Crony Capitalism

What on earth is "democratic Socialism"? A euphemism for Bernie Sanders cryto-communist ideology, the direction that Hillary Clinton and the entire Democratic party are headed to keep the hard-left base happy, or something else? The answer is all three, but it's the 'something else' that is interesting.

The Democrats, by a significant majority, enthusiastically promote big government. The bigger the government gets, the more power Democrats derive by addicting significant percentages of citizens to government benefits paid for a shrinking band of taxpayers. Bernie Sanders is a master at this, suggesting that lots of free stuff can be had if only "the rich" were taxed more. It's a proposal that has been proposed by many leftist politicians worldwide. It also an approach that has failed in every country in which it has been tried. The real question isn't whether socialism will fail, it's when. In countries like Venezuela, socialism destroyed a vibrant country in only 20 years. In Europe, the damage has occurred more slowly, but over the past 60 years, countries like Greece, Spain, Denmark, Italy, Portugal, and many others are struggling economically and teetering financially. No matter, socialism sounds sooo good to leftists who rely on belief rather than history or a basic understanding of human nature.

If you listen to Bernie Sanders, the government should control almost everything—banks, big businesses, the "rich," healthcare, profits, executive pay—the works. It should do this with suffocating regulations, politically correct hiring, and intrusive regulation. This, of course, is to ensure that "income inequality" is erased. But at the end of the day, Bernie's covert strategy is anti-capitalist. Of course, he won't admit that, suggesting the capitalism is good—as long as it's his kind of capitalism. And Bernie's capitalism is crony capitalism. That's the 'something else' that defines "democratic socialism."

Most people have heard the phrase 'crony capitalism,' but don't really understand its intent or structure. Here's conservative commentator Jay Cost with a useful discussion:



Win or lose, Bernie Sanders run for the presidency will shape the platform of the Democratic party. As a consequence, the party will define a platform in which the government—ever more than it does today—rewards the companies it likes and punishes those that it does not like. This is wrong, whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House. Crony Capitalism sits at the core of Big Intrusive Government (BIG) and it's just one more reason why a party that promotes BIG as its central tenet should not be in the White House.