|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Bernie Sanders has released a book entitled, “It’s Okay to Be Angry About Capitalism.” Tickets to attend his events are going for $100.
I don’t think there’s ever been a more hilarious example of liberal hypocrisy – and that’s a hell of a bar to top given our climate czar files in a private jet and our Jamaican/ Indian VP is African-American.
How do liberals who can afford to buy a $100 ticket and a book from a guy who owns three houses say, “That title makes sense. Bernie is the role model we should follow. I’m angry about capitalism.”
Let’s think of just a fraction of the capitalistic steps that had to be undertaken to get this insightful opus to the public. Someone had to exchange their time for an agreed upon amount of money to: Grow the trees; cut the trees; ship the trees, process the trees; pulp/ prep the trees; dilute the paper fibers; set the section; press the section; dry the paper; QC the paper; roll the paper; load the paper rolls; ship the paper to the printer.
This is, of course, just for the paper. How did Bernie avoid the other capitalistic steps? Did he write his masterpiece on tree bark using a wooden stick and his own blood? Did he walk naked and barefoot to meetings with his publisher? Did he go into an office building when got there? Did he ever talk to them on a phone? Email them? Use a bank to deposit his advance? Is he on public land, exchanging the books for food? When he wasn’t engaging in any of activities, did he sleep under the stars? Was he feeding himself and his wife by hunting game with a bow he carved and strung?
I assume the answer is yes to all these questions — otherwise, Bernie would be up to his neck in capitalistic sewage. I mean, it’s possible his contract was chiseled into free-range granite by a stonemason-supporter, but likely not.
Look, capitalism is a heavy-handed system. I know, because writers make very little money compared to individuals viewed by the public as more valuable. I am a victim because everyone in America thinks my time is worth less than I do.
***
I think my time is worth a bazillion dollars a year. I am a human with thoughts, feelings, dreams, aspirations, and long-term goals, and I should be compensated equally to some yo-yo who slept through college, med school, internships, and opened his own cardio-thoracic surgery practice.
Okay, maybe that’s a bit much, but I should certainly make as much as Bernie — he didn’t even write his own book.
I think the reason Bernie thinks his “democratic socialism” is the answer to life, the universe, and everything is because he’s never lived under any aspect of socialism in his life.
Know who has? American Indians. Ever been to a reservation? Bothered to read about their crippling alcoholism and drug addiction? Their grinding poverty and hopelessness? Why is this? After all, they live in a damn-near perfectly socialist society — all their “needs” are taken care of, assuming all they “need” is food, water, and a hovel. Maybe Bernie and his supporters think it’s because they are a “weaker” race, and just can’t understand the paradise of the government ruling their lives.
Can’t afford booze to numb themselves to their hellish lives? Let them huff paint.
Ever been to the VA? That’s socialized medicine, and it works great … no lines, bureaucracy, waiting, and access to the best of the best of everything. Sure, those pesky death panels from a few years ago weren’t exactly great — but that wasn’t a crime. If it was, surely dozens of bureaucrats would’ve gone to jail.
What about the tens of millions of Americans on government assistance? That’s very much a socialist system — does Bernie think they are happy and satisfied with their lives? Of course not — they’re trapped in a never-ending cycle of poverty brought on by being paid by the government just enough in benefits to survive, with bonuses paid for every child they bear out of wedlock … which leads to deeper poverty and the next generation trapped in the system as well.
(Click to View)
That is socialism — a system that sucks you in with promises of free stuff, and once you get there (and find shared poverty with all your fellow citizens isn’t all that terrific) the system won’t let you out. It’s designed to make you more dependent with every passing day.
The thing that makes the discussion of socialism exasperating for conservatives is we understand human nature. Man is not inherently good. Man is inherently selfish and vicious. Want proof? Ask yourself, “If I could be invisible for a month, what would I do?” I can tell you what you aren’t thinking: “Oh, how can I use that month for the betterment of mankind?” No, you were thinking about access to things to make your life better.
If America could magically become a “democratic socialist” country without a blood-letting revolution, and we all became middle class, medicine was free, education was world-class, and all conservatives died from a new virus that killed only people with critical thinking … does anyone really think life will change in any way for the nation’s elites and powerful? Let’s look at a few of those scenarios:
Bernie Sanders would sell his three houses, move next door to you, and work as clerk in a government-run bookstore that sells only books ghost-written for him, Hillary, and Barack.
Michelle and Barack would pay off their 12-million dollar home on lily-white Martha’s Vineyard, and allow it to be used as a vacation spot for comrades feeling sad because their government-assigned job isn’t fulfilling. They would then return to Chicago to broker peace among the gangs.
Nancy Pelosi would downgrade to boxed wine, and open a humble ice cream stand at Fisherman’s Wharf, then become homeless because she kindly gave away all her ice cream for free. At least her husband would be by her side, happily getting hammered every night.
Elizabeth Warren would want to make amends for her life of lies, so she’d resign from congress, put on some buckskins, adopt the name Dances With Donors, and live quietly on a Navaho reservation.
(Click to View)
Hillary would empty the coffers of the Clinton “Foundation” into the coffers of Black Lives Matter, move to Section 8 housing in Ferguson, Missouri, and serve as a social worker. Bill would be out of the picture, as he’d die of happiness when Hillary announced her plans to leave.
Our elite politicians, the uber-rich, the famous, and high-level bureaucrats are bored, because all they have is almost everything. Fame, riches, access to every elite circle, hot young girls and handsome younger men … these things can reach a point where you have enough. But for those drunk on power? There can never be enough. Never.
Who are the most powerful mortals to ever live in modern times? Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Ho Chi Mien, Hitler — what did they do with their power? What about the CEOs and board members of Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Oil, and the Military-Industrial Complex — do they ever flex their muscles to show you who’s in charge? How about down on the bottom rung where we find politicians — do they ever abuse their power?
For those who’ve sipped from the cup of power and liked it, the lust for more power is a bottomless pit. Power is more important to the power-hungry than sex, booze, drugs, yachts, jets, or land. This desire is something very few of us understand, as we mostly just want to be left alone. Leaving us alone is the exact opposite of what the powerful want, and they have the monopoly on legal violence, IRS prosecution, and business regulations. Hell, they have control over what we eat, what drugs we may and may not take, the education of our youth, energy policy, the federal legal system and law enforcement, and how much money they want to print. And if you violate a law and refuse to submit completely to the government’s demands — from a parking ticket to murder — the issue is (in the end) always settled with a man pointing a gun at you.
Democratic socialism? People, we’re already socialist — and we want more?
Joseph Stalin once said, “The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of a million is a statistic.”
I like that quote because it re-re-re-confirms something I’ve said for several decades: Those who seek power are the ones most unfit to wield it.
***
ABOUT THE AUTHOR …
Prioleau Alexander is a freelance writer, focusing mostly on politics and non-fiction humor. He is the author of two books: ‘You Want Fries With That?’ and ‘Dispatches Along the Way.’ Both are available on Amazon. He hopes to have another title published soon, but that would require his agent actually doing his job, so it may be awhile.
***
WANNA SOUND OFF?
Got something you’d like to say in response to one of our articles? Or an issue you’d like to proactively address? We have an open microphone policy here at FITSNews! Submit your letter to the editor (or guest column) via email HERE. Got a tip for a story? CLICK HERE. Got a technical question or a glitch to report? CLICK HERE.
Banner: Gage Skidmore
13 comments
You are an idiot. I won’t be wasting any more time reading your drivel. And fitsnews will just fade away too.
Conservatives can be funny, just ask them to explain socialism. Just replace the FITS graphic at the top with The Onion and it reads as intentional satire. Right wingers found out how to be funny: don’t write jokes, just embrace being the joke.
So, you know that the definition of capitalism is not ‘charging money for something’…but that’s the point. Americans are told to project everything wrong with our system onto ‘socialism’ and everything good about our system, like the 8 hour work day, Social Security, Medicare, we’re supposed to accept that those things came about as a result of the natural progress that comes with capitalism. But you know the reason we have those things in a capitalist system is not thanks to the magnanimous CEOs, but rather because of tireless socialists pushing our gov’t to put society first, and not capital, which is really all the question of socialism vs capitalism boils down to. They try to make it more complicated, but it’s really just do you center people first, or capital? We all know there are infinite examples of leaders calling themselves this and that–christian, religious, moral, democratic — it doesn’t mean anything. But if you take away the connotations and just say what we’re talking about, it’s literally just saying that 1) the people who do the work, should 2) also manage the distribution of wealth therefrom. The people work the land, should reap what they sow, the people who work the factories should determine the profits from what they sell, who run the business should profit from it. If Hitler said he wanted to do that, it wouldn’t make it wrong, but he didn’t, he just added the word socialist to the NDP because there was literally no way to win an election without being a socialist or communist.
The discourse on socialism versus capitalism is intentionally broken in America to protect the institutions of power that capitalists enjoy. Telling a worker that under socialism they actually get to keep a sizable portion the surplus of value they create, rather than watch it go to some rich douche on his yacht in the Bahamas, is not good for the rich douche on his yacht in the Bahamas.
The elitist who wrote this tripe will paint Sanders as an elitist for being decently wealthy and owning multiple homes but will gush at Elon Musk becoming the “savior of free speech” by buying Twitter and ultimately changing the website to make sure everyone sees his brain fart tweets first.
“Sure, those pesky death panels from a few years ago weren’t exactly great — but that wasn’t a crime.”
WTF are you even talking about here? Are you on drugs? And can you share?
“That is socialism — a system that sucks you in with promises of free stuff, and once you get there (and find shared poverty with all your fellow citizens isn’t all that terrific) the system won’t let you out.”
How horrible if each citizen of this country got free health care and “the system” won’t let you out unless you want to pay for private. The horrors!
https://apnews.com/article/8b9b161e0fb74b3b989d7984e140098e
https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/02/politics/va-inspector-general-report/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2014/04/23/health/veterans-dying-health-care-delays/index.html
Person who thinks society could be improved also participates in said society. What a story!
Does FitsNews give a space for this dense blabbermouth’s blog posts because it’s makes Will Folks takes sound less stupid?
Fits News gives space to viewpoints that obviously makes many of the above commentators uneasy, just so that we can have a discussion of ideas, rather than simply tuning into the MSM to have our personal views reinforced. Sorry it makes so many of you uncomfortable, but I come here to hear alternative view points on current topics, and Mr. Alexanders are often quite thought provoking if not downright hilarious. Here again is a big difference between capitalism and democratic socialism: you have the choice to not visit FitsNews and your delicate viewpoints will remain protected. If you don’t like it go somewhere else, but I give you credit for at least reading it. In a socialist world there is only the party line and nothing else is allowed. You have no choice. In the end history has shown us that socialism only succeeds in equalizing misery for everyone, but the dear rulers. They reap the rewards of the production of the masses rather than the capitalist robber barons. That is probably why Bernie is such a strong supporter of socialism: he know what side of the fence he will end up on.
We don’t even know how a truly socialist society would work. Before anyone can get anything organized, sanctions are put against them, and coups are funded by private entities, and all sorts of things to protect the bottom line interests of deep pocketed private wealth. Democratic socialism still works under a capitalist framework. It still involves free trade, and a top down structure, but with higher taxes on those individuals and corporations, and the same taxes we currently pay in order to fund safety nets for everyone that actually work and benefit the entire population. We give too much credo to private contractors, and the military industrial complex, the prison industrial complex, and a myriad of other things that keeps the institutions that are in place never changing. Things will only continue to get worse until we can educate people, and fix the mess we’re in. Neither the GOP nor the Dems want to do this. The Dems will kowtow and submit to the GOP’s worst in order to maintain compromise, and the old adage of trickle down and deregulation of everything continues barreling forward. They are the parties of private capital, and protecting private capital full stop. Much like the train derailment in Ohio, this can be blamed on the systems that allowed it to happen, not a single political entity. Imagine asking the state of South Carolina to actually act and to help the people of South Carolina instead of kowtowing to identity politics, and culture war nonsense? We are not the brightest down here, but we deserve to be very well taken care of and have the chance to become better. I know the state doesn’t like black people hence why we have such a high child poverty rate, and low median income, but the state will eventually have to face its sins and work better, or become worse off. You want to talk about Bernie and socialism, and the side of the fence he’ll end up on? It’s the side of the fence we’d all end up on. It’s the side of capitalism, but with the perks and safety nets that maintains people’s ability to consume, and provides us a way to progress societally while being able to maintain individual beliefs and not being forced to conform so easily. We are not the nation we were after WWII, and we won’t ever be at that point again unless we take care of all the people the same way, and we take care of EVERYONE.
Socialist Democracy is all of us pitching in for the betterment of society.
Which means regulations which keep corporations from polluting air water and soil.
It is libraries, public education, judges, parks, highways, bridges, etc.
It is not poverty. It is how most advanced nations govern.
The opposite of Democratic socialism is oligarchy.
The author of this article is crucially misinformed.
No not all of us are greed driven, some of us are social workers, teachers, scientist who ensure water is safe …we are proud of what we do to keep our communities health & safe.