Quote of the Day
Rapidly transforming the American public’s beliefs is a daunting task—all the more so if you dismiss their current values as unacceptable. The Democratic Party’s pragmatic wing has been pleading to broaden the tent, ideally before the Trump administration stamps out all opposition. The party’s progressives seem determined to reeducate the public rather than compromise for their votes. This is a seductive approach if the goal is ideological purity. It is a problem only if the party hopes to win elections.
Jonathan Chait
October 6, 2025
Democrats Still Have No Idea What Went Wrong
Ideological purity only works if the ideas have a strong correlation with reality. The problem Marxists have is that Marx’s ideas were found to be at odds with reality within a few years of him articulating them. His central concept, the labor theory of value, was rejected along with the incoherent fluff built upon that. He was a nobody until Lenin came along and concluded the incoherent fluff was actually genius.
Lenin brought Marx’s theories back from the dead, where they belonged, and laid the groundwork for the deaths of tens of millions in the Russia and U.S.S.R. As the Marxist infection spread worldwide over 100 million were murdered by their own governments. There have been hundreds of attempts to tweak the implementation of Marxist theory to create the promised utopia. While some of been far less deadly than others, the bottom line has always been that free markets and free minds outperform the Marx model of government.
Yet, 150 years after Marx’s ideas were first dropped into the dustbin, we have a major political party still trying to claim they have relevance. If they want to win elections (gain power) then they need to be at least somewhat content will a little power rather than a lot of power. They need to give up the authoritarian model of government. I suspect this is unacceptable to them and they would rather destroy the evidence they are wrong than accept the truth and exercise power within the confines of reality. The current government shutdown is only the most recent data point supporting this hypothesis.
Prepare appropriately.
The Marxists out there today subscribe to a heresy of Orthodox Marxism-cultural Marxism. Some believe that they are reverse watermelons-red on the outside and green on the inside. If this is right, they are Malthusians rather than Marxists. Malthus does have the distinction of being the only economist that was wrong more than Marx. Malthus’ day job was as a clergyman which fits with the religious fervor that the Greenies exhibit.
“Ideological Purity Only Works if Strongly Correlated with Reality.”
In a logic driven system.
But an emotionally based one? It does. Generally, not for very long of course. But as you mention, murderous as they get while it lasts.
Notice that even the schools of today are teaching an “emotional based curriculum.”
They know very well what they’re doing.
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph, is for good men to become emotional.”