Friends, you won't want to miss this article, which celebrates Senator Rand Paul's recent tete-a-tete with a certain nameless ABC "journalist" regarding election fraud. Paul has long been a key voice in defense of liberty. You may have noticed that he's been rewarded with inclusion in the header of this very blog! No accident.
In other news, the insanity on campus grows more acute by the day -- in this case, the campus of the University of Chicago. I really feel for any conservative who fights the good fight at one of these elite institutions of higher ed. The emotional and spiritual costs must be mighty high!
The fact that a left-wing student newspaper at the University of Chicago is 130 years old says a great deal. Of course that means that Socialism was already a part of U.S. culture before the Russian Revolution of 1917. Most of it was imported into the U.S. from Europe, and specifically during the massive immigration from Eastern Europe after the Civil War.
ReplyDeleteThe most influential U.S. History textbook introduced into American colleges and universities in the last few decades is Howard Zinn's "A People's History of The United States", a purely Socialist version of U.S. History, countered in recent years by "A Patriot's History of The United States..." by Professors Larry Schweikart and Michael Allen".
In summary, Socialist ideas are by no means new in these United States States of America. Don't forget that it was John Reed, a journalist and political activist from Portland, Oregon who popularized the Russian Revolution in his book "Ten Days That Shook The World". Reed actually participated in the Russian Revolution, and is one of the few (if not only) Americans buried in the Kremlin.
There was also Eugene V. Debs who ran for President of The United States five times on a Socialist ticket. I have a feeling that Debs might not recognize the type of Socialism that exists in The U.S. today, or that he would even call in Socialism.
And let's not forget a Socialist version of U.S. History that was introduced into American High Schools in the 1920s and after, the premise of which was that the founders of the U.S. were far more interested in promoting their own economic interests than they were our freedoms.
Come to think of it, I doubt Karl Marx would even recognize his thoughts in our Woke and Cancel Culture, much less our somewhat vile pop culture.
Dr. From Jack: A thousand thank yous for locating this article and posting it. It is a primer on how to disarm presumptuous leftists in any setting! You know I have long been an advocate of challenging leftists for their casual advancement of terms such as racism and sexism to define these terms in creditable intellectually sound exchanges. Usually, they are unable to do so!
ReplyDeleteDoc from Jack: Rand and the Florida Governor have disp!ayed definitive examples of how to stymie presumptuous leftist "journalists". It's easy really because they are doctrinaire and brain dead!
ReplyDeleteThe Rand Paul and George Stephanopoulos conversation is basically
ReplyDeleteone between two elites who happen to be right-wing and left-wing oriented respectively. That's all very nice, but conversations like this among average Americans are not a part of life in the U.S. these days, and never really were.
Most people hang out in their own social and ethnic groups and usually avoid heated discussions on political issues. Not that they don't occur, but people's conversations are usually along more mundane lines. Whether their was fraud in the elections is not even close to most daily concerns of paying bills and getting back to work, or in many cases even having work to go back to.
Sorry, but two well heeled elites having a genteel pissing contest is not all that crucial to the existence of most Americans these days. Most people in average communities try to avoid conflicts as much as possible and get on with their sterile pedestrian lives as best they can.
I also suspect that a great many Americans, supporters of Trump or/and Biden, have reached the point where they no longer give a shit about politics, much less trust politicians of any party.
DeleteAfter a while people just get bored and tired, and become especially sick of being played by elite propagandists of of any political persuasion. As human beings, they simply reach the point where they no longer give a fuck about politics, period. I'm sure beginning to feel like one of those people.
Ray, you're certainly right that socialism and Marxism have a long history in the U.S. and in the West. You're also right that current "socialism" might well be unrecognizable to the likes of Marx. The degree to which the movement has been hijacked, racialized, and used to promote "alternative lifestyles", would probably disgust most conventional Marxists.
ReplyDeleteJack, you are so right that asking for definitions is an excellent tactic. I was accused of being "passive aggressive" by a leftist recently because I did exactly that. You can see why the Left refuses to define its terms, of course. If you defined them, you couldn't shift their meanings at will, which is what leftism is all about!
Ray, I agree that Paul's conversation with Stephanopoulos won't change many minds, but it's not entirely true that Americans never have meaningful conversations across party or ideological lines. There really are a small number of Americans who are "undecided" on many political issues, and who are persuadable come election time. It would be foolish not to attempt to persuade them! ABC is exactly where you would want to do it.
Is America sick of politics? Some may be, but 67% turnout doesn't suggest a high level of disengagement. Quite the opposite.
Dr. From Jack:You hit right on the head! The left intends its "inevitable" total rule to free it to enforce, well,whatever suits its momentary fancy, forever! Since they are omniscient and unquestionably just their every whim is sanctified by virtue only of its provenance in their elite minds. Hyberbolic? Ehh, dear and monstrously ACTUAL leaders Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Mengistu, Kim il.whatever!?
ReplyDeleteDr. From Jack: Rand Paul is certainly getting my attention!.Today.I saw him disgrace a Biden appointee for his advocacy of absurd federal unisex requirements for school sports.I liked Rand's assertion, unanswered by the prospective factotum,that such foolish trips.are not part of the everyday American's (what I regard as the real America) expectations from democratic government. No indeed! I like him and I think he and Josh Hawley might become our standard bearers! Schumer vs Aoc looms. It can only redound to Trump nation's benefit. Have hope!
ReplyDeleteYOU said it, Jack! The Left believes, first and foremost, in its own (perfect) judgement. Appeal to a higher power, or a higher set of ideals, is hardly necessary.
ReplyDeleteRand Paul is a national treasure. It's good to see him coming into his own. This business of wrecking women's sports in favor of transgender "equality" could really come back to haunt the Dems. Women, after all, are their bread and butter.
Schumer vs. AOC would be a TREAT! I would so love to see it.