Summary

Socialism does indeed work--for a while. “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister.

Links and References

Karl Marx Was Right

Give a Man A Fish

Democratic Socialists of America NYC

Contact

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Transcript

Socialism works...for a while. When a society chooses to adopt socialism, many things are now free that were not free before. Well, not free, because they still cost a ton of money, but are free to the recipients. It will take awhile before the added taxation, mounting debt--or both--that are required to pay for all of the now free stuff begins to be initially burdensome, and if unchecked, fatal. Whole countries have gone broke. And more are doing so today

Put simply, “The trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.” Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister.

Not long ago, the US was engaged in fighting the Cold War, a war against both Soviet Russia’s geographic expansion and its desire to instill its political and economic way of life on conquered nations. Communist thinking, an imposed way of life, really, is the philosophical, social, political and economic ideology, whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society. com This is a socioeconomic order structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes. BTW, if you don’t think Communism needs to be imposed, think back to the Berlin Wall. And this wall needed to be built to keep people in--not out.

This was a necessary fight. Imagine, if you will, that the USSR, Soviet Russia, had not collapsed, but instead had spread its failed economic and political philosophy to even more countries instead of fewer. Example of the destructive power of communism: As a result of the communist philosophy, that way of thinking, the reunification of West and East Germany, basically the rescue of East Germany, was time consuming, costly and painful. It took decades and $1T (trillion) to rescue East Germany from the miserable lifestyle they had: few freedoms, few and poor consumer products, near-empty grocery store shelves and cars so bad they are a running (pun intended) joke even today. While West Germany was producing VWs, Porsches, Audis and Mercedes Benz, East Germany was making the Trabant, a completely sub-standard car most often called, a “Spark plug with a roof.” And you had to wait to get one, even if you could afford it.

This historical reminder is important because there are many similarities between Democratic Socialism and communism. We’ll get to those similarities in a moment.

Recently, and much in the news, Rep. Joe Crowley of New York City, one of the top Democrats in the House of Representatives, lost his primary in a shocking upset on June 26th, 2018 to community organizer and avowed Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. When asked why she is a socialist, she replied, “I am a socialist because no one should be too poor to live in this country.” A statement, by the way, that many if not most people, capitalist or socialist, would find entirely acceptable. But her philosophy is far more complete than just that. Ms. Ocasio Cortez has claimed association with the New York City Democratic Socialists of America. Many Democratic leaders and party members have hailed the 28-year-old as a window into the future of the Democratic party.

Here are a few quotes from the New York City Democratic Soc...