I love socialists. Why? Because they ask the fundamental questions.
I hate socialists, too. Why? Because they give the wrong answers.
Socialist congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently asked, “Are we going to be a slave state or are we going to be a free state?”
She meant to imply that socialism is freedom — and capitalism is slavery.
Most people operate in the center. They eschew ideological arguments in favor of splitting the difference.
That’s why we have partial captialism and partial socialism in America. The controls, the regulations, the subsidies, the high taxes, Medicare, Social Security, federal education? Those are socialism. The smart phones, the computers, the choices in entertainment, clothing, cars, groceries, restaurants, music and sports on a scale no other society has ever seen? Those are capitalism.
If you love Medicare, Obamacare, public schools and high taxes — and you want ALL of society to be like these things, as they already are in North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela — then socialism is your choice.
If you prefer the comforts only capitalism and economic liberty can provide, then you ought to consider consistent capitalism instead of the hybrid version we now experience.
Ocasio-Cortez is asking the right question. She’s giving the wrong answer, though.
Capitalism means the freedom to choose. No billionaire under capitalism gets that way by coercing money from others. Every customer pays their money voluntarily. Politicians, on the other hand, get everything through force, pull and usually lots of lying.
If you like force, pull, fraud and lying, then socialism is your choice. Join Ocasio-Cortez in her battle to deliver us all into slavery — and then try to call it freedom.
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