Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is at it again: the 2020 presidential hopeful who infamously honeymooned in the USSR gushed over another communist dictatorship during the CNN Democratic presidential primary debate on Sunday.
Sanders inadvertently praised capitalist reforms in his answer to Univision’s Ilia Calderon, who asked why he had such hearty praise for literacy programs in Cuba under dictator Fidel Castro despite the fact that Castro “jailed, tortured and killed thousands of Cubans.”
Calderon was referring to Sanders’ “60 Minutes” interview with Anderson Cooper in which Sanders said, “We’re very opposed to the authoritarian nature of Cuba but you know, it’s unfair to simply say everything is bad.
“When Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program. Is that a bad thing? Even though Fidel Castro did it?” he mused.
Examples from Castro’s literacy curriculum show exactly what Sanders chose to endorse.
One a children’s book features propaganda such as an illustration of Castro leading his men with the charge that translates to “Liberty or death!” as well as an ode to the socialist dictator about his “gun” and “faith” beneath other flattering illustrations.
Some of the curriculum for the Castro dictatorship’s massive communist indoctrination program masquerading as a “literacy program,” which Bernie Sanders still praises.
Images of the Day: This is what socialist Cuba's 'literacy program' really looks like - go.shr.lc/3aSOKOM
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With proof of his shocking affection for totalitarian leaders already circulating, Sanders chose to express his affection for another communist regime rather than walk back a word of what he said about Castro.
“I have opposed authoritarianism, whether it’s in Cuba, whether it’s in Saudi Arabia, whether it’s in China or whether it is in Russia. That is my life record,” he told Calderon, despite much evidence to the contrary.
“I believe, unlike the president of the United States, in democracy, not authoritarianism, in Cuba or any place else,” he continued.
Calderon pressed him, asking, “Shouldn’t we judge dictators by the violation of human rights and not by any of their alleged achievements?”
“Well, I think you can make the same point about China,” Sanders replied. “China is undoubtedly an authoritarian society, OK. But would anybody deny, any economist deny, that extreme poverty in China today is much less than what it was 40 or 50 years ago? That’s a fact. So I think we condemn authoritarianism, whether it’s in China, Russia, Cuba, any place else. But to simply say that nothing ever done by any of those administrations had a positive impact on their people would, I think, be incorrect.”
Although Sanders would love nothing more than to credit his collectivist views with China’s strong economic position, China’s recent economic recovery is directly related to its embracing of free-market principles.
China is only second to the United States in the size of its economy, and over the past decade was responsible for one-third of the world’s economic growth. This only happened after the Chinese government relinquished some control over the means of production.
Mao Zedong was the Chairman of the Communist Party of China and served as the country’s leader from 1949-1976 in a brutal dictatorship that killed millions of its own citizens.
After the death of Mao, Deng Xiaoping led the Communist Party of China through economic reforms beginning in December of 1978.
Known as the “opening” of China, these reforms ushered in fundamental changes including de-collectivizing farming, allowing private citizens to open businesses, permitting foreign investors and eventually privatizing all but a few key industries.
It was only after these capitalist reforms that over a billion people in China were able to pull themselves out of poverty.
What Bernie praised — economic prosperity — is the result of the free market at work. Death and illness under a shroud of secrecy enforced by a totalitarian government — that is really the hallmark of regimes that Bernie Sanders loves so much.
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