Every writer can count among his loyal readers at least one curmudgeon. I have several. Today we consider the criticism of one special curmudgeon.
Let’s call him “Mr. C.”
Mr. C. agrees with my last several invokings of Common Sense. But he wonders, “Sure the [insert expletive here] of Republican presidential candidates are annoying, but never forget: the best Democratic candidate is worse than the worst Republican candidate.”
Mr. C. doesn’t mind ridiculing Trump, or questioning the savvy of Santorum. But, he tells me, “the very existence of a self-professed ‘socialist’ on the Democratic side suggests just how bad things have gotten.”
I don’t disagree. But should I agree with Mr. C. when he insists that “to call oneself a ‘socialist’ at this point in time is worse than calling oneself a ‘Ku Kluxer’”?
Further, Mr. C. informs me, it’s not just the candidate whose initials are “B.S.” who says outrageously commie, er, socialistic things.
“Hillary C.,” he insists, “trumps both Elizabeth Warren [who isn’t running] and B.S. with a whole wheelbarrow load of b.s. She just came out for ‘encouraging’ profit sharing by a business with its workers.”
What could be wrong with that?
Mr. C. has an answer: “All sorts of businesses engage in employee profit-sharing, aiming to encourage the proverbial ‘skin in the game.’ But forcing this is bad for many reasons.”
Again I agree. Mrs. Clinton’s proposal is just a sneaky way to play Robin Hood, without addressing the real issue behind all other issues, a lagging, red-tape bound economy.
Or, as was told to another Mr. C. years ago, “It’s the Economy, Stupid.”
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
2 replies on “C Is For Curmudgeon”
I think I know who Mr. C.’s favorite author from the past is; HLM, right.
“the very existence of a self-professed ‘socialist’ on the Democratic side suggests just how bad things have gotten”
Mr. C must be new around US politics.
I don’t recall hearing from him when Ronald Reagan appointed “self-professed socialist” Jean Kirkpatrick (formerly of Social Democrats USA) as US ambassador to the UN, or “self-professed socialist” Paul Wolfowitz (also of SDUSA) to head the National Endowment for Democracy.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mr. C reads National Review, co-founded by “self-professed socialist” James Burnham, who was formerly the leader of the US section of Trotsky’s movement.