By L. Neil Smith
When I was just a little boy of nine, between Fourth and Fifth grades, my military family briefly visited New York City on our way to Pepperrell Air Force Base in St. John’s, Newfoundland. I was not impressed. Everything about the place was dirty, gritty, over-hyped, and the hotel we stayed in smelled of urine.
But for some reason what I remember most vividly was passing by a sidewalk newsstand displaying a tabloid that proclaimed “CASTRO RAPED MY DAUGHTER”. Please understand that this was 1956, and the dashing young bearded revolutionary, hell-bent on overthrowing the corrupt banana republic of brutal dictator Fulgencio Batista, was everybody’s hero.
I filed that headline away in my mind, along with intermittent claims that Fidel Castro was a communist, a notion we were all advised by our presumed betters to disregard — they were “fake news” even then. Why yours truly, a little kid, was interested in Cuban politics, I can’t tell you. Maybe it was because an actor I admired, Errol Flynn (look him up), was slightly wounded in a battle in Havana.
As time passed, we Smiths ensconced ourselves near the capital of the easternmost province of Canada, and I entered Sixth Grade. Castro’s revolution succeeded. He took Havana, the foul Batista fled to spend more time with his Swiss bank account, and I drew a satirical travel poster for my classroom urging tourists to “Come To Exciting Cuba!”
Then came the big “surprise”. Senor Castro, murderous savage that he was, stripped the thousands of proletarian volunteers who had just put him in power of their weapons, and announced to the world that, Ha-ha, he’d been a communist all along! I’m sorry I disbelieved the lady whose daughter was raped — although that was more Ernesto Che Guevara’s speed.
Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about another ruthless power-seeker who wants to disarm the Productive Class, steal all their money, and fervently denies that he’s a communist. Bernie Sanders tries to call himself a “democratic socialist” (whatever the hell that means) just like his nasty little protege Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her crew of harpies. However, here’s what world history’s greatest expert on the matter had to say about it:
“Socialism is the road to communism.” — V. I. Lenin
Bernie and his bride honeymooned in Stalin’s Russia (no matter what they tell you now — he used to brag about it). There is a video somewhere of the man lustily singing the communist “Internationale”. He has expressed fawning admiration for the communist regimes in Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua (among other places) that have turned their respective countries into cesspools, and lies about lessons learned the hard way in Scandinavia. He wants the forced collectivization of the medical industry and others. Think about Comrade Bernie gleefully nailing or welding potentially sick people into their apartments to starve to death the way they’re doing in communist China. Or shooting them outright as in North Korea.
Might he destroy the breadbasket of the world and murder innocents by the millions if Midwestern farmers refused to collectivize? Would he send the Anti-fa thugs who run his campaign to execute anyone who owns land — or a house? Would he confiscate and crush every private automobile? Would he outlaw eating meat? Would he enforce politically correct pronouns at gunpoint?
So I wonder. If Senator Soviet Sanders were to win the Presidency, by hook or by crook — which is the way most leftists always win elections — would we wake up the morning of January 20th, 2021 to “Ha-ha, I was a communist all along!”?
Just thinking.
Award-winning writer L. Neil Smith is Publisher and Senior Columnist of L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise and author of over thirty books. Look him up on Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon.com. He is available at professional rates, to write for your organization, event, or publication, fiercely defending your rights, as he has done since the mid-60s. His writings (and e-mail address) may be found at L. Neil Smith’s The Libertarian Enterprise, at JPFO.org or at https://www.patreon.com/lneilsmithHis many books and those of other pro-gun libertarians may be found (and ordered) at L. Neil Smith’s THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE “Free Radical Book Store” The preceding essay was originally prepared for and appeared in L. Neil Smith’s THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE. If you like what you’ve seen and want to see more, he says, ”Don’t applaud, throw money.“
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal.
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