August 22, 2018
By: Linda Case Gibbons, Esq.
Socialism, Socialism. It's the Democrat Calendar Word of the Day.
So what is Socialism?
The late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher summed it up as succinctly as succinct could be.
"The problem with Socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."
That's true. But the real problem is when you run out of toilet paper.
Like in Venezuela. Everybody's talking about it.
Except the Democrats.
Venezuela is the Poster Country for Socialism, and Socialism is the "New Face of the Democrat Party." But, curiously, no Democrats ever mention Venezuela.
Not Bernie.
Not New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, nor New York Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio Cortez.
And nope. Hillary doesn't either.
In fact, she cluelessly told the audience at the Shared Value Leadership Summit this May that part of the reason she lost the 2016 presidential race was because she was "a Capitalist."
Who knew?
In all actuality they're smart not to open the Venezuelan-Can-of-Worms.
Why would they talk about Venezuela? The Socialist country is running out of everything, from food and water, to medicine. And anything that's left over is too expensive to buy with their pitiful wages. Heck, they're even eating zoo animals.
Eggs cost 1,500 bolivars ($150), toilet paper more than two million bolivars. And this week the International Monetary Fund projected that by year-end, Venezuela's inflation rate could top one million percent.
No. That's not a typo.
According to a CNN report, Carmen Mendoza came from Venezuela to visit her daughter in New York, and wept when she saw the abundance on the stocked shelves in a Whole Foods store. When she left, she bought soap, toilet paper, toothpaste and aspirin to take with her, because she wasn't able to get these essentials at home.
In fact, half a million Venezuelans visited the U.S. last year for just that reason. And they say friends and family, who can afford to, come here to buy the basics. Just like the people from foreign countries who come here when they need specialized, good, and timely health care.
So it makes sense why Socialist/Democrats are mum on the subject of Venezuelan-type Socialism.
Facts would spoil everything.
Nonetheless, last week Cynthia Nixon addressed a gathering of liberal activists at Netroots Nation, and summed up what appears to be the New Democrat Platform: Socialism All the Way.
"We tried it their way and we lost to a racist extremist," she said. "Republicans are going to call us Socialists no matter what we do, so we might as well give them the real thing."
The "real thing," unfortunately, Cynthia, is Venezuela, where a bag of ordinary groceries cost more than a month's income. And according to the research center at the University of Venezuela, fewer than 10 percent of operating rooms, intensive care units and emergency rooms are fully operational, and 76 percent of hospitals have a scarcity of medicines, surgical supplies, and water.
It's miserable.
As Winston Churchill once said, "The inherent vice of Capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
It's possible these Socialist/Democrats are just rebellious, like teenagers who don't bother cracking a book, or Googling "Karl Marx" to discover what it is they are espousing.
Or opposing.
Basically, Socialism is a political and economic system where the means of production are owned by the "Community," with the Government distributing the wealth. Equitably.
Liberals sometimes like to call it "Social Justice." It sounds better.
In this case, the "Government" would be people like Nixon, who recently had trouble spelling "Ithaca," misspelling the name of the upstate New York city four times in an e-mail to supporters.
This mistake could suggest that the former Sex and the City actress might not know much about geography outside of Manhattan;
Or that she doesn't pay attention to those little details that matter Oh So Much;
Which leads you to wonder what else she doesn't know that she should know. And to think: If elected, she and other Socialist/Democrats like her, will be in charge.
Of the Equal Re-Distribution of Goods.
Hold the line, America.
Where We Go One, We Go All