The Logical End of Democrats' Vision for America is Venezuela

Venezuela wasn’t always this chaotic, and although absolutely none of the politicians in Washington, D.C. deserve to be put in the same camp as a tyrant like Maduro, it’s worth remembering that the very same political philosophies serving as the foundation of the Democratic Party are the philosophies that have utterly destroyed Venezuela: price fixing, centralized economic controls, a nationalized economy, and an emphasis on expanding the role of government in nearly every aspect of life. ---The promises of charismatic Venezuelan leaders of both today and the past vary little from the promises now offered by Democrats. They, too, demanded the “rich” pay “their fair share,” that the government provide health care for all, that through various economic controls and manipulations, the economy could work for everyone. The result? Economic calamity.

Read more at American Thinker

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No, there is not a difference between ‘Democratic Socialism’ and ‘Socialism’

There is absolutely no difference between “democratic socialism” and “socialism.” The term “democratic socialism” is used solely to lull the average American into accepting socialism, the path to Communism.

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Vox: How Venezuela’s socialist dream collapsed into a nightmare

Venezuela is in the midst of a stunning social, political, and economic collapse. The country of 30 million people is facing dire food and medicine shortages, frequent power outages, serious political unrest, the world’s highest inflation rate, rampant violent crime, and one of the world’s highest murder rates. Earlier this month, Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, declared a state of emergency. --In short, Venezuela has become the world’s most visibly failing state. --It wasn’t supposed to go like this. Not so long ago, Venezuela’s socialist revolution attracted its share of fellow travelers — first-world idealists hungry for the next earthly utopia.

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In Venezuela, Former Chavistas Risk Lives Fighting over a Bag of Onions

(Hat tip: KimR) - A disturbing video of a crowd physically beating each other to get at a select few bags of onions outside a supermarket in Venezuela highlights the struggle the average Venezuelan must endure to keep his or her family fed in the increasingly impoverished socialist nation. Read more at Breitbart.com Read More......

Fridges go off as Venezuela power-rationing hits

(Hat tip: KimR) - Fridges zapped off in kitchens across Venezuela as the government turned off the electricity supply to help ease a power shortage that is worsening the country's economic crisis. --It is the latest drastic measure by the government in a crisis that already has Venezuelans queuing for hours to buy scarce supplies in shops. Read more at Yahoo News Read More......

Of Diapers and Dictators in Venezuela

(Hat tip: KimR) - “Welcome to the Maiquetia Simón Bolívar International Airport,” said the stewardess with a metallic voice as our plane touched down on Venezuelan soil. The excitement of a family reunion and anguish over the situation in the country shook me out of a brief sleep after eight hours flying from Paris. I was coming back to my country after three years of absence, in the company of my almost-2-year-old daughter and her father. Read more at the Daily Beast Read More......

Obama Tells Argentinian Youths There’s Little Difference Between Socialism, Marxism and Capitalism

(Hat tip: KimR) - Barack Obama told an audience of Argentinian youth that the differences between socialism and capitalism make interesting conversation but just pick whatever works. The ideological-left US president suddenly doesn't have an affinity for ideology. Read more at Gateway Pundit Read More......

Venezuelan economy to turn even worse in 2016, study finds

(Hat tip: KimR) - If misery loves company, then at least Venezuela is located in the right corner of the globe. A recent study projects that the South American nation has far and away the world's most miserable economy in 2016, nearly four times worse off than second-place Argentina. Read more at Fox News Latino Read More......

“Capitalism” Is the Wrong Word

Wouldn’t it be nice if we could simply invent new terms to replace the words that seem to cause more heat than light? For example, I have written before of my qualms about using the word capitalism to describe the free-market economy. The word was coined by capitalism’s enemies to describe the system that they rejected.

Read more at the Foundation for Economic Freedom
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Venezuela Awakens From Its 17-Year Socialist Nightmare

Elections: Venezuela's voters delivered a sledgehammer blow to the country's ruling Chavista socialists Sunday, winning a likely supermajority in the National Assembly. It's a great awakening from a 17-year nightmare.
Given the past two decades of near-victories, electoral fraud, chicanery and fractious political opposition mistakes, many Venezuelans are still in disbelief at the scale of the victory in the nation's legislative elections, which have decisively handed one of Venezuela's leading governing bodies over to the democratic, pro-free-market opposition.


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Belmont Club: The Long Cold Civil War

Following developments in the San Bernadino attack and the upcoming elections in Venezuela, Richard Fernandez showcases a feature of leftist ideologues... an overwhelming unwillingness to change course when the facts on the ground don't support their agenda. He refers to the phenomena as a civil war with the fact-based demands of the right.

A few hours ago, president Obama was still unable to provide a probable motive for the San Bernardino attack which left 14 people dead. “At this stage we do not yet know why this terrible event occurred,” he said. Now the FBI has officially started a counter-terrorism investigation into the events.

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Even in Chavez's hometown, Venezuela 'revolution' ails before election - "Chavistas destroyed us"

..."We were 'Chavistas'," said Julio Coromoto...a workman next to a queue of dozens at a shabby supermarket.  "But they destroyed this town."....

Read more at Yahoo News
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Bill Whittle: How to Stop the Civilizational Collapse

Bill Whittle, a warrior for conservatism, explains how the tide can be turned at the Freedom Center's Restoration Weekend (Videos). --(Snip)-- There is no question that the wheels are coming off of Western civilization. And the problem is that the wheels have come off of every civilization, and they've come off of every civilization in exactly the same way throughout history, starting with the Babylonians, the Assyrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans. Same pattern every time, every time we see it. And I didn't understand it until very recently. --But just to make the case...

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Sanders and Clinton vs. Capitalism

On Tuesday, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, along with other Democratic presidential candidates, were in Las Vegas, a city that does not believe in stifling commercialism, at the Wynn hotel, where suites go for as much as $900 per night. They came to deplore the evils of capitalism. The senator from Vermont identifies himself as a "democratic socialist," and he's no pretender. In 1985, as mayor of Burlington, he traveled to Nicaragua to celebrate the sixth anniversary of what he called the "heroic revolution" of the Marxist Sandinistas.

Read more at Townhall
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When did Democrats become the party of free stuff?

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio was quick to connect policies embraced during the recent Democratic debate to broad promises of more government giveaways. --“It was basically a liberal-versus-liberal debate about who was going to give away the most free stuff,” Rubio told Fox News. “Free college education, free college education for people illegally in this country, free health care, free everything.”

Read more at Latest World-Wide News
(Hat tip: KimR)

Sometimes humor says it best... The Straight Stuff on Free Stuff

The folks who are getting free stuff,
Don't like the folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Because the folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Can no longer afford to pay for both the free stuff and their own stuff.
And, the folks who are paying for the free stuff,
Want the free stuff to stop.

And the folks who are getting the free stuff,
Want even MORE free stuff on top of the free stuff they're getting already!

Now..... The people who are forcing people to PAY for the free stuff,
Have told the people who are RECEIVING the free stuff,
That the people who are PAYING for the free stuff,
Are being mean, prejudiced and racist.

So ..... the people who are GETTING the free stuff,
Have been convinced they need to HATE the people who are PAYING for the free stuff because they are selfish and they are promised more free stuff if they will vote for the people who force the people who pay for the free stuff, to give them even more free stuff.

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What life in socialist Europe is actually like

After spending years living in socialist Germany and exploring all over Europe, what is striking is that, even in one of the wealthiest non-U.S. places on Earth, it is all about learning to do without. --Let's examine the facts: --There is a crushing 20% sales tax on everything. There is also a TV tax, a radio tax, a dog tax, a death tax of up to 50%, and every other kind of tax you could possibly imagine...for a grand total of about 60-65% of your income (unless you have already been brutalized into poverty by this system, in which case you get welfare).

Read more at the Examiner
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Knocking The Immoral Left Off Its High Horse

Just what is it about leftists and their fellow liberal travellers that compels them to proselytize for Socialism? In their holier-than-thou condescending style, leftists and liberals love to dictate to people about what is and isn’t moral as if their ideology is the perfect truth which all should follow. Their default position is Socialist and liberal beliefs are more enlightened and therefore, they are automatically morally superior to everyone else. Socialists and Liberals will be shocked and offended should anyone dare to question their perfect truth and will become outraged, angry and even violent should dissenters refuse to be brow-beaten into believing Socialist dogma.

Read more at Flopping Aces
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Scandinavia Isn’t A Socialist Paradise

Many leftists hail Scandinavia as a socialist haven that demonstrates the inferiority of capitalism. Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently declared that the United States ought to emulate Scandinavian countries because they provide education and healthcare “for free.” --There are many problems with this line of thinking. For one, it is fallacious to claim that a system that works for homogenous countries like Finland and Norway would also succeed in a massive, diverse country such as the United States. For another, it is incorrect to refer to Scandinavian countries as “socialist,” given that no Scandinavian countries nationalize their means of production.

Read more at the Federalist
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Reinforcing Failure

Richard Fernandez - Pop quiz. Suppose a whole country decides to live off an imaginary inexhaustible stash promised by its president. One day it runs out of other people’s money and begins to starve. Hospitals start to close. Even the beer runs out. What do you do? What do you do? --According to the International Crisis Group that is the problem the world faces in Venezuela. “Some economists predict a sudden collapse in food consumption and widespread hunger, and public health specialists already say that some surveys are showing chronic malnutrition.” If the Colossus of the North doesn’t save it, then all hell with break loose. Can’t let that happen can you?

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'Socialist' Swedes Take to Private Health Insurance

Sweden, a country famous for a welfare state that has actually been trimmed back substantially in recent years, is experiencing a phenomenon unlikely to bring cheer to those Americans who think the answer to Obamacare's problems is more government involvement in medicine. Tired of long waits and inadequate care, Swedes increasingly purchase private health insurance policies to gain access to the care the state can't provide.

Read more at Reason
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