“Remember, these are not blue haired crazies. These are people who own homes, live normal lives, and are run of the mill Democrats. And they are not 20-30 year olds. Most in their 50s, 60s, and 70s.”

They are liberal “useful idiots” who are enabling the fashioning of the ‘chains’ of future generation’s enslavement.

Gullible and idealistic; activist, donor, ‘teacher’

Gullible, idealistic and articulate; community organizer

Gullible and a follower; cannon fodder

I’m not on Facebook or other social media and therefore I don’t know what they think. I generally don’t discuss politics with them unless they bring it up, so I have no idea. Some are way to the left anyway; some are not, but most don’t follow politics so closely but are reflexive Democrat voters.

I’d love to know if Neo sees a similar reaction from her D friends. What I’m seeing is quite frankly, frightening.

QUESTION for those preferring socialism: two ongoing alternatives are available Right Now, and they are close by — namely, Cuba and Canada! Go hither and b-well. — The typical young lefty considers Canada a right-wing country.

I’ve commented before on a timeless problem for conservatives in general, and social conservatives in especial: our message really, genuinely is kind of a downer. It’s rooted in practical human nature, and that makes it usually a form of negative feedback, esp. for the young and dreamily idealistic.

Socialism sounds better than capitalism. More equal, less work, nobody has to work long hours for low pay while somebody else cruises in an inherited free ride. It sounds more humane, more pleasant. The only counter to that perception is practical experience, and that’s why the young are the most vulnerable to it, especially after a long period when socialism/communism has been dormant. But it eternally revives because, as I said, it sounds better in the abstract.

Even the solid intellectual and pragmatic arguments for a market economy are rooted in a recognition of the unpleasant side of human nature.

This becomes especially true when the existing economy is perceived, often correctly, as seizing up or malfunctioning. America’s economy looks suspiciously like an oligopoly, and there is deep-seated, tribal aversion to too much economic inequality within the tribe. As a few get richer and richer, it’s not just jealousy that motivates the resentment, it’s ancient instinct.

(Plus, the purely intellectual recognition that past a certain level of wealth inequality, democratic republics begin to resemble oligarchies as power gravitates to the uber-wealthy.)

We’ve been through this cycle before, and this won’t be the last time.