Chairman Elijah Cummings of the House Oversight Committee recently expressed his view that the four congresswomen who comprise “the Squad” are brilliant. “These are some of the most brilliant young people that I have met,” Cummings told ABC’s This Week on July 21, in reference to freshmen Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Certainly all four Squad members have been basking in the bright lights of the media. This is not surprising, considering that their “progressivism” fits the liberal media’s script. But though Squad members are in the public spotlight, how much light have they actually cast on the issues of the day? Is Cumming’s claim that the Squad members are “brilliant” spot-on?
Cummings’ glowing assessment may sound like high praise, but it is actually a condemnation — if one understands just how dimwitted socialist ideology is. The Squad members advocate socialism. Some try to make this system sound appealing by describing it as “democratic socialism,” but it is still socialism.
The Squad’s passionate pleas for socialism may be heated, but they are not enlightened. If the Squad members really are brilliant, then they are not just wrong but knowingly wrong. After all, brilliant people do not offer dimwitted proposals, unless their purpose is to try to beguile the less-informed masses. If the latter is the case — if the Squad members are truly as “brilliant” as Cummings claims — then they are also dangerous demagogues.
But what if Cummings is wrong? if the Squad members are themselves victims of poor education and don’t really know the consequences of what they are advocating, then they are unknowingly wrong and capable of being salvaged.
Let’s make an important point about this national dust-up by defining what socialism is. Most dictionaries define it as “government control of the economy.” That actually muddies the waters by leading people to believe socialism is a kindly and beneficial form of government that will ensure a $15 per hour minimum wage, guaranteed free healthcare, employment that you like, and a slew of unearned benefits.
A better definition tells us that socialism is “government control of people” or just “people control.” That perks up many more ears. It no longer sounds like a virtuous system where everyone will be cared for and there will be food, clothing, shelter, education, full employment, and more if only everyone submits to the kindness of government control.
Proud socialist George Bernard Shaw told readers of his An Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism:
Under Socialism, you would not be allowed to be poor. You would be forcibly fed, clothed, lodged, taught and employed whether you liked it or not.
If it were discovered that you had not the character and industry enough to be worth all this trouble, you might possibly be executed in a kindly way; but whilst you were permitted to live, you would have to live well.
Would any of the four subscribe to Shaw’s benevolence? I don’t think so. And Chairman Cummings would not like to be reminded of what Shaw has said because history has demonstrated that his conclusion is correct.
The second “s” in USSR was socialism not communism. Millions were executed. The word “Nazi” is a shortening of Germany’s enforced national socialism. Millions more were done in. Socialist control, better known as “people control” in the hands of dictators, invites what occurred wherever Soviet Union-type socialism prevails. And it invited the same ugly consequences in Nazi Germany. What happened in those countries (and in any satellites they controlled) is inevitable.
Socialism is even more dangerous than what is known as communism. Communists seize control and use Secret Police, KGB, and Mao Tse-tung-type force to deal with resistance. Socialists get the people to choose their system, and they destroy resistance in the process. Ergo, socialism is more dangerous.
I seriously doubt that Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley want for America what Stalin and Hitler did to the Russian or German people. Which means they aren’t brilliant, they’re simply wrong. And the same can be said for Chairman Elijah Cummings.
John F. McManus is president emeritus of The John Birch Society.
