By Joe Darby/Opinion

I believe it’s time for me to write another of my relatively rare columns on politics, because there’s something going on that I just can’t figure out.

I mean, I don’t understand. I don’t get it. I want to know, what in the world are the Democrats thinking? They desperately want to defeat the incumbent President and would do just about anything to accomplish that. But it seems to me that they are taking a track that could lose them the 2020 election.

First of all, polls consistently show that a majority of Democrats think socialism is a good idea. Really? On what they might base this opinion is far beyond my comprehension to figure out. Socialism has never worked and I don’t expect it ever will.

Some Dems point to the example of Scandinavian countries, as lovely, nice places to live and where socialism works quite well, thank you. Well, actually, free enterprise is alive and well in Scandinavia, although they do have massive social welfare systems, which eat up much of the populace’s income through taxes. For some reason they also have extremely high suicide rates.

No, socialism is government ownership and control of the means of production and distribution. A socialist government would own things like the railroads, the steel plants, the utilities, airplane and auto manufacturing companies, perhaps even department stores. The system implicitly insists that the government knows better than company owners and managers how many cars should be made this year, how much those cars should cost, how much steel will be made and where it will be sold, etc. etc. etc.

Such a wise and knowing government, friends, has never existed. Great Britain was on the road to a socialist utopia 40 years ago, except for the small fact that the system was ruining the country. Only the intervention of the great Margaret Thatcher saved Britain. Maggie’s government sold off all the industries and most of the utilities and even encouraged working class folks to buy their public housing residences. Some Brits though her obnoxious but she rescued the country.

Also, by its very nature, socialism requires a coercive government. The government must, by necessity, tell its citizens how they will live, what they can buy, how much they will pay and so forth. Again, the government would know better than you how you should live your life. The Democrats would obviously love that. Leftists on college campuses already want to tell us what we can say and how we should think. But that’s another story.

Want to see a good example of socialism in action? Look to Venezuela, an extremely coercive government that has practically paralyzed that nation and has caused such food shortages that people are suffering from malnutrition.

What else are the Dems up to? Well, I read recently that the Green New Deal would cause the cost of gasoline to go up $10 a gallon. So, we’d be paying $12.50 to $13 a gallon for regular. That’s $250 or $300 or more every time you fill up. Much more if you have a truck. So, for a plan that would completely wreck our economy and make the Great Depression of the 1930s look like flush times, go ahead and pass the Green New Deal.

The idea to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour? Experts say that would cause the loss of up to 3 million jobs because small businesses could not afford to pay such salaries and would have to lay off a good percentage of their staffs.

And let us not forget other Dem platforms — abortions at nine months, free college (not really free – who would pay?), open borders, free medical care for illegal immigrants, abolition of private health insurance. So, if the Dems were plotting to aid the reelection of Donald Trump, by far the most obnoxious, ignorant and embarrassing President we have ever had — or could hope to ever have — they should just continue on with their radical shift to the left. Trump will also be aided by the fact that the economy is booming, unemployment is down, particularly among blacks and Hispanics, and blue collar wages are growing.

I don’t like Trump. But I greatly fear the Democrats and what their policies would do to this country. I believe that millions of others may feel pretty much the same and would opt for a leader they hold in contempt over the frightening radical leftists who are taking over the Democratic Party. The country could — probably — survive four more years of embarrassment. A Democratic victory would likely ruin us.

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