Why do people on the left believe what they believe?
Weinstein believes that communism stems from insurmountable bad luck. And while there may be some truth to this, it is not the primary cause. Communism is primarily a function of envy. And there is a class of people who stoke the envy, not for the good of society, certainly not the good of the working classes, but to accumulate power for themselves.
Has history not proven this time and again? If this fact troubles you, just name one communist leader who lived a communist life? Just one.
Bret goes on to argue that the best way to immunize people from communist impulses is to give people access to the market, the tools to compete in the market, and an incentive to do it.
Excellent. But left unsaid is that the left believes this can and should be done with some series of never-ending government programs. The reality is that the best way to do this is to limit the burden of government on everyone: Employer, employee, entrepreneur, investor, laborer, etc.
Further, Bret wants to hypothesize and test solutions to our various problems. And that sounds great. But who ends up controlling the process? Again, the government. And government is unwieldy and bureaucratic. Hypothesize, test, fail, re-tool, try again differently. This is not something government does. It is not something government has ever done. But you know who has always done this? The free market.
When government is involved, they bring their bureaucracy and their group think and their politics and their power dynamics. And their guns. It is always worth remembering that everything the government does, and every policy that it enacts, is at the point of a gun. Group think with guns. That pretty much sums up every government ever.
But that is not the worst of it. Leftist leaders care very little about policy. They only care about policy insofar as it helps them achieve and maintain power. They certainly do not care about the long term effects and consequences of their policies. So Weinstein's hypothesizing process is never actually done. The left's so-called solutions are only proposed to win elections. To the extent that anything ever gets done, there is zero attention to efficacy. The whole thing is a sham.
So let's keep government in a small box, doing only the absolutely necessary. Yes, I realize this ship has sailed. But this should be our goal.
This is so obvious that it begs the question, why do leftists believe what leftists believe? Well there are two kinds of leftists. The small group I mentioned above who lust for power. And the wider useful idiots, some driven by envy, some driven by other emotions, who buy all the bullshit sold by the power players. Many of the useful idiots have turned away from faith in God and replaced it with faith in government. And as with any religion, faith does not make it true.
I like Bret, I really do. I have learned a great deal from him. But I wonder what kind of leftist he is?