Is today’s politics tragic or comic?
Take the current Democratic Party obsession with socialism. There is nothing more tragic than full-blown socialism: mind-control and the snitch society; purges and mass starvation, with millions upon millions dead. But give them credit: the trendy new Democrats say they’re only for the Nordic Model of … well, the European term for it is social democracy.*
But they sure seem to push for evermore government.
Worse yet, they too often defend actual Communist countries — as Bernie Sanders (BS) has done.
This suggests an unfunny ending to their mad rush to power.
So the proud proclamations of the s‑label from BS and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) should concern us, as should the eagerness with which the majority of Democratic presidential candidates have signed onto AOC’s over-the-top proposed takeover of the economy in her “Green New Deal.”
And yet … these politicians are absurd, on the face of it as well as when we drill down.
It’s hard not to regard absurdity as comic.
The b.s. doesn’t end with BS.
Sure, our current president is a comic figure, too. And the pathetic nature of most GOP movers and shakers on Capitol Hill make them worthy of satire.
But it is also the case that Trump is funny in a way no one else is: he is playing a role and making many chortle. On purpose.
Too bad we couldn’t move him from the Presidency to a new Constitutional role, like Troll-in-Chief. There he could ensure, through mockery alone, what he promised in his State of the Union Address: America will never become a socialist country.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
* Denmark, Sweden, etc., support extensive markets and a surprisingly hands-off approach to business — comparable to that of the U.S., and in some ways more lax — combined with extremely high taxes and vast transfers of wealth. You could call this “democratic socialism,” but … why?
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