There’s a great deal of worry on the right these days over the recent electoral successes of Democratic Socialist candidates. (Democratic Socialist is a world class oxymoron. There’s no democracy when one’s life is totally controlled by politicians and bureaucrats.) But coming off this Independence Day weekend, I recommend calm. The nation’s travel agencies will not soon be booking tours to Lenin’s Tomb.
That these young know-nothings have had any success at all … should put to rest the long-standing and popular canard that teachers are underpaid.
It appears now that the DSA is a mini-movement with, we can hope, a pretty short half-life. Alternately annoying and comic, more children-at-play than a real threat. No need to go to DEFCON-1. Yet.
With the exception of Comrade Mamdani, Grand Dragon of the People’s Republic of New York City (informally known as Mamdonistan) and the humorless haradans of “The Squad,” DSA wackadoodles have not captured significant offices. Their successes of late have been in the bluest of blue state primaries. Savvy TAS readers know that turnout in primary elections is low. People with real lives attend to them rather than voting on off-years. This is too bad because all the crazies — left and right — vote early on primary days, and with the slack voting requirements Democrats insist on, perhaps often.
We’ll see in November what the full electorate thinks of these short rounds (an artilleryman’s term — think about it). Some may win, because in many blue precincts voters consider Republicans little more than limbs of Satan, not to be tolerated, let alone voted for. So whoever or whatever is put up on the D side, even if it has a tail, will carry the day. And the temptation to throw a spanner in the spokes of the Arch Fiend Donald is irresistible. This is why otherwise sensible Mainers will cast their November ballots for the “Oyster fisherman” Graham Platner, who has the IQ of an oyster and is crazier than an outhouse rat.
If many of these wingnuts get elected, they may do more damage to the Democrats than to the Republicans, making the D brand even crazier than it already is. There are hopeful signs that some Democrats, those nimble enough to count votes, are sobering up a bit, realizing that riding every leftwing hobby horse to come along and putting it up wet is not the way to stay in office. D foolishness is driving brisk pre-orders for my 2028 bumper strip which reads: “VOTE REPUBLICAN! — We’re not that great. But the other bunch is stone crazy.”
I don’t know where she got the numbers, but I saw the lovely, talented, and gracious Emily Compano say on Fox that only four percent of DSA types hold blue collar jobs. Eighty percent have college degrees, a like number are women. They’re mostly young. Few have ever held real jobs. They’re privileged indignatos and idlers with no understanding of how the world works. Their ignorance is encyclopedic. They not only don’t know anything, they don’t even suspect anything. They’re living proof that those who know better have done a terrible job of educating about socialism, which has been tried many places with horrendous results. People living under socialism are boiling their shoes for dinner, if they’re lucky enough to have shoes. Socialism doesn’t lead to freedom and abundance. It leads to poverty, tyranny, and misery. You could look it up.
That these young know-nothings have had any success at all, and that most surveys showing a majority of young people have a favorable view of socialism, should put to rest the long-standing and popular canard that teachers are underpaid. That we’ve paid anything for this result is an insult.
READ MORE from Larry Thornberry:
When Newspapers Ruled Morning and Evening
Futbol: The Beautiful Game, Allegedly
