Posted on 10/10/2018 12:36:56 PM PDT by Kaslin
Socialism is hot.
Famous actors recently made a commercial proclaiming that "democratic socialism" creates some of the best parts of America. It's "your kids' public school" (says Susan Sarandon), the "interstate highway system" (Rosario Dawson), "public libraries" (Jay Ferguson), "EMTs" (Ethan Embry), "workers who plow our streets" (Max Carver) and "scientists" (Danny DeVito).
Wow. I guess every popular thing government does is socialism.
The celebrities conclude: "We can do better when we do them together."
There is sometimes truth to that, but the movie stars don't know that America's first highways were built by capitalist contractors. They also probably didn't notice that the more popular parts of government -- public schools, EMTs, snow plowing, libraries, etc. -- are largely locally funded.
"They should wake up," says Gloria Alvarez. She is from Guatemala and says, "I've seen the impact of socialism. My father escaped Cuba. My grandfather suffered under Communists in Hungary before escaping."
This week I turn my video channel over to Alvarez so she can give her perspective on democratic socialism's new popularity.
"As a child, I was taught to mock socialism," she says, "but democratic socialism sounded OK. It made sense that government should take care of the economy. Then I watched democratic socialism fail in Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Chile, Nicaragua and Uruguay. I learned that every time a country started down the socialist path, it fails."
But every time a country tries it, even just a little of it, people applaud.
When Castro came to power, people cheered because he was going to help the poor and make everyone equal.
But governments can't plan things efficiently without the prices and constant individual decision-making that free markets provide.
The result in Cuba was economic stagnation and horrible loss of freedom.
Cuban refugees who now live in Miami's "Little Havana" neighborhood warn Americans about socialist promises.
Michel Ibarra told Alvarez, "You don't see any future. Everything is stagnated. Health care, education -- nowadays they're in ruins."
Venezuela didn't learn from Cuba's problems. They voted in Hugo Chavez when he said that "capitalism is the realm of injustice" and promised wealth would be distributed equally.
But when there was no more money left to take from rich people, he did what many governments (including our own) do: He printed more.
That's caused inflation approaching 1 million percent.
When business owners raised prices to try to keep up, Chavez and his successor just seized many of them.
Again, Venezuelans applauded. Taking from the rich is popular. Ramon Muchacho, a former mayor in Caracas, told Alvarez that when Chavez seized businesses, people were "clapping so hard. They were like, 'Oh, finally there is somebody here making social justice!'"
But government grabbing private businesses creates shortages. Governments aren't good at running supermarkets. One Venezuelan refugee told Alvarez, "It's like the apocalypse. No food. No medicine."
But in the U.S., socialism still holds appeal.
"Plenty of (socialist) countries are nothing like Venezuela," says comedian John Oliver.
"When I talk about democratic socialism, I am not looking at Venezuela," says Sen. Bernie Sanders, "not looking at Cuba. I'm looking at countries like Denmark, like Sweden."
So many American politicians now cite Denmark as a socialist paradise that Denmark's prime minister felt compelled to go on TV to say, "Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy."
Exactly. Socialism, democratic or tyrannical, means government owns or controls businesses.
In Scandinavia, business is largely left alone. Governments don't even set a minimum wage. Economic freedom rankings give Scandinavian countries high scores on property rights and business freedom.
Those countries do have big welfare programs, but they are funded by thriving free enterprise.
In addition, many cut back on their welfare programs after they discovered they were unsustainable or discouraged work.
Think about that the next time you hear celebrities saying "Sweden" and praising socialism.
As one Venezuelan refugee told Alvarez, "You don't need the government to dictate how to live your life, how much money you should make, how your family should be treated."
Increased government control rarely helps people. It wrecks economies. It wrecks lives.
Watch out for this guy. He is against tax breaks and subsidies for llama and alpaca farms.
Public schools suck.
Your commute on freeways sucks.
Public Libraries are antiquated day housing for bums.
EMTs might be okay.
Snow plowing is never timely.
“Scientists” are leftist political hacks with white coats.
What part am I supposed to love again?
When in doubt, simply re-define socialism to trick people.
My town has volunteer EMTs and Fire-Department. It is local people helping their neighbors. Is that socialism? Or is it Libertarianism?
If it works, the Left will call it socialism.
WRONG about public libraries-——they are well used and very busy.
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What great works of art and inventions happened under Socialism? Iphones, computers, internet.....all capitalist.
There were some artists who did good things in the 1920s before the Communists cracked down on what they didn’t understand.
Nowadays, nothing creative emerges from socialist regimes.
Bump!
Socialism is a front for thievery.
The NAZIS were National Socialists. Why don’t Americans realize that FACT! Our parents and grandparents did.
I kind of wonder about public libraries, now that so much printed material is online. It seems my local library is mainly used as a free video rental store.
Well yeah,maybe some in large,liberal cities have problems but most public libraries are busy,active places.
The homeless also hang out in bus stations,train stations,malls,and hospital emergency rooms-—it’s a fact of life these days.
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Ours is always busy——people DO read books and don’t want to purchase them,also many CDs available for music lovers that they download,story time for kids,movie nights for adults,various lectures,and of course computer use,printers,copiers,and fax machines.
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The Clintons started saying that socialism hasn’t worked because they right people hadn’t been in charge yet. Obama double downed on that theme. The dims believe that they can run a socialist country the “right” way.
Notice that the celebrities who praise socialism have already “got theirs”. Socialism will prevent most others from joining them in the ranks of the elite, protecting their status.
Ok. Let’s start by democratically socializing the entertainment industry. All movie stars, no matter how big the role, or how many accolades they have, or big credits to their name, shall now be paid SAG scale for every role. No more private trailers either, they can all just use one communal dressing area, and eat at the craft service table with the extras.
These famous actors and actresses apparently have not taken a look at the film industry in communist and socialist countries. There is not much to see.
In their sheer stupidity they are advocating a "progressive" ideology that will assure their own demise. No one will notice or care.
Socialism is communism served by the glass.
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