at the top, the rulers who live in luxury.
capitalist system?
free enterprise
On the plus side, thanks to social media, folks out in flyover country are getting a good look at the decadence of those Big Blue cities and what’s at stake.
mandami did us a favor by framing the argument as
individualism versus collectivism
individualism recognizes natural rights
collectivism does not
Back in the old days (Boomers and Gen X) the deal was, we'll pay taxes for the underclass to receive their free sh*t and in return, we had decent jobs to enjoy a nice middle class suburban life and send our kids to safe, good schools where everyone looked like them.
The underclass and their multitude of dysfunctions would be far removed from our sight.
Now, this deal is gone.
Instead, we watch as the underclass gets free food (SNAP, WIC), free health care (Medicaid), free housing (Section 8), free walking around money (EBT, TANF), free bus passes, preferred college scholarships, hiring privileges, utility bill discounts, and myriad other "gibmedats" that young white people do not qualify for.
So, they're saying, "I can't afford a house. I can't afford groceries. I want free sh*t too!"
Kinda hard to blame them.
The thing about a "proportional only" system is that it is driven by the error. If there is no error, nothing happens. An example is your home thermostat. The furnace doesn't come on unless there's a difference between the temperature measured by your thermostat, and the temperature you wish to experience. If there is no error, the furnace doesn't come on.
In terms of the socialism-vs-capitalism thing, it seems that people are unable to learn from past mistakes. This obviously is particularly true of young people, who, even though they have access to all kinds of information about how badly socialism always turns out for nations that go down that road, they just don't take those lessons seriously.
Thus, at any given moment in time, there have to be at least a few countries that are mired in the misery of socialism, so that stories about those miseries can be brought into stark view for the young people of other countries, all around the world.
So the system is "driven by the error." If there is no socialism to observe, societies naturally drift toward socialism, driven by their young people, and by the hucksters who take advantage of their ignorance and gullibility.
As AI takes more and more jobs the masses will demand some form of UBI or full on socialism it is the natural outcome of making a significant percentage of your population not only unemployed but unemployable. You don’t have to like it but that doesn’t change the situation of the economic reality of the coming job crushing AI shift.
Socialists should give me 40 acres and a mule. I’ll be just fine RUNNING MY OWN LIFE AS I SEE FIT!
Oh, wait. I already HAVE a mule and more than forty acres. And I did it all without the ‘help’ of Socialists! Imagine that!
*SMIRK*
That happened because people gave up their guns rather than massacre the enforcers.
“Socialism is back in vogue”
BS maybe in the rat cities but no it is not “back in vogue”
Some of that tax (a tiny percentage) will be used to pay the unemployed. Or that is, it will be added to what is already used to pay the unemployed. Most of the tax will find itself living high on the hog in Washington DC, or your local state capital, or both.
We don’t have a capitalist system.
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