CNN Goes Hardcore Promotion of Socialism; The Right Goes Anti-Free Market

By Robert Wenzel

It has finally happened, CNN this Sunday promoted all-out socialism, the US-based socialist magazine, Jacobin, and its founder Bhaskar Sunkara.

CNN's Brian Stetler on his show, "Reliable Sources," under the guise of examining the frequent (correct) Fox News claims that the Democratic Party was socialist-leaning, brought Sunkara on the show.

But instead of proving Fox News wrong, that the Democratic Party is socialist-leaning, Stetler spent most of the segment getting Sunkara to state that there was nothing wrong with the socialist-leaning programs advocated by the Democrats such as universal healthcare, government-financed education, government-financed childcare, and government-subsidized housing.

Stetler even played a clip where Ben Stein correctly said on Fox that "Socialism is about maintaining government control over people."

Incredibly, Sunkara responded by saying that socialism was about freedom.

Stetler just maintained his fawning position and did not challenge Sunkara at all.

Just watch this, it is sad.


It is stunning that a major news network feels comfortable enough to go with such a segment.

And note well, Sunkara makes clear that Trump was an important driver for his magazine and the socialist movement.

This should not come as a surprise to anyone reading me at Target Liberty.

On November 10,  2016, two days after the presidential election, I wrote a post, The Problem With the Donald Trump Victory for LIbertarians.

I began that post this way:

Heading into the election, I felt that for strategic reasons Hillary Clinton was the best alternative for libertarians. Not because she is good on many issues, she is not, but because she would come with a ready-made opposition that would listen to libertarian arguments against her.

It would have been a great opportunity to reach out to Trump supporters and spread the libertarian message. That opportunity is now gone with the Trump victory. Trump supporters are rabid, they will likely follow him down almost any hell hole.

These people are not going to listen to our arguments for smaller government. Their man is in power.

There will be opposition to Trump but it will be coming from the left, not the Trump right.

The left is all about expanding the state. Thus, it will be very difficult to reach out to these people and present state shrinking anti-Trump ideas. They are a perfect target for the socialists.

My view hasn't changed since I wrote those words, in fact, things have gotten worse. Not only do we have an expanding socialist movement on the left but also on the right, with Trump in power, a new "national conservative" movement is emerging. National Review says national conservatism is an "intellectual Trumpist" movement.

The national conservatives are anti-libertarian and anti-free markets.

Here is a pro-national conservative reporting on what he learned at the recent National Conservative Conference:

Key lessons from the #NationalConservatism conference:

1. Populist nationalism is the future
2. Libertarianism is stupid
3. Free market ideology is stupid
4. Boomers have largely failed us
5. Religion & civilization go together
6. @HawleyMO is our champion

— varun 胡 (@varunhukeri) July 17, 2019

At the conference, Tucker Carlson was in his pro-government anti-WalMart mode:

Tucker Carlson at the National Conservatism conference: The main threat to your ability to live your life does not come from the government anymore, it comes from the private sector

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) July 15, 2019

And this from a key national conservative leader, Yoram Hazony:

As my colleagues and I see it, there's a clear need to develop a national conservatism that can be a "serious alternative to the excesses of purist libertarianism, and in stark opposition to political theories grounded in race."

— Yoram Hazony (@yhazony) June 22, 2019

At the conference, they even voted to support a national industrial policy:

The National Conservatism Conference votes in favor of resolution to adopt an industrial policy, 99-51. This is not your father’s, but your grandfather’s, conservatism.

— Patrick Deneen (@PatrickDeneen) July 16, 2019

So that is what is happening on the right during the era of Trump and on the left, of course, we have The Squad, which is particularly influential with the anti-Trump youth.

None of this is good news for those who appreciate freedom and free markets.

So while Trump in his buffoonish manner tells The Squad to "go back from where you came from," those of us who understand the horrors of central planning, left-wing or right-wing central planning,
better start thinking about where on the globe there might be a safe-haven from the central planning storm developing in the United States. We still have some time and it is possible that somehow the brunt of the storm will miss us but it is time to start putting more focus on an alternative to the United States if current trends continue to develop.

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.comand Target Liberty. He also writes EPJ Daily Alert and is author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bankand most recently Foundations of Private Property Society Theory: Anarchism for the Civilized Person Follow him on twitter:@wenzeleconomics and on LinkedIn. His youtube series is here: Robert Wenzel Talks Economics. More about Wenzel here.