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Chris Matthews, with MSNBC, just may be the greatest pied piper of all. He's been in politics since he worked for Jimmy Carter. He is a lifetime advocate for the Left.
So you know there's chaos in progressive-land when Matthews tells his own network he is "not happy" with the 2020 Democrat candidate field, saying, "None of them can beat Trump in a general election match-up."
Be informed.
I'll be taking more about the impeachment effort today on the radio. We'll talk about the latest events as the effort to remove President Trump comes to an unsuccessful end.
Webster says a Pied Piper is "one that offers strong but delusive enticement."
Progressive Chaos
Appearing yesterday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe", network host Chris Matthews conceded he was "not happy" with the 2020 Democrat candidate field and expressed worry that none of them can beat Trump in the general election.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski asked Matthews what issues the contenders have. Matthew's reply was terse and direct: "Obvious problems. They're all problems."
The American English dictionary says a pied piper is "a leader whom people willingly follow, often, specifically one who leads others into danger or trouble by means of elaborate, false premises."
Does Matthews disagree with the piper's message? No, he feels they are not effective enough in delivering their message.
Pied Piper #1
Matthews says, "Bernie Sanders is not going to be President of the United States."
He drew a parallel between the Vermont senator's campaign to 1972 Democrat nominee George McGovern---the late South Dakota senator who then-president Richard Nixon beat by a 23 point margin. That's called a landslide.
As of yesterday, while the Iowa caucuses were underway, Bernie led in the Iowa polls at 24.2%.
Dr. Paul Kengor is a professor of history and political science at Grove City College and a bestselling author. He is considered an expert on socialism and communism and its effect on a culture.
He wrote an article in the "American Spectator" titled, "Bernie's Billionaires."
In it he notes that one of Bernie's models was Fidel Castro. Kengor also notes that Bernie Sanders famously spent his honeymoon in Russia---during the heyday of the Soviet Union.
Bernie consistently tells his followers that we have "no need for billionaires in America." If you see a bumper sticker that reads "No Billionaires"---it came from the Bernie Sander's campaign.
Ironically, Fidel Castro---Bernie's model--- for the record, was much more than a mere millionaire. His estimated wealth was at $900 million and growing according to Forbes.
Kengor says, "Yet all Cuban workers---from doctors to teachers, baseball players, dentists, farmers, janitor---subsisted at a mandated 'living wage' of $1200 per year while the 'Castro brothers and a few close friends owned the island'."
But, Kengor notes "at least the serfs have free education and healthcare."
He also notes that Piper Bernie owns at least $2 million dollars' worth of real estate in a Vermont beachfront home on the Champlain Islands and a colonial home in Burlington, Vermont and a half-million-dollar row house in DC.
It's not how many homes or wealth he has---it's the lie that he spins for the mostly young, impressionable minds.
A fairly recent Harris Poll found that among young people born after 1980:
- 73% believe that government should provide universal healthcare.
- 67% believe that government should provide tuition-free college.
- And 49% prefer living in a socialist country.
The majority of students to whom Bernie is piping have been educated in public schools to believe that socialism, or even Communism, is a good thing. They have not been educated to the values of capitalism--free markets and free enterprise. In fact, they have been educated to believe that these are exploitative and actually create poverty---while every socialist, Marxist, experiment in history has miserably failed.
In a National Review article in 1997, after the Soviet Union had collapsed, historians Eugene Genovese and his wife Elizabeth, who had once published the "Marxist Perspectives" magazine, then became disillusioned with Communism said, "When it all collapsed, the question was, after 70 years, what do we have to show for it?... Tens of millions of corpses."
When Bernie shows up in town and begins to "pipe," the younger people recognize the tune and gather round to hear how great Bernie's utopia will be---and how much free stuff they will be getting.
Pied Piper #2
Elizabeth Warren embraces much of Bernie's tune, with some exceptions. However, the Left is not sure she is an authentic socialist.
Yesterday morning Warren stood at 15.6% in the Iowa polls.
The Guardian published this:
From the beginning, there were good reasons for progressive leftists not to trust that Elizabeth Warren was on their side. For one thing, she had spent much of her career as a Republican, and only recently become a champion of progressive causes. Warren worked at Harvard Law School training generations of elite corporate lawyers; did legal work for big corporations accused of wrongdoing; collected donations from billionaires; held secret meetings with investment bankers and major Democratic party donors; and stood up and applauded when Donald Trump vowed that America would “never become a socialist country”. Even at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, her most prominent initiative on behalf of ordinary borrowers, Warren brought in former Wall Street bankers, tasking financial foxes with guarding the henhouse.
The Guardian article continues,
"Because candidates will typically try to tell voters whatever they think we want to hear, it is useful when they take actions that show us where they really stand, and how we can expect them to act in office.
The conclusion is that Warren is a fake socialist. "Sanders," they say, "is far from a perfect candidate, but he is a real socialist." She is not.
Piped Piper #3
Yesterday morning Pete Buttigieg had 16.4% support in Iowa.
I've written a lot about Pete. He's well educated, well-spoken, likable to many because he is a "married" homosexual. That's kind of a progressive's dream come true---except that Pete's career as a mayor has left many in doubt regarding his ability to run the country. South Bend is a disaster under his leadership.
But they love his tune---his moral leadership.
Pete's piping usually begins and ends with quoting Scripture. Bending it to support his lifestyle and sexual behavior---helping everyone to feel good about their behavior, whatever it is---ending by telling the folks how his "marriage" to his husband has brought him closer to God.
Piper #4
Joe Biden, as of yesterday morning, held 20.2% support in Iowa. Nobody says much about Joe, because everybody knows Joe. And they know his tune. And if necessary, the Left will follow him wherever he may go.
The takeaway.
German legend has it that the Pied Piper is really a musician who rids Hamelin of its rats by leading them with his piping to the river, where they drown: in revenge for not being paid, he pipes the village children to a mountain, where they disappear.
Beware the piped pipers. "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Prayerful.