Socialism and the 2004 Tsunami
by Rick Hayes {americanthinker.com} ~ Socialism is to America's youth as the tragic tsunami was to European holiday travelers in Indonesia in December of 2004. During the initial phase when the ocean's waters receded many yards from the tropical beaches... trapped sea life and coral reefs could be seen for the first time. Practically mesmerized by the unusual sight, groups of vacationers were standing and playing on the muddy sand that only moments before was covered by ocean waters. There were no warning messages from authorities to head to high ground. To those tourists, it was an interesting event and unlike anything they had seen before. And as each precious second passed and they continued to look toward the horizon, one of nature’s most catastrophic killers raced toward them just beyond their sight. These people were enjoying their lives on a beautiful sunny day not realizing that in a few short minutes the very ocean that held their attention would soon take their lives, along with 230,000 others. The slow but steady rise of the Democrats new kind of socialism is very similar in its novelty and unsuspecting way as the tsunami's behavior was on that fateful morning following the Christmas holiday. It was a wonder they gazed upon until it was too late. In the end, the tsunami left a wasteland in its wake at places like Banda Aceh just as socialism laid waste to places like China under Chairman Mao where between 40 to 70 million people were killed, the 20 million killed in the USSR under Joseph Stalin, or the four million killed in Cambodia under Pol Pot. Until it collapsed into a heap of abject poverty and violence, Democrats and the media were praising Venezuela as the premier model of socialism that should be followed. Hugo Chavez promised shared prosperity for all with his "21st-century socialism." Sean Penn, who met with Chavez stated after his death in 2013 that, "Poor people around the world lost a champion.” And Michael Moore praised Chavez for eliminating 75% of the nation's poverty with the money received from oil. Today, however, the cheerleaders and supporters have all gone silent as the dream has become the inevitable nightmare. Venezuela now has an inflation rate of 2.7 million percent – the highest on record -- and Caracas has the highest murder rate in the world. So how can it be that even with clear historical evidence of the perpetual failures of socialism, the University of Chicago’s GenForward Survey of Americans age 18 to 34 found that 45 percent had a positive view of socialism? Or in the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation’s “Annual Report on U.S. Attitudes Toward Socialism,” apart from 42% who were in favor of capitalism, 58 percent of the up-and-coming generation opted for one of the three systems, The most popular socioeconomic order was socialism, with 44 percent support, while communism and fascism each received 7 percent support...
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