| by Dan Mitchell |
In a perverse way, I’m kind of sad that Bernie Sanders is fading from public view.
Sure, he’s an unreconstructed leftist with genuinely horrid ideas, but Crazy Bernie has generated plenty of clever humor (see, for instance, here, here, here, here, and here).
Fortunately, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is ready, willing, and able to take his place.
So let’s share some AOC-themed satire, starting with this bonding moment with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
Next, we have some humor from America’s top satire site, the Babylon Bee.
Democratic congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scolded American leaders for not setting the minimum wage as high as Venezuela, whose hyper-inflated currency is forcing minimum wage increases all year long. …“Venezuela’s minimum wage is, like, millions per month, and ours isn’t even close to that,” she said. “…We call ourselves a developed country, but we don’t even just like print nearly as much money as Venezuela and give it out for free, because of businesses and corporations and things like that.” She also called Venezuela’s leaders “really smart” for overloading the economy with more currency, and called on America’s leadership to do the same. “It just goes to show that socialism is better because you can inflate the currency to a lot more, and more is better than less, obviously.”
Ouch.
Here’s Spock from Star Trek, attempting to detect logic.
To be momentarily serious, I’ve interacted with plenty of socialists over the years, and I don’t think their problem is lack of cognitive ability. Indeed, many of them are quite bright. And AOC is probably smart as well.
The problem is that they have a religious-like zeal for equality of outcomes and refuse to believe that the policies needed to achieve that goal will lead to serious consequences.
But let’s save that discussion for another day and stick with satire. Here’s another gemfrom Babylon Bee.
Democratic candidate for Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was in the middle of a run-of-the-mill interview—blankly staring at the interviewer for a minute straight after being asked how she’d pay for all the social programs she’s proposing—when disaster struck. She noticed a book on a table nearby and reached over to pick it up before anyone could stop her. …Ocasio-Cortez screamed as her hand burst into flames from touching the book on rudimentary economic concepts. …She was immediately rushed to the hospital. “As socialism has become increasingly popular, we’ve been seeing more and more of this,” said Doctor Pauline Hudson, who treated Ocasio-Cortez for third-degree burns. “Often it’s a severe-allergic reaction to math.
Last but not least, I don’t think this final image is close to being laugh-out-loud funny, but I nonetheless liked it a lot because it points out that leftists in the capitalist world are usually very happy to enjoy the benefits of free markets.
Indeed, the Fund for American Studies should remake this video with AOC in the starring role.
P.S. If you want other examples of Ocasio-Cortez humor, click here and here.
Daniel J. Mitchell is a public policy economist in Washington. He’s been a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, an economist for Senator Bob Packwood and the Senate Finance Committee, and a Director of Tax and Budget Policy at Citizens for a Sound Economy. His articles can be found in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Investor’s Business Daily, and Washington Times. Mitchell holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from the University of Georgia and a Ph.D. in economics from George Mason University. Original article can be viewed here.
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