"Why Marxism?" An Evening at FEE with C. Bradley Thompson

The video above is a lecture by C. Bradley Thompson of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism.

Hat Tip: Trevor Loudon


Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism

The Lecturer

C. Bradley Thompson is the BB&T Research Professor at Clemson University and the Executive Director of the Clemson Institute for the Study of Capitalism. He has also been a visiting fellow at Princeton and Harvard universities and at the University of London.

Professor Thompson is the author of the prize-winning book John Adams and the Spirit of Liberty. He has also edited The Revolutionary Writings of John Adams, Antislavery Political Writings, 1833-1860: A Reader and was an associate editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment. His current book project is on “The Ideological Origins of American Constitutionalism.”

Dr. Thompson is also an occasional writer for The Times Literary Supplement of London. He has lectured around the country on education reform and the American Revolution, and his op-ed essays have appeared in scores of newspapers around the country and abroad. Dr. Thompson's lectures on the political thought of John Adams have twice appeared on C-SPAN television.

For more information on why Marxism is so evil: (Occupiers should read this to learn why their movement, if successful, would lead to the deaths of millions of Americans)

Why Socialism, Communism and Marxism Don’t Work and Never Will

Why Marxism Always Fails

How Many People Did Communism Kill?

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Celebrating the Execution of Che Guevara

I missed my annual posting celebrating the death of a Lefty Icon and Mass Murderer, Che Guevara because I was busy on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I am correcting that error now...

Forty-three years ago this week, Ernesto “Che” Guevara got a major dose of his own medicine. Without trial, he was declared a murderer, stood up against a wall and shot. Historically speaking, justice has rarely been better served. There was never an occasion better suited to the expression: “What goes around comes around.”




“When you saw the beaming look on Che’s face as the victims were tied to the stake and blasted apart by the firing squad,” said former Cuban political prisoner Roberto Martin-Perez, “you saw there was something seriously, seriously wrong with Che Guevara.” As commander of the La Cabana execution yard, Che often shattered the skull of the condemned man (or boy) by firing the coup de grace himself. When other duties tore him away from his beloved execution yard, he consoled himself by viewing the slaughter from afar. Che’s second-story office in Havana’s La Cabana prison had a section of wall torn out so he could watch his darling firing-squads at work.

Source: Front Page Magazine


Today, I will lift a rare alcoholic beverage and toast the men who executed Che Guevara!


And, from a past post celebrating the anniversary of Che Guevara's Execution:

Che Guevara's Whacking -- A Glorious Anniversary

Today is a glorious day for those who love freedom and hate tyranny. 40 years ago today, the murderous thug known as Che Guevara was executed on October 9, 2009!!! (I would support the addition of this day as a national holiday).


In honor of this wonderful anniversary, I am linking to a couple of articles, the first from American Thinker, and the second to The Freedom Fighter's Journal. I hope you enjoy them and have a hearty laugh at the expense of Lefties every where.

Forty two years ago today, Ernesto "Che" Guevara got a major dose of his own medicine. Without trial he was declared a murderer, stood against a wall and shot. Historically speaking, justice has rarely been better served. If the saying "What goes around comes around" ever fit, it's here.


"When you saw the beaming look on Che's face as the victims were tied to the stake and blasted apart by the firing squad," said a former Cuban political prisoner, to your humble servant, "you saw there was something seriously, seriously wrong with Che Guevara." As commander of the La Cabana execution yard, Che often shattered the skull of the condemned man (or boy) by firing the coup de grace himself. When other duties tore him away from his beloved execution yard, he consoled himself by viewing the slaughter. Che's second-story office in La Cabana had a section of wall torn out so he could watch his darling firing-squads at work.


A Rumanian journalist named Stefan Bacie visited Cuba in early 1959 and was fortunate enough to get an audience with the already quasi-famous Ernesto "Che" Guevara. Upon entering Castro's chief executioner's office, Bacie noticed Che motioning him over to the office's newly constructed window. Bacie got there just in time to hear the command of FUEGO!, hear the blast from the firing squad and see a condemned prisoner crumple and convulse


The stricken journalist immediately left and composed a poem, titled, "I No Longer Sing of Che." ("I no longer sing of Che any more than I would of Stalin," go the first lines.)


Even as a youth, Ernesto Guevara's writings revealed a serious mental illness. "My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any vencido that falls in my hands! With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!" This passage is from Ernesto Guevara's famous Motorcycle Diaries, though Robert Redford somehow overlooked it while directing his heart-warming movie.

Source: American Thinker Che Guevara's Whacking -- A Glorious Anniversary

This is the fourth article in our "Leftwing Monsters" series, the first of which featured Humberto Fontova's profile of Fidel Castro. "Leftwing Monsters" is a feature of www.discoverthenetworks.org where the entire series will be archived -- The Editors.


In August of 1960, a year and a half after Che Guevara entered Havana ahead of his "column" of "guerrillas," Time magazine featured the revolutionary comandante on its cover and crowned him the "Brains of the Cuban Revolution." (Fidel Castro was "the heart" and Raul Castro "the fist.")


"Wearing a smile of melancholy sweetness that many women find devastating," read the Time article, "Che guides Cuba with icy calculation, vast competence, high intelligence and a perceptive sense of humor."


"This is not a Communist Revolution in any sense of the term," The New York Times had declared a year earlier. "Fidel Castro is not only not a Communist, he is decidedly anti-Communist."


"It would be a great mistake," Walter Lippmann wrote in the Washington Post that same month, "even to intimate that Castro's Cuba has any real prospect of becoming a Soviet satellite."


A few months earlier the London Observer had observed: "Mr. Castro's bearded youthful figure has become a symbol of Latin America's rejection of brutality and lying. Every sign is that he will reject personal rule and violence."


Time magazine was in perfect sync with her major-media peers -- utterly wrong. Guevara was no more the brains of the Cuban Revolution than Cheka-head Felix Drezhinsky had been the brains of the Bolshevik Revolution, or Gestapo chief Himmler the brains of the National Socialist Revolution, or KGB head Beria the brains behind Stalinism. In fact Che performed the same role for Fidel Castro as Drezhinsky performed for Lenin, Himmler for Hitler and Beria for Stalin. Che Guevara was the Castro regime's chief executioner.

Source: Freedom Fighter's Journal The Life And Death Of Che Guevara




Commentary


When you see someone wearing a piece of clothing celebrating Che Guevara, you can know that that person (most likely a college student or a Lefty professor) is honoring a murderer who gloried in killing people. 


An odd thing I have noticed is that many Ron Paul Supporters also seem to love Che Guevara, or at least they have promoted Ron Paul as a Che Guevara type of hero. These types of people are as clueless about the world as their Lefty Cousins who celebrate Che's murders.

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"The most redeeming feature of capitalism is failure" -Kevin Duffy

Graphic courtesy Free Speech Stickers

From an interview in Barron's:

Barron’s: You’ve said that perhaps the most redeeming feature of capitalism is failure. Please explain.

Duffy: Any healthy system needs a way to correct error and remove waste. Nature has extinction, the economy has loss, bankruptcy, liquidation. Interfering in this process lengthens feedback loops. Error and waste are allowed to accumulate, and you ultimately get a massive collapse.

Capitalism is primarily attacked by two groups: utopians who wish to impose a more “compassionate” system, and political capitalists who want to enjoy the fruits of success without bearing the pain of failure. They use the coercion of the state to gain privileges, at the expense of everyone else.

and

Barrons: What about the argument that a financial panic would have ensued and crushed the little guy?

Duffy: The little guy actually has been crushed. Nobody is asking where this money is coming from. And the money has to essentially flow into the political economy at the expense of the real economy. The little guy is always going to be the last one in the soup line. So he will get a bone tossed to him, like cash for clunkers. But if you are Goldman Sachs or if you have got essentially the red bat-phone to Washington, D.C., you are first in line.

Source: Barron's

Hat Tip: Chicago Boyz

Commentary

It is my opinion that some people know EXACTLY what they are doing. Their goal is to collapse our system, to make it so undesirable that we will take their offer of an alternate system as the answer to ease our suffering. If you want to know more, read about Revolutionary Defeatism or the Cloward-Piven Strategy...which are both essentially the same thing. The first article gives you more detail on the background and psychological motivators of the socialists seeking to destroy Western Civilization.

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Columbus Day Has Many Names, Many Parades

Many countries in the New World and elsewhere celebrate the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, which occurred on October 12, 1492 in the Julian calendar and October 21, 1492 in the modern Gregorian calendar, as an official holiday. The day is celebrated as Columbus Day in the United States, as Día de la Raza (Day of the Hispanic People) in many countries in America, as Día de las Culturas (Day of the Cultures) in Costa Rica, as Discovery Day in The Bahamas, as Día de la Hispanidad and Fiesta Nacional inSpain, as Día de las Américas (Day of the Americas) in Uruguay and as Día de la Resistencia Indígena (Day of Indigenous Resistance) in Venezuela. These holidays have been celebrated unofficially since the late 18th century, and officially in various countries since the early 20th century.


That is from Wikipedia, and the article goes into detail about the holiday and the recent controversy from the Left regarding the holiday.





This is a video from a Columbus Day Parade in Brooklyn, New York.


You can also watch a parade from Westerly, RI that has been uploaded in short segments to YouTube, and you can also visit a website set up for the annual event. 

Here is a short video from the History Channel on Columbus Day:




In recent years, there has been an attempt by Cultural Marxists (who hide their agenda under the umbrella of 'multiculturalism') to demonize the holiday that means so much to the Italian community in America, and has been celebrated for generations as part of the heritage of Western Civilization. It was a big deal when I was in school, but not any more. A big chunk of our history and culture is being washed away. 

Travis Rowley has an article at Intellectual Diversity about the successful attempt by Progressive students to change the name of the holiday on Brown University's calender that is a good encapsulation of what is
happening to the holiday today.

It will be interesting to see whether or not President Obama will recognize the holiday, and if he does, what spin he will put on it. 

Here is a video of President Bush observing the holiday in 2003:




HAPPY COLUMBUS DAY!!!

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Perceptions of Reality

Lefties are fond of trying to sell the public a grossly distorted perception of reality in their attempt to steer our society in the direction they want to it to proceed...toward socialism and total government control over every aspect of your life, what you eat, what you wear, and even what type of toilet paper you can use. 


In just one tiny arena of this conflict they wage against reality is who is perceived as popular and who is not, especially when it comes to one of their darlings...Keith Olbermann. 


Ask any Lefty, or any one off the street, who has the most viewers, Countdown with Keith Olbermann or The Glenn Beck TV Show...and I'd be willing to bet you the majority would say Keith Olbermann.


Why is that? 


Take a look at the way those in the media portray Keith Olbermann. He is presented (marketed, really) by them as a happening guy and always in a positive light. 


Contrast that with the way Glenn Beck is portrayed. As a crazy, out of control, even dangerous man who is manipulating his viewers. 


This is part of a technique designed to give people a false perception of reality. If they can convince enough people that it is so, eventually it may become so...and on the occasion when it doesn't, it is viewed as an unexplainable phenomena, or as the result of unfair manipulation. 


Here are the ratings for 5pm from Wednesday, when Glenn Beck is on the air:


5PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
Glenn Beck– 2,874,000 viewers (728,000) (1,258,000)
Situation Room—790,000 viewers (224,000) (283,000)
Hardball w/ Chris Matthews—450,000 viewers (104,000) (230,000)
Fast Money—219,000 viewers (59,000) (111,000)
Prime News–314,000 viewers (107,000) (193,000)


and here are the numbers from 8pm (Prime Time) when Keith Olbermann is on from the same day:


8PM – P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor– 3,536,000 viewers (934,000) (1,544,000)
Campbell Brown – 671,000 viewers (253,000) (331,000)
Countdown w/ K. Olbermann – 904,000 viewers (331,000) (478,000)
Marijuana Inc. – 415,000 viewers (209,000) (194,000)
Nancy Grace – 957,000 viewers (358,000) (526,000)


See what I mean? Even Bill O'Reilly destroys  Keith Olbermann by a 3 to 1 margin in the time slot they share! Even in the coveted 25-54 age bracket, Olbermann is beaten handily by BOTH Beck and O'Reilly. 


Remember this the next time you are bombarded by Lefties (or the Propaganda Arm of the Left...the Media) who are trying to sell you a false perception of reality.






Ratings numbers provided by TV By The Numbers.

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Hugo Chavez: "Capitalism Needs to go Down"

TEHRAN, Iran – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ridiculed the G-20 summit's attempts to deal with the global financial meltdown, saying that the "values of capitalism are in crisis" and capitalism "has to end."

Speaking to Venezuelan state television late Thursday, Chavez said the United States and Britain are "the most guilty" for the financial crisis sweeping the globe because of the financial model "they've been imposing for years."

"It's impossible that capitalism can regulate the monster that is the world financial system, it's impossible," Chavez said. "Capitalism needs to go down. It has to end. And we must take a transitional road to a new model that we call socialism."

The Venezuelan leader's comments came during a trip to Iran. In recent years, Chavez and Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — both well-known for their anti-U.S. rhetoric — have boosted economic and political ties.

Source: Yahoo! News

Hat Tip: Drudge Report

Sounds like the leaders of Venezuela and Iran are are lockstep with the lefties in Europe who are protesting the G20 Summit, as demonstrated in this video:



And we need to consider that even if the progressives in America bristle at being called socialist...they have certainly allied themselves with the socialists in Europe:

The Global Progressive Forum (GPF) is a common initiative of the Party of European Socialists along with its political group in the European Parliament, and the Socialists International. The GPF sprang up from the success of the first World Social Forum held in January 2001 in Porto Alegre, in Brazil. The Global Progressive Forum aims to bring together a diversity of peoples from Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, India, and Latin America to discuss and propose alternatives to the negative aspects of the current globalization process which specifically affects the developing world.
As the G-20 wraps up in London, another global forum is about to get underway in Brussels. The Global Progressive Forum (GPF) will bring together progressive politicians, trade unionists, NGOs, academics and figures from major international institutions from five continents to develop a new vision of a globalized world which benefits all of humanity not just a select few. The GPF will take place in the European Parliament and will be opened by former US President Bill Clinton.

The Global Progressive Forum will feature debates and discussions on the issues of global governance, trade, financial markets, fair labour markets, migration and climate change, all aimed at coordinating global answers to the multitude of global crises that we face.

Source: MyDD

Related: The Global Progressive Forum

We should be cognizant of who the real enemies of freedom and capitalism are, and it is sad that many of them have been operating within our system for decades with the express goal of bringing it down. Now, many of them have the reigns of power and the damage they will do will make FDR look like a piker...

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USA Today Poll Reveals Younger People Don't Trust Nuclear Power

Lord, save us from the Luddite children!!!

Here are the results of a poll on USA Today I just saw regarding support for building nuclear power plants in the United States:

35% 18-31 years old

47% 32-43 years old

52% 44-62 years old

63% 63 years and older

This is just another example of the disgrace of our public education system being overrun by lefties who think it is more important to teach cultural marxism than it is to teach science and math.

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Cow Dung: It's For Supper in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe

The decades-long march to oblivion by Robert Mugabe is a disaster for the people of Zimbabwe, which was once the breadbasket of Africa.

Now, after Mugabe has run the farmers off their land and allowed squatters to take possession and farm on their own...that African nation teeters on the edge, and remains propped up by the Legacy Media types while the people have to mix cow dung with their food in order to avoid starvation. 

Harare, Dec 10, 2008 / 08:01 pm -- Caritas Internationalis is warning that the crisis in Zimbabwe is so grave that people facing crushing food shortages are mixing cow dung with their food.

With pressure continuing to mount on President Mugabe to relinquish his hold on power, Zimbabweans are suffering the consequences of his government’s policies.

Besides the lack of food, people are also suffering a cholera epidemic and crippling hyperinflation.

Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Lesley-Anne Knight reports that "people in Zimbabwe are dropping dead on the streets from Cholera. They’ve witnessed people mixing cow dung with what’s left of their food to make it go further. This is poverty at its most dehumanizing."

..... A Caritas survey in October found 70 to 90 percent of households going hungry and the remainder on the brink of starvation. At least 5.1 million people are facing starvation out of a population of 13 million people. Additionally, nearly 14,000 cases of Cholera have been reported.

Source: News Busters

An excellent historical sketch of the destruction of the breadbasket of Africa by Robert Mugabe can be found in a December 2003 article in The Atlantic Magazine, entitled, appropriately enough, "How To Kill A Country".

Previously: 

Zimbabwe Releases $500,000,000 Note, 
Inflation at 165,000 Percent

Pets Killed For Food In Zimbabwe

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Obama Supporters Enter GOP Campaign Office & Mace Employees-- Including Elderly Women

Read the disgusting story on Gateway Pundit.

How long before people like the woman in the video below resort to violence also?

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Barack Obama: More Connections To Socialists

I am sickened to think of the battles I have waged (and blood spilled) to destroy Socialism in other countries, only to find that my homeland has been under attack using subtle methods since before I was born by people who agree with every major tenet of Communism.

Here is a photo of Obama with some of those people bent on destroying our Republic:



The New Party was the creation of DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) and the radical community organisation ACORN-which was in itself something of a DSA front. In some areas the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) was involved, but in Chicago the CPUSA splinter group Committees of Correspondence (CoC)was more prominent. Carl Davidson is well aware that Marxists set up the Chicago New Party because he was one of them.

From Chicago DSA's New Ground of March/April 1995

On January 27th approximately 45 people attended the Chicago DSA and Chicago CoC organized public form at the ACTWU hall on Ashland Ave... Chicago DSA was represented by Co-Chair, Kurt Anderson and Political Education Officer, Bob Roman. CoC was represented by Carl Davidson, who is a member of CoC's National Coordinating Committee and Ronelle Mustin, an activist from the 22nd ward. The event was chaired by Sandi Patrinos, chair of Chicago CoC...

Carl Davidson wanted to focus on "voting patterns." ...To win elections, Davidson emphasized that there are two necessary coinciding factors. First, a passive majority... Secondly, a militant minority...

Davidson emphasized that in this historical period the Left's strategy must be electoral politics not revolution. Consequently the Left must galvanize the "majority" - the working class and poor... Moreover the democratic left needs get active in the New Party which has won 20 of 30 local elections. Thus a short-term strategy of working with the Democratic Party and in the long-term work with the New Party.

Source: New Zeal (This guy has done excellent work in digging up and making the connections of Obama's Radicalism. His blog should be required reading for all conservatives).
Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit
Related: Basic Facts About Chicago DSA

Commentary

Barack cannot escape his past actions and associations, just like John Kerry felt the millstone of his past, so will Barack Obama. To quote Adama from Battlestar Galactica:

"Sooner or later, the day comes when you can't hide from the things that you've done anymore."

I know it was a part of the grand strategy to wait until October to start really pounding Obama on his past, but I think it should have been sooner...so that it would get out to a greater number of people, and a ground game used to explain it it to people. I don't think three weeks is enough time.

One thing I know for sure, is that we will have to rebuild the Republican Party from the ground up and establish a grassroots communication network of networks to make sure that we don't get blindsided by a RINO like McCain ever again, and we will be able to go around TV Networks that take sides in the political realm.

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Gun Scare Locks Down School in Henderson County

At about 8:55 a.m. today, a bus driver leaving the
campus saw the female holding what looked like rifle and sling. He returned back to the school and alerted school authorities. School Resource Officer Deputy Terry Tweed called for assistance and the school was placed on emergency lockdown.

When Henderson County Sheriff deputies arrived on scene, they determined the area where the person was sighted was private property and the school was never in any danger.

Source: Asheville Citizen-Times

Commentary

What in the world is wrong with people? And what is wrong with someone practicing their Constitutional Rights?

When was in school, we carried rifles and shotguns on the school bus during hunting season. When we got to school, we would leave them in the Principal's office. After school, we would cut through the woods on our way home, bagging some squirrels and rabbits as walked home. It was not unusual for a deputy or highway patrolman to stop and shoot the bull with us when we were on the side of the road.

We never shot anyone, or even thought about using our weapons in anger. We did, however, speak in hushed tones about the best ways to take out Russians with them if we were ever invaded. This was in the 70's and very early 80's.

What has happened to us? Someone sees a weapon near a school and they freak out, locking the school down and calling law enforcement? This is teaching our children that weapons are to be feared, and that it is not right for someone to have them.

Due to the policy of "zero tolerance" it would be unwise for anyone to even suggest that they carried weapons on school grounds, or knew of people who did...so I won't go there.

I want my country back from the people who stole it.

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