Democratic Socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York City
Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is always good for a pithy comment. I have heard him say more than once, “Republicans aren’t perfect, but the other side is crazy!” More than occasionally, he has serious, important things to say. One important thing he has said recently to Sean Hannity (I do not regularly watch Hannity, and if Kennedy had not been on the program, I would not have watched even that brief part of Hannity’s show), “I would say to your viewers out there, if any of them are thinking they like socialism, I would ask them one question: When the Berlin Wall fell, who ran to which side?”
This is an important question to answer. Because, when all is said and done, economic theories, political theories, social theories are nothing if not put into play. Socialism on paper may look interesting, just, offer a better future for the greatest number of people, and simply appears more fair than capitalism. But theories on paper are nothing. What matters is how those theories are played out in the real world. Who really benefits? What has history shown us? What can we expect from the implimentation of these theories when they are made the law of the land? What are the real world results?
Of course, the current crop of Democratic Socialists of America will tell you that the answer to Kennedy’s question is irrelevant, because the socialism they embrace and plan to put into play is nothing like what East Germany was about. And why wouldn’t young people accept that as an answer, even as foolish and ahistorical it is? They have no personal experience of socialism, and few have knowledge of real-world socialism through the mainstream media, which seems to be as enamored of these socialist candidates as they are. It occurs to me that my oldest child is a thirty-one year old mother of three with a career in education, and she was not yet born when the Berlin Wall was torn down. Those who seem most enamored of socialism are the young, younger even than my daughter. Not only do they have no memory of the Berlin Wall being torn down, but they have no appreciation of what it meant when the Berlin Wall came down. Given how poorly we teach history in this country, it’s a legitimate question to ask if they knew that the Germany of today was once torn in two as West Germany and East Germany, and that Berlin itself was divided into East and West.
This is why history is important. Every attempt to implement socialism anywhere in the world has resulted in disaster, especially for the very poor. The very people the socialists insist they want to help are the very people who have been most harmed by socialism in every attempt to implement it. They are the ones who face empty store shelves, who stand in the queue for bread and butter, who are placed under surveillance, under curfew, etc. The young people in this country have no experience of this and no information on where this has happened because they are not taught. Our academic institutions laud socialism and hide its horrors, as does the mainstream media. Suddenly, these purportedly reputable institutions, run by people who one would think were of sound mind and integrity, are willing to omit the historical consequences of socialism from the history they teach, or are actively promoting socialism. Why? One word: Trump.
It seems that Donald J. Trump has changed everything about American politics. The right’s attempts to elect and support him have caused amnesia or lack of concern regarding his past behavior, his buffoonish personality, and the extremism of some of his base. On the left, it seems the only goal is to remove Trump from office, even if it means turning the country to socialism, or making us a weak, insignificant player on the world scene, ready to be humiliated by Russia or Iran and gobbled up by China. These types seem to recommend national suicide rather than giving Trump even one chair in the new White House ballroom. What is wrong with a ballroom? I don’t know. But they know! And what is wrong with a White House ballroom is that Trump is building it and, twenty years from now, when some Democrat president realizes that a ballroom for the White House made complete and perfect sense, someone will either have to acknowledge that it was built by Trump, or attempt to erase the memory that it was built by Trump. The same with the Greenland deal. What could possibly be wrong with the Greenland deal? It gives the U.S. complete access to the island for military, security purposes, and keeps Russia and China out. How could that be bad for the U.S.? Well, it’s not, but that’s not the point to these people. The point is, Trump made the deal, so the deal is bad. And, once a Democrat president gets into office, he or she will prolly scratch the deal and practically invite Russia or China, or both, to “join the U.S. in an act of international cooperation,” by building their own military bases next to ours.
I lamented these realities to a young woman I know, of how socialism has destroyed so many formerly prosperous countries. She replied, “Well, so has fascism.” To which I pointed out, “Precisely, only … there are no political parties or individual politicians running on a fascist campaign. There are plenty running as socialist.” I guess her point was, “yeah, the socialists aren’t great, but Trump is a fasicist, so which would we rather have?”
Let’s make something clear: Donald J. Trump is not a fascist. He is a blowhard. He is an egomaniac. He is gruff and rude and boisterous and stubborn. But he is not a fascist. He is not and does not want to be a dictator. We do not have one-party rule in this country, and the Supreme Court is not in Trump’s pocket. Under any fascist regime, there would be no tolerance for political opposition. Political enemies would be gotten rid of. Any member of the Supreme Court who voted against a fascist dictator would be missing the next day, and no one would have any idea what happened to them. The press would not be free, as the fascists would tolerate no criticism of their policies. So far as I know, no one is running a campaign promising such things if elected.
We cannot become a socialist country. There is no one who calls him or herself a socialist running for political office where I live. So I don’t have the pleasure of voting against them. But I pray that every voter in New York, Michigan, and wherever else a socialist is running, votes to defeat these socialists and soundly so. I pray for my country, that it is never seduced to embrace its own destruction by adopting an economic and political way of life that will be our doom, if allowed to play out fully. It’s all made clear, or ought to be, in the question Sen Kennedy asks: “When the Berlin Wall fell, who ran to which side?” Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.
Be Christ for all. Bring Christ to all. See Christ in all.
