In the 1980s, America’s economy was surging, much like it is
now. It was “morning in America,” and all boats were rising with the economic
tide. Ronald Reagan was president, and the fruits of capitalism allowed him to
stare down the Soviet Union and win the Cold War without firing a shot. The
Evil Empire eventually collapsed under the weight of enervating, smothering,
odious, soul-destroying socialism.
But
Bernie Sanders wasn’t buying it. In 1985 he said: "You know, it's funny. Sometimes
American journalists talk about how bad a country is when people are lining up
for food. That's
a good thing. In other countries, people don't line up for food. The
rich get the food and the poor starve to death.”
No, that’s
not how it works, Bernie. Never has been. Nobody lines up for food in the U.S.,
and the poor don’t starve to death like they do elsewhere. They go to grocery
stores and select from a staggering array of produce from across all the food
groups. They decide which cereal to buy from among hundreds of choices. They
pick from regular, low-fat, no-fat, gluten-free, sugar-free, and a myriad other
options. They choose between sea-salt, tomato basil, cracked-pepper and olive
oil, barbecue, jalapeno, asiago cheese, cheddar, dill and a dozen other types
of crackers. There are separate
dairy, meat, bakery and deli departments. The federal government spends $75
billion dollars a year on a food stamp program to help those “less fortunate.”
Shelters and volunteers feed the indigent and drug-addled around the country.
The number one health problem in America is obesity. Even among her poor. Often
because they are busy watching cable television or are immersed in their
smart-phones. Income inequality between the rich and poor in America is less than
in most other countries. All of this is due to a free market, capitalist
economic system. (As the Carter and Obama years made abundantly clear, it is
when we alter, modify, repress, or abolish parts of the free market economy
that everything goes to hell in a communally-made sustainable hand-basket).
Meanwhile, in
Venezuela, people are leaving or starving or both. The failed socialist
government (and there is no other kind) rations food, water and toilet paper. Much
as was the case in the Soviet Union. North Koreans are also literally starving
under the People’s Economic System. In Cuba, a class 5 hurricane can’t do much
damage in economic terms, because there isn’t anything costly to destroy.
Everywhere true socialism is deployed, the people lose freedom, weight and
hope.
Sorry,
Bernie, but people standing in a 2-hour long line waiting to purchase bread,
potatoes and toilet paper aren’t a sign of a healthy, egalitarian society.
Your
popularity, however, is a sign of an
increasingly ignorant one.
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