At one time I was a member of the Socialist Worker's Party. When I was I read and still do read Socialist literature. When was the last time you read any of Lenin's writings?

How about Engels?

Do you know who Charles Fournier is?

Do you know what Marx's list of 10 things that will help turn a country socialist?

Here's a hint they are in The Communist Manifesto. I own a copy of it, do you?

What I don't think Senator Hatrack understands is, I don't spend a lot of time delving through the works of any of those guys because I don't view any of them as relevant.

Sure, I'll sprinkle a dash of quasi-socialist tweaks on my capitalism the way someone sprinkles hot sauce on scrambled eggs.
It doesn't alter the fact that I prefer capitalism.

The capitalism I happen to prefer isn't pure, but it's pretty close.

Hatrack's view of people on the left is polluted by his brief dalliance with hardcore socialist party members who DID spend lots of time poring through Marx, Lenin, Engels...

People like that are pedantic, tedious and tiresome.
I mentioned Will Rogers.
His equivalent today might be Bill Maher.

I get more guidance from Bill Maher than I will ever get from Marx and Lenin, even when he annoys the crap out of me.
I listen to Elon Musk, not Charles Fournier.

Senator Hatrack is still convinced that anyone who isn't a conservative is plotting a takeover.

Green New Deal, eh?
Senator, do you even understand how a bill becomes law?
The GND was a PROPOSAL, it was never a bill and it can't be a bill, because it isn't written as a bill.

It was also probably hurriedly and sloppily typed on some laptop at AOC's kitchen table because as a rookie she did not have the funds, resources or access to the many powerful think tanks who crank out gavel ready legislation that is given to lobbyists to put in the hands of lawmakers, who seldom if ever read the actual text.

The GND was meant to start a conversation, not send paranoid people running around screaming with their hair on fire, but then...that's what paranoid people do.

Maybe someday someone or a group of people will pick up on one or two items in the GND and float a trial balloon in the form of a bill and like all bills, it will be made into sausage, which means it will be debated, redacted, edited, modified, compromised and reconciled with the Senate.

And then it has to get past the White House Oval Office.
If you see a foaming Red Tide of Socialism, maybe try adjusting your glasses.

Senator Hatrack is still convinced that anyone who isn't a conservative is plotting a takeover.

Here's a hint they are in The Communist Manifesto. I own a copy of it, do you?

Hitler was totalitarian, Pres. Trump is not. To say Trump is like Hitler in any way is ludicrous!

Absolutely no apologies necessary, just stop telling me how I think.
Ask me.
Instead of reciting boring crap from Marx and Lenin, ASK ME what I think about the issues.

We have FIRE regulations for a reason, yes?
Fire can be a useful tool, because it can warm your home, forge your steel and iron, cook your food, etc.
It can also burn down entire towns if left unchecked.

Capitalism is a lot like FIRE. Left unregulated and unchecked, it can become predatory and very damaging, and it can unearth some pretty awful unintended consequences.

And yet when properly harnessed, capitalism can lift entire generations out of poverty, stimulate innovation and launch entirely new industries.

Capitalism has demonstrated the capability to serve as a useful and rewarding tool to serve the middle class if it operates under the right kind of regulation.