CPAC Stars Show Off Firm Grasp Of 'What Socialism Is'

Or not. Mostly not.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's amore. When you are a Republican and think something is bad but don't have a good way to criticize it that doesn't make your party look bad, that's a socialism. Or a Marxism. One of the two.

Although the problem with not bothering to know the definition of the thing you are supposedly so very scared of is that sometimes you end up advocating for that very thing, on accident.

At CPAC this week, TPUSA's Charlie Kirk accidentally did some Marxism while suggesting a socialist solution to a problem caused by capitalism.

While at CPAC, Charlie Kirk said he wants the Republican Party to message on making home ownership easier and proposed a “national recovery program” because high rent and unaffordable housing are creating socialists.pic.twitter.com/Eupq8nKor8

— PatriotTakes 🇺🇸 (@PatriotTakes 🇺🇸) 1645817797 

In an interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network's Liz Willis, Kirk began talking about how it's understandable — but terrifying — that kids these days are turning to socialism, because of how they can't afford to live anywhere, they can't afford to buy a house and they can't afford to have kids.

To be clear, that statement right there is Marxism. It's literally Marxism . The capitalist view of things is that when these things occur, when things are horrible and impossible enough for them for a long enough time, people are then motivated to pull themselves up by their bootstraps and find success. The Marxist view is that they will embrace socialism and revolution. The term "American exceptionalism" was initially used to describe America's supposed immunity to the Marxist rules of history — that because people here really bought into the idea that anyone had a chance to succeed if they worked hard enough. Of course, as this becomes less and less true — and more noticeably less true due to the internet making the country a much smaller place — it becomes harder to pretend.

But I digress!

Kirk actually had the chutzpah to say, during the interview, "I just think there's an even bigger opportunity though, to say to the young person that is paying too much rent and is not having kids because it's too expensive, we're the party that's going to make it easier to do those things."

Oh really? How? By lowering taxes on rich people? Oh! Or should we deregulate financial institutions so we can have a repeat of the Great Recession and the subprime mortgage crisis? That would be a swell idea. He could hand out new bootstraps, but that would be socialism.

Somehow, Kirk tries to blame Biden's "policies" for skyrocketing rent prices, which sure is odd given that rent prices have been skyrocketing for years. He fails to mention, of course, what these policies were. Is it the child tax credit? I'll bet you it is not. Was it "examining the ways Trump fucked up the housing situation?" 

Biden directed the Department of Housing and Urban Development to “examine the effects of the previous Administration’s regulatory actions that undermined fair housing policies and laws” and use its findings to implement the Fair Housing Act’s standards as needed.

Because that wouldn't make any sense either.

The administration did propose spending $318 billion on affordable housingat first, which didn't happen, and then later proposed $170 billion for affordable housing, but that was in the Build Back Better bill that didn't pass. While we're sure Kirk could find some way to claim that funding for affordable housing made housing less affordable, somehow, that hasn't happened.

Hilariously, Kirk went on to say that what needs to happen is — wait for it — a national recovery plan . I don't know about you, but that sure sounds pretty socialisty to me. It's hard to imagine what a Republican national recovery program would look like. How would rich people paying less in taxes do anything to help people who cannot currently pay rent?

Also talking about Marxism at CPAC was Marco Rubio. Now, you'd think that, being Cuban, Rubio might have some earthly idea about what Marxism is. As it turns out, he does not. Judging by the ten-minute speech he gave, he seems to think that Marxism is cancel culture and public health measures, which will inevitably lead to Christians not being allowed to quote the Bible. It is also possible that he wrote this speech by just pulling random right-wing scare words out of a hat.

Via Florida Politics:  

“I believe there are a lot of people in this country influenced by Marxism that don’t even realize they’re being influenced by Marxism,” Rubio warned a conservative crowd in Orlando. “It’s infused in every aspect of our lives and our society.”

In a roughly 10-minute speech, Rubio lamented the alleged influence of Marxism and cited cancel culture as proof of its prominence.

College campuses, he suggested, are ground zero. He lamented censorship and “digital mobs,” saying Marxism is far more than an economic theory.

“Every single person in this room … you’re one word, you’re one statement, you’re one retweet, you’re one like away from destroying your life,” Rubio said.

That is not what Marxism is.

He took issue with citizens needing to produce “papers” to dine out or otherwise participate in society.Such protocols are in effect ahead of the State of the Union Address on March 1.

“What’s happening now in America is what happens after 20 years of infusing this Marxist thought process into every aspect of our lives,” Rubio said.

More, though, is at stake than just politics, Rubio argued. He warned Marxists possess an “insatiable appetite” for control and power.

That's also not a thing.

“If this trend continues … we will live to see the day where mainstream Judeo-Christian values, when excerpts out of the Bible, are considered hate speech,” Rubio added.

Well I think that depends on the excerpt and the context in which it is being used. Given the fact that the Bible has been used to justify pretty much every horrific thing in history, including slavery and Jim Crow, it is certainly possible for it to be used in the context of hate speech. If a member of the KKK gets up and quotes from the Bible to justify his views — which has certainly happened before — it's probably going to be pretty hateful. Similarly, if people use the Bible to justify discrimination against LGBTQ people, that will also be quite hateful.

However, if people want to start going around doing unto others as they would have them do unto them, I don't think anyone would have a problem with that (as long as said people are not masochists).

It's usually been easy for conservatives to get what they want by screaming about socialism and Marxism. It energizes their base and scares Democrats out of doing things. But Kirk and Marx are right about one thing — the more horrible capitalism makes our lives, the better socialism looks. Which is probably why people like Rubio are steering clear of talking about how the evils of Marxism and socialism could lead to single payer health care for all, free college, affordable housing, unions, just terminations and childcare and instead claiming it has something to do with why your entire family has blocked you on Facebook and you lost your job for using a racial slur.

Progress?

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