Ben RIPS Bernie A New Page

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Howdy Folks we have a rare special extra  episode of the show this week why well   because I actually bothered to read the entirety  of Bernie Sanders capitalist money grab it's   okay to be angry about capitalism by Bernie  Sanders this is sponsored by expressvpn so   um this book it's it's bad it's a bad book  it's a bad book not only because it's quite   boring but also because it's filled with terrible  ideas and so today we're going to go through it   and the reason we're going to go through it is  because somehow this career useless person this   elderly socialist who's never held a real job  literally never his entire life held a real job   a person who's so lazy who was once  kicked off a commune after three days   this guy has somehow become one of the most  prominent voices in American politics he's the   he's the inspiration for the squad he is the New  Movement Across America he's the guy who nearly   took the nomination from Joe Biden in the 2020  Democratic primaries and his new book is basically   just a long yalp of Rage Against the status quo  there are a bunch of themes in this book we're   gonna go through a lot of this book today because  I think it's important for you to understand the   case for Democratic socialism as made by Bernie  Sanders first of all he never really uses the word   socialism he doesn't like using the word he uses  it like a couple of times in in different contexts   but he never uses the word because even Bernie  who really goes out there on TV and says it a   lot doesn't want you to think that the alternative  to capitalism would be government nationalization   of services which is mostly what Bernie has called  for historically he also never wants you to think   about the possible downsides of his preferred  policies instead it's all about the possibilities   we're gonna go through a few themes here in his  book the the first and most prominent theme in   his book is that things that are bad in life all  the bad things in life capitalism is to blame   now he never really defines capitalism which  the way that we Define it typically means   private property freely exchanged goods and  services freely Exchange in a legal system   that guarantees the Integrity of that private  property that's typically how we think about free   markets Bernie never bothers to Define capitalism  because to do so might force him to reckon with   the premises of capitalism namely you have a right  to your own labor you have a right to your own   property you have a right to freely exchange  those things but he never has to deal with   that because for Bernie don't have those rights  those rights are absolutely irrelevant to Bernie   Sanders people like Bernie are going to make the  decisions about what happens to those those things   so instead the first and most prominent theme  of his book is everything that is bad in life   can be chalked up to capitalism you know blister  on your foot that's capitalism the guy next door   to you is poorer than you that's capitalism  a bird fell out of the sky and simultaneously   crapped on your car and hit your car with its  thudding body capitalism all of its capitalism   so you see it like from the  earliest points of of the book   right literally the on page three of his crap  book it's okay to be angry about capitalism Bernie   Sanders writes this quote here is the simple  straightforward reality the Uber capitalist   economic system that has taken hold in the United  States in recent years propelled by uncontrollable   greed and contempt for human decency is not merely  unjust it is grossly immoral now there are a lot   of embedded assumptions and even a statement  like that first of all do you think that an   Uber capitalist economic system has taken hold  in the United States in just the last few years   has the United States grown markedly more  capitalistic in the last several years we   have tens of thousands of pages of regulations  that are issued every single year we have one   of the world's most progressive tax systems they  have extraordinary social welfare benefits that   are available Medicare Medicaid Social Security  those are just the federal programs and you have   tons of State programs as well the notion that  America is some sort of unbridled capitalistic   John galt-like Utopia for for Libertarians is  nuts and certainly has not become more so in   the past few years not under Joe Biden who's been  transformatively a big spender and a big regulator   or Barack Obama who's transformatively a big  spender and a big regulator or by the way under   Donald Trump you spent a crapload of money if you  want to look at the spending habits of the United   States which correlate pretty highly to government  involvement in the economy look at the fact that   since Bill Clinton we have literally doubled the  federal debt under every succeeding president   and we're getting ready to do that like again  right now under Joe Biden so you have to start   from the premise that everything bad in life is  because of the Uber capitalist system that has   merged in the past few years which of course  is just historic nonsense it's nonsense we're   significantly less capitalistic now than we were  in say 1890. or 1920 or for that matter 1940. or   for that matter 1950 or for that matter 1980. okay  the supposed capitalist excesses of America okay   then he talks about his moral values so where  is moral values right he does know history   but he talks about his moral values quote there  are moral values that should be guiding Americans   into the future and about which we should be  very clear greed is not good massive income and   wealth inequality is not good buying elections  is not good profiting from Human illness is not   good racism sexism homophobia and xenophobia are  not good Wars and excessive military budgets are   not good the simple truth is that an unfettered  capitalism is not just creating economic misery   for the majority of Americans it is destroying our  health our well-being our democracy and our planet   hey so this is like low IQ left-wing demagoguery  so if you don't agree with him with his assessment   the capitalism has impoverished our planet and  destroyed our health and our well-being because   fact check it hasn't capitalism has led to  the greatest uptick in life expectancy in   world history it has led to the greatest spread  of prosperity in world history you can look at a   at a chart of global GDP and it basically looks  like this and then it hits the free market era   and boom it just goes straight up but according to  Bernie I guess it was communism that did that or   something in any case he doesn't bother again with  any sort of historic analysis here he doesn't even   bother to acknowledge the goods that capitalism  has done and say that there are downsides which   should actually be a reasonable Point instead he  says that if you support capitalism it's because   you support greed or massive income and wealth  inequality or buying elections or profiting from   Human illness racism sexism homophobic is you know  again this is all part of his first theme which is   everything bad in life is capitalism and of course  this means that what we have to do is reject it   it's time to reject he says conventional wisdom  and incrementalism no more conventional wisdom no   more incrementalism nothing we're just gonna  go For Broke gang it's time to fundamentally   rethink our adherence to the system of unfettered  capitalism and to address the Unspeakable harm   that system is doing to us all well first of  all I don't see the Unspeakable harm that that   system has apparently done to Bernie Sanders who  I say has been a career useless person his entire   life and who yet owns three houses including  a lake house so um seems like like that dude   here's what unfettered capitalism meant to  Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders is currently   81 years old he has not held a job a real job his  entire life and he is worth millions of dollars   oh my gosh the the Unspeakable harm this  brings us to theme two of the book and it's   you know connected with theme one if theme one  is everything bad in life is capitalism theme   two is good good stuff just magically exists  it just magically is it's just there it's just   there we don't know why it just happens because  here's the thing a real critic of capitalism   and there are many people on the right like  Sora bamari for example and there are people   on love like right they're they're people who  actually are serious thinkers Bernie is not one   who say capitalism provides lots of goods and  services it creates more technological innovation   but there are downsides the downsides may be in  terms of individual fragmentation or Community   social fabric breaking up or whatever right those  are critiques I may not agree with a lot of those   critiques but they are legitimate critiques those  are critics made by people like Joseph schumpeter   who is an advocate of capitalism Bernie doesn't  make any of those critiques because again this is   dumb people Democratic socialism so the First  theme is I hate the status quo and everything   that's the status quo is capitalism the second  is all the good stuff that's around you because   you look around your life say yeah there's some  bad stuff like I have the blister and the bird is   falling from the sky and all that but then there's  also some pretty good stuff like I have the cell   phone right here I have a computer in front of me  I have a house I have a car I live way better than   my grandparents did like way way better than my  great-grade grandparents did I live better than   my parents and me let's be frank about this your  living standard today in 2023 is significantly   better than your parents living standard was in  1990 you have better stuff you do I know people   have told you that's not true take a look at the  devices your parents were using like a Walkman   and think to yourself and no cell phone and think  to yourself whether you would trade places with   your parents economically speaking in 1990. the  answer is most likely not okay but that would   require Bernie to acknowledge that capitalism  generates these goods and services after all   he has already said we live in the most Uber  capitalist era of all time which means that all   the good stuff around you where did that come from  According to Bernie statically appeared there was   a wizard and The Wizard came and went and boom all  the good stuff was there nothing with capitalism   and so this connects with his belief that  people who are rich didn't earn their wealth   right everything just magically appeared it was  like how God created the universe in the Bible   Bernie spoke and there were billionaires and there  was good stuff and they were totally disconnected   or cap it rather capitalism spoke and there were  billionaires and there was good stuff but the good   stuff had nothing to do with the billionaires it  was just magically there so he says quote as we   saw more clearly than ever during the pandemic  it is not the oligarchs who are essential   so he has this whole thing about the billionaire  classes billionaires should not exist direct quote   billionaires should not exist and he says  the United States cannot afford to support   a billionaire class that takes far more from  this country than it gives back wait hold up   is the United States supporting the billionaire  class or is the billionaire class supporting the   United States who pays the taxes the United States  doesn't pay the taxes the United States government   United States seizes money from some people and  then uses it to the benefit presumably of all in   the best possible scenario or to the benefit of  a specific few or a group of people that Bernie   likes but the basic premise which that the  United States supports billionaires and that   billionaires take more than they give back by the  way that is not remotely true that is assuming   the billionaires gain their wealth by literally  going into somebody's house and seizing the wealth   the way that billionaires become billionaires  typically is they provide goods and services on   a voluntary basis that a crapload of people like  to use and participate in as far as the notion   that oligarchsen billionaires during the pandemic  it was your delivery guy who delivering I work for   they work for himself or was he actually like  an independent contractor from Amazon you may   have noticed like Jeff Bezos like without Amazon  how do you get through to the pandemic question   without people who um who provide the internet  you know very rich people how exactly did did   all those workers get supported throughout it who  pays for the taxes in the United States the rich   do not pay their fair share of taxes they pay way  more than their fair share of taxes and so Bernie   Because he believes that good stuff just magically  appears ignoring the fact that capitalism   actually produces new Goods Services Innovation  technological growth instead of just he he can't   acknowledge that so instead as such as magically  appears it's a precondition to society quote it   becomes clear that the time is long overdue for  us to do away with billionaires which by the way   sounds an awful lot like killing the gulags end a  winner take all system based on greed corruption   and rampant self-interest and move toward a system  motivated by compassion cooperation and our common   interest now this has become it's going to become  another theme that I'll get to in just a moment   the theme for Bernie is that policies don't matter  intent matters which is about as evil a government   policy as I can imagine he says this isn't  about creating a rigid system that discourages   creativity and Innovation there's nothing wrong  with a business or an entrepreneur making a profit   that as we'll see is just a throwaway that is  literally the only throwaway he has in pretty   much the entire book about the good of capital you  say there's nothing wrong with you making a profit   we just have to seize it and also we have to crush  our business and we also have to make sure that   you don't actually get to run your business even  though he's never run a business dudes never run   a Popsicle stand like the only business you ever  ran made crappy educational videos about Eugene V   Debs I'm not kidding you back in the 1970s in  Vermont he says there is something profoundly   wrong however when massive corporations controlled  by the wealthiest people on Earth why cheat bribe   and steal in order to make profits that are  funded by the destruction of our lives our   environment and our democracy again I'd like like  a shred of evidence here would be would be great   and then he says it's time to end a culture  that not only accepts but actually creates   the obscene degree of inequality and Justice  and uncontrollable greed that is so damaging   to our nation in the world again the idea  here is that the natural state of humanity   is good and normal and then we created a culture  that loves greed and thus greed has become the   prominent way of life this of course is silly  exists throughout all human time and space   human beings are very greedy this is just the way  it is and what capitalism does is it actually says   you don't get to steal your neighbor's money you  have to make a thing and trade it to your neighbor   capitalism is forced altruism as I've said  before so this of course means that he never   actually considers where wealth comes from at  no point does he say how is wealth created that   is not anything that he actually considers in  this the entirety of this very long and boring   book this is this book by the way charts out to  293 pages it's like 10 pages of actual content   he doesn't actually care about where goods come  from he just assumes he assumes them there's a   famous joke in economics it originally came from  a book from 1970 by a guy named Kenneth Bolding   where he said there's a story that's been  going around about a physicist a chemist and   an economist who are strands in our own desert  island with no implements in a can of food a   physicist in the chemist each device an ingenious  mechanism for getting the can open The Economist   said assume we have a camera a can opener has a  lot of Economics is sort of imagining theoreticals   but Bernie actually does that he just assumes  Prosperity assume Prospect don't imagine how we   got there don't think about how we got there don't  provide any proof how we got there just assume it   this leads him to lines like this one quote the  pace and direction of technological change cannot   be left to the market if there is to be hope for  a fair distribution of the benefits of that change   so he has to control how it's distributed but  he also going to control how it gets funded and   how it gets directed even though he's never  created a thing ever okay this of course is   connected with theme three billionaires are  evil so the reason billionaires are rich is   because they're evil and terrible quote while an  exceptionally wealthy few wallow and affluent and   become exponentially richer with each passing  day the majority of Americans live lives of   quiet desperation they're not scheming to pay  for trips to outer space yeah the billionaires   are particularly evil so they weren't evil until  they became billionaires like he he fails also to   acknowledge that there is in fact income mobility  in the United States there is many of us who are   in the top one percent did not start off in the  top one percent my family when I was growing up   was definitely not in the top one percent I'm  now in the top one percent so was I not evil   then but I'm evil now like how exactly does this  work well we'll get to more of Bernie Sanders's   terrible book in just one second first you know  there are people like Bernie Sanders would love   to keep track of literally everything you do all  day long so they can tax the living hell out of   you but what if there was somebody who actually  did you belong about every single thing that   you did every minute of the day that'd be weird  and creepy but that is exactly what happens when   you go online your internet provider is tracking  logging every single website you've ever visited   it can legally sell that information to anyone  that's why I always use expressive VPN expressvpn   reworks your internet connection through their  secure servers so your internet provider cannot   track your online activity you might be wondering  if I'm rooting all my death through a VPN can't   that VPN log my data instead and that does in  fact happen but not in the case of expressvpn   expressvpn is the only VPN I trust because they  use it trusted server technology and it makes it   impossible for their VPN servers to store data  they even had one of the biggest Assurance firms   pricewaterhousecooper audit their technology  so you know you can trust it I've been using   expressvpn for years to protect my own data  you should do exactly the same stop letting   people keep logs of what you do online visit  expressvpn.com Ben YT that's expr essvpn.com Ben   YT get three extra months for free expressvpn.com  Ben YT and listen listen to this sort of leninist  

ugliness that he directs against people who make  money in our country it really is amazing quote we   need to recognize once and for all that for people  on top enough is never enough how much do they   need the answer is always more like heroin addicts  oligarchs are never satisfied with what they have   they need a new fix more and more and more no  matter what the consequences of their greed   I mean that's probably we should kill them they  sound pretty evil all they want is more and more   and more now in reality it is Bernie who wants  more and more and more of their income because   he doesn't produce anything I can't get  over this he has not produced a single   thing of value in his entire stupid life  not a single thing nothing zero zilge nada but he says that it's they're greedy they want  more as opposed to Bernie who is altruistic as   all hell from his lake house was in the kind  of language quote when a criminal walks into a   store and shoots the clerk behind the counter  we make the moral judgment this behavior is   socially unacceptable and the gunman should be  punished yet when the wealthy and Powerful make   calculate a decision that are destructive and  life-threatening to millions of people or to   the planet we're told it's just business so he's  now equating a business owner making a decision   and people participating in the market  with a person who shoots a clerk at a store   he says quote real politics recognizes that the  corporate Elite are not nice guys no matter how   much they contribute to charity or how many awards  they receive from universities and hospitals to   which they've donated buildings so it doesn't  matter it you say that you know Bill Gates you   know that guy is the Gates Foundation he's living  on your political side like don't you like him no   it doesn't matter that he's given a lot of  Charity doesn't matter that he's employed to   tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands  of people and giving them a living no they're   still bad real politics recognizes corporate leads  are not nice guys they're ruthless day after day   they sacrifice human life and well-being in order  to protect their privilege I mean again this is   rather murderous language they literally spend  their days figuring out the rich people how to   kill you so they can make more money to kill you  to murder you and steal your wealth real politics   fights for real choices says Bernie progressives  must make it clear there are two sides in this   fight on one side are the wealthy few who will see  nothing to the many on the other side are the many   who must demand what is rightfully theirs now he  never actually answers why it's rightfully theirs   it's a real question why why is somebody  else's stuff rightfully yours explain   I want to know like what what did Bernie do  to deserve any of your money the answer is   he doesn't bother because again the billionaires  are bad people which excuses you in actually going   and taking their money all of this is utopian  nonsense right so we have three themes so far one   everything that's bad in status quo as capitalism  two all the good stuff that just magically exists   three the billionaires because they didn't they  didn't create any good stuff that starts magically   existing the billionaires are evil and terrible  and bad and probably we should eat them and four   there are no limitations on dreams none and this  brings us to what I think is actually the most   evil line of the book there's a lot in the book  that's kind of evil there's one line in uh Bernie   Sanders is it's okay to be angry about capitalism  that is particularly evil okay quote the goal of   any Democratic moral and rational system must be  to create a society where people are healthy happy   and able to live long and productive lives  that's not the evil part here we go with the   explosion of new technology and productivity that  we are experiencing we now have the capability to   provide a good life for every American okay  so you can even in that line he's assuming   that the prosperity just exists right capitalism  has nothing to do with it free markets systems   they have nothing to do with it it just exists  here's the evil part our economic debates should   not revolve around questions of resources they  should revolve around questions of intent and will   let me read that last line again our economic  debates should not revolve around questions of   resources they should revolve around questions of  intent and will understand how evil that is here's   what you need to understand economics has always  been about the distribution of scarce resources   and how you actually use scarce resources to  create plentiful resources right supply and demand   is about the distribution of scarce resources  how is how are those resources allocated how do   you create incentives with resource allocation  that allow people to innovate and create new   products and services right that's what that's  what policy has always been about he says you   should never think about that stop thinking about  questions of resources instead the only the only   way to adjudicate whether a policy is good or  bad or whether an economic system is good or bad   is the intent and the will the intent and severe  men of great that's what matters that you aspire   to Greatness and you must have a virtual power  that's the only way in the intent and will that   is the worst way to adjudicate whether a policy  is good or not who cares about the intent of   policy makers seriously what matters is how  their policies work as a general rule and will   so what he means by this presumably is if you  intend to equalize society and if you have a   strong enough will to do it Society will magically  be solved everything's great you had the intent   and you had the will magic wand but in reality  what that means if you have the you know who had   the intent in the will Stalin he did let's assume  the best of intentions from Stalin he wanted a   more equal society in which everybody got their  fair share and he had the will all he had to do   was kill a few million people in a giant famine  and he could he could get less some I mean you   can really get there but he could try now same  thing he had the intent the intent was that we   were going to develop and industrialize and he  had the will he was able to force all those dumb   Farmers to melt down their plows into useless  lumps of metal and Then star 40 million of them   he had the intent in the will any politician  who tells you that politics is about intent   and will should scare the living hell out of  you and Bernie just says it right out loud   now again this is all part of his broader  utopianism which suggests that um you can   just wave magic wands and magic things happen  right quote six trillion dollars he's talking   about Joe Biden's build back better six trillion  dollars a day large an unprecedented number but   we were living then and continue to live in in  unprecedented moment and talk about a non-sequitur   like the big question about Bill back better was  how are we going to pay for that what does it do   and he's like well it doesn't matter it was a  big number but these are Big times what that's   like saying you know taking this frying pan and  slamming myself six times directly in the face   with this frying pan it'd be an unprecedented  thing to do but these are unprecedented times   okay and that's all of his that's all the  economic proposals quote do we create a new   system based on the principle that Healthcare is  a human right and that every man woman and child   in this country should in a cost-effective way  be guaranteed quality and Equitable Health Care   regardless of economic status um well I don't know  do you have a magic wand that would achieve this   because if so sounds great also you don't and  then he one of the things he proposes in his   book is what he calls a jobs guarantee literally  every single person in the United States will be   guaranteed a job by the government quote we  can meet all those needs and those that arise   in the future if we create a job guarantee that  is sufficiently visionary and sufficiently funded   he doesn't actually explain what he means by  sufficiently Visionary or sufficiently funded   because those costs would just blow you out of the  water this is will a job guarantee cost money of   course but failing to invest in our future costs  even more again this is another variation on it's   an unprecedented moment so we have to spend  an unprecedented amount of money will a job   guarantee cost money yes will I say how much no  but I promise you it'll cost you more if you don't   world's worst con man right here con man shows  up at your door and he's like I'm going to tell   you this bridge in Brooklyn how much money is it  going to cost a lot but you know what if you miss   out on this opportunity you're going to be just  cursing yourself the rest of your life you could   own that Brooklyn Bridge your failure to invest in  the Brooklyn Bridge would have cost you even more   my goodness he uh concludes his book by the way  with it with a bunch of recommendations on how   to fix Society here's what he says quote make the  Constitution relevant to the 21st century rethink   the United States Senate rethink the United  States Supreme Court end all forms of bigotry   and all forms of bigotry you want to cure cancer  while you're attitude and all forms of bigotry   there there are there are a few things here that  are that are pretty spectacularly nonsensical when   when it comes to his sort of utopianism I love  this this particular line really got me says our   struggle is to end a system that evaluates worth  as a measure of Market profitability a system in   which we are asked to believe based on salaries  paid that the star athlete who helps a billionaire   team owner increases bottom line is worth more  than a thousand teachers who help children   Escape poverty the American people never approved  these brutal trade-offs that insult our values   um so a few things first of all the American  people do not have the ability to tell you   what you are quote unquote Market worth but  notice how he just conflate human worth with   Market worth now he's a socialist he shouldn't do  that as a socialist he should believe that those   are two very different things that economic value  is not the same as spiritual value I mean that's   something forget about socialism as a capitalist  I don't believe that human value equals economic   value I know a lot of people who are not wealthy  who I think have extraordinary human value I know   a lot of people who are wealthy who I think are  kind of garbage people but Bernie equates the two   and so the idea is that our struggle is to end a  system that evaluates worth as a measure of Market   profitability but that's exactly what you're doing  you're evaluating worth as a measure of economic   receipt so you're working within the economic  system are you not but his idea presumably   is that um he should make the call and I guess  all teachers should be paying a million dollars   and that's again the comment that is theme number  four here there are no limitations on your dreams   Utopia is achievable theme number five and this  one runs again throughout his book it's okay to be   angry about capitalism so he says a big defender  of democracy he is uh and he does this directly   in opposition to Donald Trump right Donald Trump  is the great threat to democracy he says Bernie   socialist centers who loved the USSR Back in  the Day quote it is no small feat that in four   short years Trump annihilated the long-standing  leadership of the Republican party and converted   a central right political organization into  a vehicle for right-wing extremism that Drew   comparisons with European neo-fascist parties yes  Donald Trump was basically turning the Republican   Party writ large into a neo-fascist party right  challenging democracy is bad he thinks that the   Donald Trump challenged democracy and that's  really bad except when he does it because the   entire book talks about how there's no real  democracy in the United States as it turns   out there is no democracy the system should be  overthrown quote we live in a democracy but they   own that democracy he says we live in a democracy  by the way there's democracy or scatter quotes   around the first democracy we live in a scarecrow  democracy but they own that so we don't live in   a democracy is what you're saying you know who  else was was saying that the guy who you say was   a fascist that's who Bernie and then he says  true individual Freedom cannot exist without   Economic Security and Independence economic  rights are human rights true individual Freedom   cannot exist without those rights uh no that's  using rights in two very very different ways   typically when we talk about rights we talk  about the freedom of from he is talking about   the idea that there are certain preconditions  to living okay those preconditions to living   are just preconditions to living generally they  apply in Communist States in fascist States in   monarchies in oligarchies those preconditions to  living are things like food and water right but   but you Proclaim those rights is a very different  thing and talking about the political rights you   have from the government that's not the same thing  at all those are necessities necessities are not   the same things as right again sloppiness is the  is the Hallmark of Bernie Sanders and Democratic   Socialist thinking more broadly but again the  bottom line here is that he believes that we don't   have those economic rights in the United States  so there are no human rights in the United States   we live in a democracy without human rights there  are a few points in his book where his his latent   hatred for the United States really comes out  like really comes out and uh here is one of them   quote recently there has been much political and  media discussion about the oligarchy surrounding   Vladimir Putin the veteran KGB operative was  emerged as Russia's authoritarian leader but   oligarchy is not a uniquely Russian phenomenon  what about the oligarchs of America what about   the perverse and destructive role they play in  shaping our society why is there no acknowledgment   by our political and media Elite that there is  an American oligarchy every bit as dangerous as   the oligarchies we decry in other countries uh  maybe because the oligarchies that are allied   with Vladimir Putin involve pushing people they  don't like out of like seventh-story Windows   and invading foreign countries and legitimately  executing their their dissidents and jailing them   equating Vladimir Putin with the United States  system and the actual Russian Olympics paid by   Vladimir Putin with like Elon Musk is absurd  but again fine points are not his strong suit his challenges to democracy are throughout the  book right democracy is great except that he hates   it quote The Establishment through our political  system our media and our schools perpetuates the   mythology we are a Democratic Society in which the  people are Supreme and control the destiny of the   nation really really so democracy don't challenge  it unless your name is Bernie Sanders there are a   few other themes that hold true throughout the  book but I mean this is a it's an anti-American   book right I mean this is it's not just an  anti-quote-unquote capitalist book he never   actually critiques capitalism he just critiques  the status quo and blames capitalism for it and   assumes all the goods in American society are the  results of magic but he he wants to the main theme   of the book under undergirding all of this is that  he is going to activate a new generation via the   systems of power he's going to create an entire  new generation of apparatus who agree with them   it is kind of amazing what he says about the  educational system in in his book Bernie Sanders   so for example he says for education to get  focused on the real needs and real possibilities   for students in the 21st century they have to  break out of the mentality that considers our   elementary and secondary schools merely training  grounds for workers so you're not supposed to have   a skill set that leads you to be employable  no that's not what education is really about   says Bernie really what education is about is  indoctrinating you into a left-wing worldview   he quotes a um a scholar about Finland quote  saying we began by explaining her view that   for progressives the world over education  must be a focus not just in and of itself   but as part of a broader struggle to create  a Freer and more equal Society education is   not about gaining a skill set education is  about remaking an entire Generation Well   curriculums are organized so children can examine  complex societal problems like climate change   in all of their classes as well as in clubs and  after school activities think about that students   being taught about problems and then being  taught they can solve them so we have to turn our   Educational Systems not into skills inculcation  but into bizarre indoctrination factories   I mean the book is pretty frightening is the truth  that's filled with bad political analysis like he   claims that Joe Biden's failure to pass Bill back  better is the reason why he's suffering in the   polls that's obviously untrue is the Afghanistan  debacle that drove Joe Biden into the 40s   his analysis of the squad where he just talks up  the squad endlessly which is of course ridiculous   he tells a bunch of lies in there like there's one  lie in particular where He suggests that half of   all the personal bankruptcies in the country  are connected to unpaid medical bills which   of course is wildly unproven it turns out that  among the many many things that people don't pay   when they go bankrupt there are medical bills it  doesn't mean the medical bills are what drove the   bankruptcy that's fact checked by The Washington  Post or he says things like countries around the   world have been surpassing the United States when  it comes to life expectancy and that of course   ignores the the fact that the United States has a  far higher rate of injury death and that because   of that that creates a life expectancy Gap there's  an article in Jama the Journal of American Medical   Association back in 2016 pointing out that if  you actually get rid of things like injury deaths   that that closes the mortality Gap in the United  States with other countries pretty quickly   but you know truth is not Bernie Sanders's strong  suit it's just not a strong suit I do have to end   my analysis of Bernie Sanders is not very good  book with a couple of quotes that are just crazy   towns because this really shows who he is and  Bernie Sanders really is the guy who questions   why we need so many brands of deodorants  on our shelves why can't there just be two   he really is the guy who thinks that bread lines  are good because at the end of them you get bread   that's who Bernie Sanders is and the fact that  this guy has become a mainstream political voice   in the United States right now demonstrates how  stupid we are politically my favorite line from   the book I have to conclude with this because it  really is spectacular quote over the past 40 years   the ruling class in the United States has gone  to war against organized labor and as part of   that war they've eviscerated the entire concept  of class and class Consciousness in the country   okay so put to the side of the fact that that  in and of itself is crazy the United States   has never had a solid class conflict because  unlike the countries of Europe there was never   an entrenched class system right in Britain there  was an in French class system you were a lord or   you were a commoner in the United States that  never applied this goes all the way back to   Alexis to tocqueville but here's the great part  quote we regard it as normal for example that   corporate media and big business encourage us  to identify with the New England Patriots the   Chicago Bulls or the Los Angeles Dodgers we are  not encouraged however to root for our class that's a weird statement so he's saying that they  bought and paid for corporate media are the ones   who are encouraging you to be a Yankees fan and  if they really were not bought and paid for they   would be encouraging you to be a Bourgeois fan  or a or a impoverished class fan the hell is   he talking about but you know crazy old Moon  yelling at Sky is in fact one of his things it   is apparently the charm of the man unfortunately  this career useless person has now become as I say   a major voice in American society so the truth is  there's not that much more to Bernie Sanders's not   very good book and I hope that he makes a bundle  off of it using the mechanisms of capitalism and   then he can try to explain to all of his fans why  exactly he has a lake house and why he's charging   95 bucks a seat for his public appearances  for it's okay to be angry about capitalism   suffice it to say there ain't much there there  ain't much there and you should remember this   when it comes time for your Democrat socialist  friends to explain to you the genius of Bernie   Sanders not only is Bernie Sanders not a genius  he barely has two neurons to rub together

2023-04-08

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