GOP Rep Says If We Love Communism So Much, We Should Go Die Of Heatstroke In Europe
In most circumstances, 'Go to Europe, why don't you!' is a pretty nice thing to say to someone.
Never let it be said that I don’t appreciate some terrible fan fiction.
In an interview Thursday, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Lisa McClain was asked by some blonde Newsmax anchor whose name I’m not going to bother looking up to share her “thoughts about this socialist momentum that is now really sweeping the country with the talk and promise of free this and free that and money from the rich.”
Now, Lisa McClain is a very dedicated capitalist who definitely knows what capitalism is, which is why the very first well she went to upon giving us the business was … public schools.
“Well, let's be honest, nothing's free. Last I checked, the teachers. Are they teaching for free?” she asked.
Boy, that is a hell of a point. No, teachers don’t teach for free — but the students do learn for free. In fact, public schools are, perhaps, one of the best explanations for how all this “free stuff” stuff is supposed to work. Because it’s not actually “free stuff,” it’s “stuff we pay for, but in a way that actually makes sense and benefits us all as a society.”
This is why I always like to point out that the people who respond to the idea that healthcare is a human right by crying “You’re not entitled to anyone’s labor!” — as if there is some sort of devious plan here to enslave doctors and force them to work for free — really should have spent more time in school, finding out how school works.
Let us continue on with Rep. McClain’s understanding of economic systems though, for fun!
“The grocery stores!” she exclaimed. “Mamdani wants free groceries or government-run grocery stores. That's great. Free everything! So the people are teaching for free. The people are working for free. Someone has to pay the bill!”
Again, no. No one is teaching for free, no one is working for free (volunteers aside), “the bill” is paid for with taxes and people paying for their own groceries. Municipally owned grocery stores are actually nothing new and have been used to combat food deserts in many rural areas across the country, including in the famously liberal states of Kansas, Florida (for a while, anyway), and Georgia.
In several states, many of them quite red, the state runs all liquor stores. In Michigan, the state is the lone legal distributor of wholesale distilled spirits and is also solely in charge of setting the retail prices for said distilled spirits. So Rep. McClain may want to check her own backyard for some of those rogue commies.
That being said, I’d love to hear what she thinks ought to be done about food deserts. Private, capitalist companies are always going to do what is going to net them the biggest profit, and they often do not see a benefit to opening stores in these areas — whether because they are underpopulated or because they are located in an area where people don’t have as much money to spend. A government-run store that doesn’t need to turn a profit, doesn’t have shareholders to which it is beholden, seems like a pretty sensible idea to me. What’s her idea?
“People risk their lives to come to America because of what we have. Capitalism. We have a democracy. We have freedom of speech. We have love of country,” McClain continued, as though the United States is the only country that has those things. “And for the people in our country who want to turn this country into a communist country — leave! You're free to leave. The beauty about America is you can leave. Go to Europe where they're experiencing this heat wave and they don't have any air conditioning! See how well that works for you!”
Firstly, many countries have those things and, incredibly, also have health care, robust social safety nets, and other nice things. They are not communist, they are mixed economies, just like the United States. They just happen to be mixed a little better.
If the United States were purely capitalist, we would, again, not have public schools, we would not have fire departments, we would not have police (although …), we would not have any social safety nets, no Social Security, no social services, street cleanings, etc. It would be a very bad time — and if Republicans are upset about having to look at unhoused people now …
The closest any modern nation has ever come to a purely capitalist society is Chile under Pinochet, and they really had to kill and torture a whole lot of people to make that work.
Second, they don’t have air conditioning in northern Europe for a variety of reasons, not one of which is “communism.”
Third, “Go to Europe, why don’t you!” is, in most circumstances, a pretty nice thing to say to someone.
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The thing you’ll notice about these criticisms is that they never really get into the details of what the candidates actually want to do, or they’ll come up with some strange, telephone-gamed version of them. I always assume it’s because they worry that people will go “Wait — I would actually like these things.” I mean, just look at this Fox illustration.
Be still our beating hearts!
In Rep. McClain’s case, however, I think we can fairly assume that, given her less-than-firm grasp on basic economic concepts, that she’s just making it up as she goes along.
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The reason most of Europe doesn't have air conditioning is *because they've never needed it*. Just like huge chunks of New England now have to have swamp coolers and window units because summers are *way* hotter than they used to be up there.
This woman is, unfortunately, my representative.