By Matthew Vadum -- Front Page Mag——Bio and Archives--July 26, 2018
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I just got out of jail. Thank you for everyone’s love and support. Let me be real: jail is terrible. But my experience was nothing compared to the children and families who are jailed indefinitely. Pray for them, not me. #mepolitics #FreeTheChildren
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I'm running for U.S. Senate because our democracy is under attack from the corrupting influence of big money. From income inequality to climate change to public education and more, issues that are critical to the future of America are being ignored because powerful people are paying our politicians to look the other way. Mainers deserve a senator who is going to fight for their interests, not the interests of campaign donors.Now with his full-throated embrace of the DSA, Ringelstein can add the abolition of market-based economics and the destruction of America’s free institutions to his list of campaign promises. Those who fancy themselves moderates among the Democrats are pushing back against the perceived hard turn to port being executed by DSAers like Ocasio-Cortez and other candidates for office. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insists Ocasio-Cortez’s victory does not indicate a significant trend. "They made a choice in one district," Pelosi said. "So let’s not get yourself carried away as an expert on demographics and the rest of that." Pelosi rejects the idea that socialism is gaining ground among Democrats. "It's ascendant in that district perhaps," Pelosi said in a reference to New York's 14th congressional district, where Ocasio-Cortez is running. "But I don't accept any characterization of our party presented by the Republicans. So let me reject that right now."
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez is a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, whose platform, like hers, is more Socialist than Democratic. Her dreams of new federal spending would bankrupt the country or require very large tax increases, including on the working class. Her approach foresees government ownership of many private companies, which would decimate the economy and put millions out of work. […] Ms. Ocasio-Cortez didn’t speak much about foreign policy during the primary, but when she did, it was from the DSA policy book—meaning support for socialist governments, even if they are dictatorial and corrupt (Venezuela), opposition to American leadership in the world, even to alleviate humanitarian disasters (Syria), and reflexive criticism of one of America’s great democratic allies (Israel).The socialism that Ocasio-Cortez, Ringelstein, and Sanders cheer on doesn’t poll well.
Although Sanders remains highly popular among Democratic voters (and Americans generally), in the American Barometer survey, 64 percent of Democratic respondents said they would not vote for a "socialist." Among respondents who said they voted for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election, 59 percent said they would not support a self-described socialist.These data may be music to Republican strategists’ ears, but they are at risk of being misread. Republicans risk overplaying their hand if they assume that Americans are uniformly opposed to socialism. After all, socialism is popular among younger Americans (even though a big chunk of them probably have no idea what it actually is) and a radical socialist named Barack Obama whose hatred of the values of his native land compelled him to promise to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” beat two GOP rivals to win the White House. Americans are only one silver-tongued politician away from having a socialist in the White House – again.
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Matthew Vadum, matthewvadum.blogspot.com, is an investigative reporter.
His new book Subversion Inc. can be bought at Amazon.com (US), Amazon.ca (Canada)
Visit the Subversion Inc. Facebook page. Follow me on Twitter.