Original art by Mark Valentine
Don’t call Bernie Sanders a socialist…
The Democratic presidential candidate is a Democratic Socialist. When you try to look that up, you will find that it pretty much only ends up on sites about Bernie Sanders. At first, it seems to be a made up term like “compassionate conservative.”
Go to the official website DSAUSA.org and see the picture they paint of themselves.
“The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is the largest socialist organization in the United States, and the principal U.S. affiliate of The Socialist International.”
So unlike “compassionate conservatives,” these socialists are affiliated with a foreign organization. That organization was formed in Germany in 1951 and it has put 54 political parties in power in other countries.
Has the U.S. ever had a domestic political party affiliated with an external party?
There has been several other political parties besides Republicans and Democrats but none have called a foreign political organization their affiliate.
This might be a good time to question the source of Sanders fundraising.
Millions of small donations are very hard to track. An internet search will turn up several blog posts that come from Europeans who have donated to Sanders. That would be illegal, so I am sure Bernie has returned all of that money. After all, he’s only spending about $5 million a week on ads.
Socialists don’t seem to be great at math, so it should be noted that that’s sarcasm. Sanders is spending a lot more than Clinton.
A Republican from Texas said Hitler was a Democratic Socialist as well.
That’s not true.
Hitler named his party “National Socialist” which was also made up in part by, but not affiliated with the international group that formed in 1951. The German connection is probably a coincidence.
What do these Socialists say about themselves on the official website?
“Democratic Socialists believe that both the economy and society should be run democratically to meet human needs, not to make profits for a few.” So profits are either a bad thing or they are in the wrong hands. It’s not clear. No doubt, that vagueness is crucial to gathering followers.
How did these Socialists recruit so many Americans and convince them that our national problem is companies that make profits?
Here’s what they say:
“We are a political and activist organization, not a party; through campus and community-based chapters.”
They openly target our kids.
“DSA has a youth section, Young Democratic Socialists (YDS), made up of students from colleges and high schools.”
So what’s their goal?
“As we are unlikely to see an immediate end to capitalism tomorrow, DSA fights for reforms today that will weaken the power of corporations.”
That they can’t “end capitalism tomorrow” suggests they intend to end it someday.
They specifically want to weaken corporations.
But without those corporations, where would we work? What would we do? Imagine America without those jobs. Imagine any city without them.
What would Kansas City be like without the Ford, GM or Harley plants? What would Kansas City be like without the companies that have been based here like Sprint, Garmin, Hallmark, H&R Block, Marion Merrell Dow, Black & Vetch, Cerner, Boulevard Brewing, J.E. Dunn, KC Southern, DST?
The city depends on them to make a profit. They need to pay their workers who buy houses, shop in stores and fund school districts. That is what a city calls a tax base. Would any city be better off if the companies made less profit?
Time to rethink capitalism, kids.
If the goal is to grab political power by misleading kids, we had better get our kids to think it through.
Those kids spend most of their time on iPhones and iPads. Would that big part of their life be possible without Capitalism? Apple is worth $500 billion. Would those kids rather not have an iPhone because it is not fair? Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.
Most of the growing Socialist movement is powered by Social Media. FaceBook is now worth more than Walmart or General Electric. Can those young Socialists imagine a world without this product? Would they even know about Bernie without Social Media? Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.
The music industry is worth about $150 billion a year. Do the young Socialists really want that to be less flashy with smaller networks? I have never heard the chant, “What do we want? Less Production. When do we want it? Now.” Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.
Is this Democratic Socialism just based on self-interest?
It seems the driving force for these young Socialists is a promise of Free College and a forgiveness of Student Debt. No one can say how “free college” would look or work. Maybe it would look like The Detroit School System. Who will teach? Where will the free students go to class? Who will keep them safe? A more interesting thought is that this would take time, so would the current young Socialists still support it if they knew it would not include them? In 10 short years, those kids will be working with families and may be on the verge of actually having a career. Will they still want those high taxes when they are “The Rich?”
Time to rethink Capitalism, kids.
You seem to be under some gypsy spell that makes you think Sanders will actually win the Donkey ticket. No matter how horrible the Hildebeast is, she will win the Donkey ticket. And the harlinator will bet his disability check and probably attempt to fight you if you disagree.
Off topic, but I don’t know if another way to ask this. What happened to mostly KC and Lawrence topics?
Seriously. But where else are you going to find low information opinion blogs on the national election?
Oh yeah…every last corner of the internet. That’s where.
“What would Kansas City be like without the Ford, GM or Harley plants? What would Kansas City be like without the companies that have been based here like Sprint, Garmin, Hallmark, H&R Block, Marion Merrell Dow, Black & Vetch, Cerner, Boulevard Brewing, J.E. Dunn, KC Southern, DST?
The city depends on them to make a profit. They need to pay their workers who buy houses, shop in stores and fund school districts. That is what a city calls a tax base. Would any city be better off if the companies made less profit?”
Steph we still do that, Chiefs, Royals, Hearne did a restaurant review on a new place near KU and more. We are covering the presidential election cause its of great interest…simple as that. I have always done some national news stories.
As for Bernie, Clinton already has over 600 delegates to his less than 80, its really over now…She wins. It looks like Trump vs. Clinton.
Sorry. I thought I had included local references as well as some original thought that no national pundit has mentioned. Did you know Democratic Socialists had an official site? Did you know they were affiliated with a foreign political group? Had you heard that Europeans were contributing to Bernie’s campaign? I am a channel-surfing news junkie and it has not been in any narrative on MSNBC, FOX, CBS or CNN.
I probably won’t switch to movie reviews, but I guess I could try to write something new about the street cars.
If nothing else enjoy the non-clip-art. 🙂
Pleasing the masses is a uphill battle. Great read.
Ditto, +1, and all that.
Don’t let the bastards get you down.
In the end …. democratic socialist = socialist
For local content, Bernie will be in town later today, at the Auditorium for those who either do not have a job or those captains of industy who can exploit the workers to work for them. Now, with the discussion of the difference between a Socialist and a Social Democrat, the difference is somewhat small, kind of like the difference between a potential felon and an idiot in politics. The results are somewhat the same, as there is always a felon to tell an idiot what to do. For the uneducated, Socialism is the public ownershìp of the means of production. Social Democracy is the regulation and taxation of the means of production, making public ownership unnecessary. In the meantime, since 15% of the Democrat Primary vote is predetermined by super delegates, perhaps Bernie can continue to entertain us.
As for Hillary: Today she admitted she is not confident of winning the Presidency. She called on Obama not to name a Republican, Sandoval, to the Court. Rather than calling on him to wait until she is President and can name her own choice, she is reluctant to tell Obama to wait. Speaks volumes.