Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) not only denounces socialist tyrants such as Mao, Stalin, and Hitler in his new book, The Case Against Socialism, he targets domestic socialists such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders, because in Paul’s view, these domestic socialists favor policies that, if adopted, will turn the United States into another socialist country.
And, Paul asserts, the adoption of socialism opens the door to authoritarianism, and even totalitarianism.
Paul is an example of the association between socialism and violence. Last year, a Paul-neighbor — a strong supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders, an avowed socialist — attacked Paul, leading to very serious injuries. In fact, Paul has had to have part of a lung removed as a result of the assault. Yet, typically, the liberal media down-played any political motivation by Paul’s socialism-supporting neighbor.
In an appearance on CSPAN, Paul said that while Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez call themselves “democratic” socialists, they support the “terrible ideas” of communist dictators Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, and Pol Pot. (It should be noted that, despite Sanders’ occasional protestations that the socialism he supports is not the same as the communist dictatorship under Stalin and other Soviet dictators, Sanders chose to go to the Soviet Union for his honeymoon, and has frequently praised the communist dictatorship in Cuba).
Paul also used Venezuela as an example of a country that adopted what is supposedly democratic socialism and became increasingly dictatorial. “Venezuela is such a disaster. People [are] literally eating their pets,” Paul said. “People [are] killing rats in the street to try to eat them — pigeons. It really is a sad thing.”
“We aren’t really talking about which economic system is better,” Paul added. “Nobody in the media seems to care that what AOC is supporting or what Bernie is supporting is Stalin and Mao and Pol Pot and all these terrible ideas. And they get away with it because they aren’t challenged.”
At Columbia University, at an event sponsored by the campus Libertarian group and Turning Points USA recently, an event attended by almost 300 students, Paul and his wife, Kelley, said that while socialism is harmful, they were optimistic that its recent popularization by domestic socialists would fade. Turning Points USA is a nonprofit group that “promotes the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government” to students.
One point that Paul emphasized at Columbia was that historical leaders such as Adolf Hitler, Stalin, and Mao were examples of corrupt socialist leaders responsible for the death of millions. (While Hitler is often incorrectly cited as “right wing,” the reality is that he was the head of the National Socialist Party in Germany — Nazi was simply a short-hand version of the party’s name).
“We have this belief in our country … that is equal protection under the law. That the law should treat everybody the same, no matter who you are. And yet realize that if you have complete socialism and you have equal outcome for everyone, meaning you have the government equalize everyone, the problem is that we’re not equal.”
Paul’s father is the well-known former Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who made unsuccessful bids for president to get the Republican nomination in 2008 and 2012, and Rand’s wife, Kelley, is evidently very supportive of her husband’s libertarian-conservative political philosophy, as well.
She noted that the Scandinavian countries are good examples of how socialism damages a nation. “They do have a huge welfare safety net, and for them it’s not really welfare because everyone uses it. They have free college and free healthcare, but nothing is really free. There is an enormous burden on the middle class.”
Rand Paul added, “It shouldn’t be about how rich people are. You really shouldn’t care about what other people make. It’s about what you make. There’s a problem if you’re obsessed with what everybody makes.”
In addition to the obvious apologists for socialism — politicians such as Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders — Paul blamed “Hollywood socialists,” who have praised dictators such as Hugo Chavez, Nicolas Maduro, and Fidel Castro.
In the introduction of his book, Paul tells the reader that “this is the story of an evil well documented and yet somehow still enticing … of socialism in all its drab and dreary machinelike destruction of individual thought, creativity, and ambition.… This is a story of socialism in all its violence, bloodshed, and tyranny. It is a cautionary tale of how America has so far eluded the siren call of something for nothing … but also of how close we still are to succumbing to socialism.”
Image of Rand Paul: Screenshot from senate.gov
Steve Byas is an instructor of history and government and author of the book History’s Greatest Libels, which is a defense of several historical figures who have been attacked as part of the Left’s attempt to distort history so as to promote its agenda. He may be contacted at [email protected]
