Den of Thieves

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 15^th 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 20^th 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