Common Sense Americanism

"The former president's haughty finger-wagging reminds us that the Trump presidency is, in big part, a manifestation of the resulting fracture from the systematic destruction of process and subversion of political standards by Obama's administration and its allies." — David Harsanyi

School Disciplinary Policies Must Be Local - Star Parker
The federal education bureaucracy does not belong in disciplinary decisons.
Medicare-For-All Hoax - Betsy McCaughey
"Free health care from birth." At least until the money runs out.

Headlines

Today in History: President Garfield Dies; Arthur President (1881) ... Continentals Victorious at Saratoga (1777) ... Compromise of 1850 Passed (1850) ... Mickey Mouse Born (1928) ... "Lord Haw-Haw" Sentenced to Death by Brits (1945) ... Khrushchev Barred from Disneyland (1959)

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Opinion

Socialism Leads Us Down a Dark Path - Bryce Dunio
Free stuff equals free votes. It also equals economic misery.

It's Our Constitution — Not Kavanaugh - Walter Williams
Congress tales unwarranted license with the General Welfare clause.
Take a Knee? - Stan Drew
There're a lot of places to take a knee. Places where real Americans bl

This Is Not a Constitutional Crisis - Erick Erickson
Grumbling among Trump's staffers is just a management issue.
Polarization Over Kavanaugh Is a Good Thing - Deion Kathawa
Less rancor over nominees produces poorer constitutionalism on the Court.
Bernie Sanders' Latest Brilliant Idea To Grow The Economy — Stop BEZOS - Investor's Business Daily
His plan is so woefully misguided, even liberals say it's a bad idea.

Nike and Corporate Political Correctness - Brent Bozell
The inmates are truly running the asylum.
Judging Kavanaugh - John Stossel
Some people are very angry about Mr. Trump's new Supreme Court pick.

Welcome to the Era of Late Socialism - Peter Suderman
We'll take late capitalism over late socialism any day.
... More Op-Ed

An Evil Ism — With "democratic socialism" again on the rise, a refresher course in history seems apt: socialism has demonstrated the strong tendency to end up in totalitarian tyranny, poverty, and genocide.

As I mentioned on Monday, Reason's Nick Gillespie suspects that this response is not very convincing to people tempted by socialism. But really, why not? What about a history of horror could be appealing?

Which is why the question "Do Socialists Mean Well?" as answered by Grant Babcock, might help. Babcock answers in the negative.* "Socialism is not ultimately an end but a means. And as a means, socialism is evil."

With an evil means, one's chosen end is irrelevant, because of other results. "If I told you I wanted to end homelessness, you might say I had good intentions," Babcock explains. But if he confessed to seek that end "by conscripting the homeless into the army . . . [n]ot only should you say I have bad intentions, you shouldn't give me any moral credit for saying I want to end homelessness."

True. But Babcock has to engage in his extended argument about means because, for purposes of his essay, anyway, he began with the premise that while fascists are evil because they seek directly to harm some people, socialists do not.

Uh, really? Most socialists make much of taking from "the rich," however they define the rich -- as "the one percent" or "the privileged," etc.

Call it expropriation; call it theft: that's a lot of anger and ill will directed to one group of people.

In that way, the appeal of socialism is too much like the appeal of fascism.

Paul Jacob, thisiscommonsense.com
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