Now, before I launch into a much-deserved lambasting of Bartender Sandy — aka AOC or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — let me confess that when I finished college, I was a tried-and true Marist. After serving as an officer in the U.S. Navy and journeying into a combat zone (Vietnam), I took my honorable discharge and visited London. In London, my primary focus was to find the grave of Karl Marx and pay tribute, which I did.
Later, upon joining the true working world, I came to realize that Marxism just wasn’t the solution I once thought it was. Over the next decade, I left the Democratic party and voted for Ronald Reagan twice and for every Republican candidate for president (and for all other offices) ever since.
That doesn’t mean I don’t understand the allure of Marxism. An equal and just society that provides for all citizens is something we all desire, but Marx and his followers — when given the chance to govern — only figured out how to enslave people.
The appeal of a just and equal society is what is driving impressive crowds to cheer on AOC and Senator Bernie Sanders (I./Commie – Vermont) on their “Fight Oligarchy” tour. Of course, Sanders is now a millionaire — thanks to government perks known as kickbacks and “contributions,” etc. — and AOC is well on her way. The millionaire Marxists in action, flying stop to stop in a private jet with a tally of aoubt $250,000.
I must also add that when I listen to both Sanders and AOC, the Marxist in me nods its head. However, such revolutionary dreams don’t work in real life and never will because, as Lord Acton observed, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
The two also engage in a lot of economic daydreaming. Now, “Medicare for all” sounds wonderful, but has either one of these revolutionaries figured out how to pay for it?
Yeah, right, soak the rich, who already pay 95-plus percent of all taxes collected. I seem to recall that Vermont, Bernie’s home state, tried to enact universal health care and gave up because it was too expensive.
As a retiree, I have Medicare Advantage, and I agree that it’s a wonderful program. If enacted for all, a slew of consequences would result, including long waiting lists for doctor visits, tests, operations — you name it — along with the deterioration of care in general due to overwork and underpay for the medical professionals trying to help people.
Canada already has a “Medicare for all” system in place, and where do the wealthy go to avoid long waits and piss-poor care? Right here to the U.S. of A.
Anyway, let’s look ahead in 2028 and the presidential sweekstakes. AOC actually seems likely to be a top contender — if not the top contender — for the Demofiend nomination. I give her mucho credit for being a great campaigner. Sanders too, if still alive and vital, will no doubt throw his hat in the ring as well.
The one who interests me the most, because I live in the state he governs, is Gavin Newsom, whom I refer to as Governor Gruesome. Following the disastrous and avoidable Southern California forest fires early in 2025, he started a podcast, during which he cosies up to conservatives, nods his head in feigned agreement, and then goes on to keep governing like a Woke Oligarch (he owns a winery or two or three, by the way).
Gruesome’s latest quote shows him questioning the Demofiend party to which he belongs: “I don’t know what the [Democrat] party is. I’m still struggling with that.”
Well, the rest of us are still struggling with that too, but you’re only faking it, Mr. Cabernet.
AOC and Bernie — love ’em or detest ’em — are currently the guiding lights of the once-dominant, once-worker-friendly party of people who call themselves Democrats, but who hardly resemble the true meaning of that word.