Venezuela IS socialism

John Stossel destroys the ‘that wasn’t really socialism’ lie from the Left on the socialist nation of Venezuela.
Once again the national Socialist-Left is at it again with their ‘That wasn’t really socialism’ or ‘that wasn’t socialist because it wasn’t done correctly’ game this time with the socialist nation of Venezuela.
Their little game of lies began 70 odd years ago with their blatantly trying to deny the reality that a National Socialist German Workers’ Party [Nationalsozialistische deutsche Arbeiter-Partei ] was actually National Socialist German Workers’ Party. This continues to the present with a good example being a USA Today story on Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks reads from Hilter’s ‘Mein Kampf’ while bashing Democrats, media stating that:

Brooks’ emphasis on socialism in Germany appeared to be an attempt to link socialism with the Democratic Party — even though Nazis were not, in fact, socialists. They, along with Hitler, were fascists, essentially the opposite of socialists. Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party that initiated World War II and was central in the death of millions during the Holocaust.

[Our emphasis]
Sadly, the author failed to explain exactly how fascists were ‘essentially the opposite of socialists’. So we’ll have to rely on an expert opinion:

“In certain basic respects – a totalitarian state structure, a single party, a leader, a secret police, a hatred of political, cultural and intellectual freedom – fascism and communism are clearly more like each other than they are like anything in between.”
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Associate Professor of History at Harvard, New York Times Magazine, Sunday, April 4, 1948

Never the less, John Stossel takes on this issue with regards to the socialist nation of Venezuela while also eviscerating the Scandinavian socialism mythology in the process in the video and a column in Reason magazine entitled: The Socialist Fantasy

In America, progressives claim that socialism is succeeding in much of Europe. John Oliver claims, “There are plenty of socialist countries that look nothing like Venezuela.”

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders agrees, saying: “When I talk about democratic socialism, I am not looking at Venezuela. I’m not looking at Cuba. I’m looking at countries like Denmark, like Sweden.”

But those countries are not socialist!

Yes, they have big welfare programs, but their economies are more capitalist than America’s.

They set no national minimum wage. They impose fewer regulations on businesses. Their leaders even go out of their way to point out that they are not socialist. Denmark’s prime minister went on TV to respond Sanders’ comments by saying: “Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.”

The Takeaway.

At this point in time with a 400 year old track record of failure, the nation’s Socialist-Left has been reduced to arguing that socialist nations weren’t really socialist. While at the same time fostering the myth that non-socialist nations are really socialist.
It takes a certain amount of arrogance to try to rely on that kind of duplicity to prop up a failed ideology that is long past its prime as a practical governmental system. It should be clearly evident to even the Leftists that it find its rightful place on the ash heap of history.

 Originally published on the NOQ Report