Unions are wonderful. Polls indicate that Americans are broadly supportive of labor unions and, of course, the Left absolutely loves them. Given the vast sums of money that union bosses extract from their members and pass along to the Democratic Party and progressive causes, that’s no wonder. But how well do unions serve their membership? Well, as the pandemic disclosed, the teachers’ unions serve their members very well—greatly to the detriment of students, families, and communities. But sometimes unions shiv their own members. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is one of the biggest public-sector labor unions in America. It’s also one of the most radical, and there’s a serious movement within its ranks to expel AFSCME members who work in law enforcement. The union leadership allowed a vote on an expulsion resolution at its 2022 convention and has been noticeably tepid in defense of its law enforcement membership against attacks like this from a cabal of radical leftists. Unions are supposed zealously to represent the interests of their members, but AFSCME treats the cops it represents as second-class citizens.
Amazon pays no taxes. Bernie Sanders hates Amazon because its success is a standing rebuke to his Bolshevik conception of economics. He and other progressives spend a lot of time demonizing Amazon, for instance yelling that the company pays little or nothing in taxes. This is false. It is true that thanks to the ins and outs of the federal tax code, Amazon’s effective corporate income tax rate is significantly lower than the nominal rate of 33%. Indeed, for 2017 and 2018 Amazon paid no income tax at all. In general, this is because Amazon reinvests a significant percentage of its profits to grow itself. But even so, the company pays plenty in taxes. Case in point: the employer share of the payroll tax. Amazon employs about 1.5 million people, for each of whom it pays a 7.7% tax. Then there are property taxes, sales taxes, the federal gas tax, fees of all kinds levied by government at the federal, state and local levels. And of course, every person that Amazon hires also becomes a taxpayer. Bernie Sanders & Co. want you to overlook all that because…well…because corporations are evil…
Market economies are unfair and inefficient. The economic policies of both the Left and the natcon Right—centralized economic planning, detailed government regulation, industrial policy, etc.—are justified by claims that the free market doesn’t serve the public interest. This claim, however, rests on certain dubious assumptions. One is that the proponents of such policies are entitled to define the public interest or even have a coherent idea of what it is. Another is that centralized economic planning works well in practice, which it doesn’t, the reason being that such systems are designed and operated by politicians and bureaucrats with political agendas, not entrepreneurs and businesspeople looking to make a buck. Imagine what your shopping experience on Amazon would be like if the company were run by the US Department of Commerce.
Natural disasters are caused by climate change. This cry goes up whenever a hurricane strikes, whenever a tornado wreaks havoc, whenever a wildfire torches the topography. We heard it most recently in the aftermath of the catastrophic wildfire on the Hawaiian island of Maui. But where’s the proof? Well, there isn’t any. Weather and climate being two distinct things, it’s a practical impossibility to link a given weather event to long-term climate trends. On the other hand, there’s abundant evidence that the Maui wildfire was caused by human mismanagement and incompetence—leading to a plausible suspicion that all the yap about climate change is an exercise in butt covering.
Systemic racism exists. The leftist or progressive who dreamed up the concept of “systemic racism” should be decorated with the Order of Lenin. Nowadays in America, actual racists in the bad old KKK tradition are in short supply. Jim Crow is history. But the Left needs racism like Hunter Biden needs his nose candy. Systemic racism delivers the high. It’s a clever idea, really. Any lapse in “equity” is held to be the product of the invisible racism that permeates American society. You can’t see it, smell it, taste it, but it’s there. Even better, you can’t really fight it, so it’s never going to go away. That guarantees job security for race hustlers like Ibram X. Kendi, Joy Reid and Robin DeAngelo, who are well paid to help their fellow progressives believe in this phantom menace.
The Constitution of the United States protected slavery. This belief derives from the fact that many of America’s founding fathers were slaveowners, including such luminaries as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. So of course the governing framework they devised for the United States protected their human property. So goes the progressive narrative. But if you peruse the Constitution, you will find therein no such clause protecting slavery nor, indeed, any direct mention of slavery at all. All right, progressives may say, but such protection is surely implied in a document that was written by men who owned slaves. Oh? Then why did the Civil War happen? If the Constitution protected slavery, why did the slave states secede from the Union? The obvious answer: Southern leaders knew that the Constitution did not protect slavery, so they decided to create a separate country with a constitution that did protect slavery.
People can change their gender. This one’s tricky. Assuming that “gender” is simply a brand, then perhaps people can change it. Yesterday you were cisgender; today you’re gender fluid. Well and good—but what’s different besides your pronouns? You’re the same person. Adopting a new gender has changed you no more profoundly than a change of underwear. Gender ideology’s sole purpose is to becloud the issue through corruption of language and obfuscation of reality. Only by these means can people persuade themselves that a “trans woman” is a real woman. Um, no. A trans woman is a man posing as a woman. Biology is destiny, ladies and gentlemen, even in this degenerate postmodern era.