Hello
this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. Today1 I will be talking about the Democrat candidates. At least I will
discuss the ones still allowed to stand on the debate stage. Since
Bernie Sanders is apparently the frontrunner, my emphasis will be on
him. I devoted a previous Report to Mr. Sanders during his candidacy
in 2016 entitled, “The
Democratic Socialism of Bernie Sanders”. Click the link to
listen to that podcast, if you are so inclined. My own observation is
that since then the Democrat Party has morphed into something
unrecognizable. Is this the Party of working people, the Party of
JFK? No, it is now a Party of wealthy elitists who sneer and look
down their noses at ordinary people.
Bernie Sanders defends socialism and communism
I mentioned before that Mr. Sanders refuses to allow himself to be
labeled a Communist. His decades long defense of Soviet Communism and
of Soviet satellite states, such as Cuba and Venezuela, belies him.
He’s not a Communist, he insists, just a Democratic Socialist. He
defines Democratic Socialism as the fight for justice, decency, and
human dignity. It is the completion of the business of the New Deal
begun by Franklin Roosevelt.
Most of the other candidates refuse to denounce it. They reason:
he is the leader, people must be in favor of it, therefore they must
approve of it. Most young people seem to approve of it as well. And
although fans once booed Santa at a Philadelphia Eagles game, what’s
not to like about Santa Claus?
Not liberal enough? Come again?
There are many weird things about this election, and especially
the Democrat Candidates. But one of the weirdest is that the others
attack Mr. Sanders for not being liberal enough. In the Senate, he
once voted against allowing gun manufacturers to be sued when their
products are used to kill people. He was attacked for that vote but
to his credit he owned it and said it was a bad vote. He should just
stay with his first impression, but I guess he can’t do that.
Freedom against socialism and communism
You are undoubtedly aware that I am an advocate of freedom, of
liberty, of free markets and of capitalism. The values of freedom of
thought, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of
markets are all radically under attack. Those things are why America
became what it once was, and they’re all being washed away. Mr.
Sanders has consistently, his whole life, had different values from
the ones I just mentioned. He and his wife took their honeymoon in
Moscow during the Cold War. They had glowing things to say about an
empire that killed, God only knows, how many of its own people; at
least 70 million. The collective, as defined by and controlled by
the state, not the individual, seems to matter most to Mr. Sanders.
Fulsome praise for communist countries
When he was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, and 30 years old, he
made Burlington a sister city to one of the dilapidated Soviet
cities. He also went to Cuba and still gives glowing reports of
Castro’s achievements. Castro was not all bad, you see, because he
started a good literacy program. No mention of the fact that Bautista
already had a successful literacy program in the 1950’s. Nor that
Castro restricted literacy to the reading of Communist propaganda.
The primary thing he did not mention was that tens of thousands of
those literate Cuban citizens risked their lives trying to float to
Florida, clinging to a log so that they and their families might just
experience one glimpse of a free country. Yes, Bernie, freedom is
such an alluring thing that people are willing to die trying to
achieve it.
Why socialism or communism?
I’ve asked myself why this angry old man would cling to support
for some of the most horrible dictatorships to exist in human history
and I can’t see any logic to his views. Perhaps it is the opposite
of love for them; its actually based on hatred. The enemy of my enemy
is my friend, maybe that’s it. Senators and Congress members from
the left talk about the virtue of collectivizing private property and
dream of wage justice. Meanwhile, people in socialist countries are
rounding up what’s left of their families trying to escape. To
escape to the freedom of capitalism.
Free markets…
In a free market you can buy just about any product you can
afford, if you are willing to pay Market Price. Market Price reflects
the social cost of production. So in order to consume something you
must pay what it costs society to produce it. Wherever you work and
whatever you are paid, the wage you receive will reflect the social
value of your contribution to the economy’s output of goods and
services.
…versus socialism
Under Socialism, government rather that the market sets prices and
wages. More often than not government’s number does not reflect
true market value. As a result the system quickly fouls up. The more
government tries to adjust or fix the problems the worse they get.
Finally the system is like the old Soviet joke. Which is: we are in
the 15th year of the 5-year plan to restore the Soviet
economy. Everywhere Socialism has been tried it has been an absolute
economic disaster. It creates many things, including poverty, high
taxes, shortages, and low growth. The result is often rapidly
increasing welfare rolls and rapidly decreasing tax rolls.
Defining democratic socialism properly
My own definition of Democratic Socialism is simple, but it
applies to all the Democrat candidates, especially Mr. Sanders.
Socialism is theft of one’s property and labor for the benefit of
larger groups of the mob. The Democratic part that Mr. Sanders
emphasizes means that the mob gets to decide for itself whose
property to steal and what shares of the pillage to give each member
of the new socialist mob. That decision would also resolve the
question of whose labor to steal for the benefit of those not
working.
The socialism pitch: the problem…
The Democrat candidates traveled to South Carolina this week and
spent large sums of money to persuade groups of dissatisfied people
to listen. One group of listeners might be those recently out of
college. Let’s say that a person started college but did not
finish. Now she has $50,000 in student loans and no degree. Equally
common would be a recent graduate with a virtually worthless degree
working at a low-paying job. This will leave her unable to pay for
student loans for at least 10 years and possibly for life. She
thinks, “Why me? Why am I singled out for this debt slavery?”
…and a pretend solution
Then she attends a Bernie show and she hears the magic words.
Which are: an unfair system is taking advantage of you. Your parents
are affluent, and they worked hard but you have those student loans
while others are rich. It’s not fair and I will do something about
it if you will just vote for me to have power. Just let me have the
power and your dreams will become a reality.
It’s a no-lose situation because you realize all your dreams.
You will have that marvelous education for free, or at least at
someone else’s expense. In return, I will have what I have lusted
for and dreamed of my entire life: power. I want the power to destroy
the system that made me a millionaire without ever working outside
government. It’s those billionaires like Mike Bloomberg here that
are evil, not simple millionaires like me.
Socialism for the parents, too! (Though maybe not
all parents…!)
Then Bernie speaks to a group of parents who are worried because
they haven’t saved for their children’s education. But he says
don’t worry about it. You only must give me power and I will make
it all free, by magic. Are you worried about healthcare? Well, don’t
because once I have power, yes, you guessed it, all free. You may be
dissatisfied with what you make. But once I have power you will get a
living wage, if you choose to work. You may choose not to work, in
which case more productive people will support you. How much will it
cost, you ask? Don’t you worry about that, just trust me, I’ve
got it all worked out.
That is the magic of Socialism, especially the Democratic kind,
because then we all get to vote for the pillage. The young
“Millennials” seem to be buying into the concept that they can
have whatever they want. That is, if they empower someone to use the
force of arms to take it from its rightful owners.
The destruction of the value of hard work: from
farm to city
They are now at least three generations from the farm where
traditional American values, such as those I mentioned earlier,
formed. At the turn of the 20th Century, 85-90% of
Americans lived on farms. There they had to work hard from daylight
to dark. They were often on the edge of survival in hard times. Even
city dwellers depended on them, so they had it rough too.
Farming is all collectivized in Bernie fashion now.2 And the values that the farm life produced, the Greatest Generation
kind of values, are all washed away.
People don’t know what life under socialism is
like…
Now the younger generation looks favorably on the failed system
called Socialism. I’m not convinced that 54% of young people want
to live in a Socialist country, or that they even know what that is.
They do know that no matter how hard they work and sacrifice they see
little hope for change in their economic situation. The ones who live
in the great millennial cities of the West and East Coasts cannot,
and probably will never be able to, afford a home to live in and call
their own. They see no one in authority trying to help them. So when
someone comes along with easy answers, they are all in.
…but they want revenge
It’s a chance to finally stick it to those of us in the Baby
Boomer generation. After all most of us will receive more in Social
Security than we paid in. Why? Because we are living longer and
longer. The Millennials know that Social Security may not even exist
for them. In other words, they probably don’t even know that
socialism is government control of the means of production.
Therefore, it is armed theft of private property. They just want the
production and its fruits redistributed in what they consider more
equitable fashion.
Socialism
looks better than it is
My generation understood that Socialism could send a nuclear
missile into your city any second of the day. So its quite clear to
us. Today we no longer have that fear so the collectivizing, i.e.,
theft of private property and redistributing of it, seems pretty
attractive if you have no property and pretty scary if you do.
Socialism, then, is presented to the younger generation as a fair and
socially just solution to the problem. Perhaps they have never seen
what Socialism has done around the world. Look at Eastern Europe,
Asia, and South and Central America. But socialism seems to present a
solution to all the bad things that have happened in the past.
Faulty education
A great many Millennials have grown up and been educated in the
Orwellian memory hole that is modern American education. This has
erased the past or rewritten it to fit the politically correct
present view of the world. That is very unfortunate because the last
century that has been erased by education is a perfect laboratory in
which to study socialism and what it does to people when it is forced
on them. Socialism is represented as a fair and equitable, and above
all, just, society. But that is an imaginary dream. The reality in
every country that has practiced socialism is a dismal and dirty
world. In it, without private enterprise, profit motive, or private
property, the government is the only employer in town. And the
government changes quite often until it decides not to change
anymore.
A nation in division
The result of all this is a nation more divided than anytime since
the Civil War. An electorate quickly leaning further and further to
the left. Demographic changes are taking us in that direction. Since
that is to the benefit of Democrat politicians, they engineer the
demographic changes in their favor. The changes that may not come
this cycle, are nevertheless inevitable. Inevitable, that is, without
is a complete change of direction. Considering our educational system
completely controlled by Marxist teachers and professors, that
doesn’t seem possible. All the wonderful ideas of today are being
put into practice and forced on the rest of us who endeavor to remain
normal.
Most unpleasant peddlers of socialism on stage
The Democrat candidates, all six of those allowed on stage, seem
to be most unpleasant people with very unpleasant personalities. They
shriek and wave their arms to be heard, and they destroy each other
by their finger-wagging attacks. I’m grateful they remind us of
each other’s weak points, but they won’t completely remind us.
They stay away from Elizabeth Warren’s fake Indian past, as well as
her self-serving lying. They don’t say much about Bernie Sanders’
rape fantasy article, the lurid details of which I will not mention.
Yes, his article is out there on the internet in case it is needed.3 It is available because he has about as many enemies in his own Party
as he has in the other.
Conclusion
Finally, folks, the six people up on that debate stage are not
profit seekers, at least not anymore. They are power seekers and will
do or say whatever it takes to induce voters to give them more power.
They will waste as much taxpayer money, and that is your labor, as it
takes for them to become more popular so they can have more power. In
short, they are disgusting, reprehensible people. We should be
relegate them to the bottom rung of our society, not elect them to
lead it.
At least that’s the way I see it.
Until next time folks,
This is Darrell Castle.
Editor’s Notes:
1 Mr. Castle wrote this and delivered it on the radio on Friday 28
February. Since then, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-South Bend,
Ind.) dropped out of the race. He might or might not have intended
his exit to boost the candidacy of former Vice President Joe Biden
(D). If so, this harms the candidacy of Senator Bernard Sanders
(I-Vt.). It might also harm the validity of the assessment of his
chances and support. But it does not change the assessment of his
position on socialism or communism.
2 This refers to the mega-farms by Archer Daniels Midland and other
large corporate operations. The USA does not have government
collective farms. Yet. But today few city dwellers know anyone whose
farm is home and workplace both.
3 Pajamas Media has the image of the article as it originally appeared in 1972 in one of several Communist “rags.” Warning: that article explores themes of a sexual and exploitative nature. Parental judgment and discretion are advised.
About the image
“Conservative rally protesting against socialism” by Fibonacci Blue is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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