OPINION: Ignorant, brainwashed or lying

“The trouble with our Liberal friends is that they know so much that isn't so.” — Ronald Reagan 

When I hear a progressive say something that is obviously untethered from the truth I consider whether that person is ignorant, brainwashed or lying. Ignorant if they simply do not know the truth. Brainwashed if they have been convinced their fiction is fact. Lying if they know the truth, but simply chose to ignore reality.  

Since before Marx, progressives have used ignorance as a superpower. Much of Marxist theory runs counter to basic human psychology and behavior. Marx himself was an upper class bourgeoisie who never held a paying job while living off of the charity of others. Yet he formulated a theory that humans would happily toil without direct benefit to themselves.  

Marx used the term “capitalism” as a pejorative when in fact it is the base operating system of human civilization. Put any random group of people in any situation and odds are good that within a short time they will begin bartering with each other for goods and services. The free market is an essential component of human civilization; you can’t have civilization without it. The degree to which a community allows the free market to flourish is proportional to the prosperity of that community because in a free market both the buyer and the seller come away from the transaction better off than they were before.  

In what later became known as the Dunning Kruger effect, people who are ignorant about a topic believe their knowledge on the topic is far greater than it is. Ignorance begets arrogance unless the real world intercedes.  

Marx’s ignorance combined with his arrogance gave rise to a theory so seductive that those who followed it would commit unimaginable atrocities that resulted in the death of over 140 million of their own countrymen. Twenty million sacrificed at the altar of German socialism, 40 million to Russian communism, 60 million to Chinese communism. In the 20th century you were more likely to be killed by your own government then killed in battle in all the wars.  

Socialism, AKA Equity, and its derivative Communism are in practice free range slavery. Citizen slaves can exercise limited choice but only within the strict parameters allowed by the state. The product of one’s labor is confiscated and redistributed by bureaucrats. There are no critics of the state because all the critics are simply killed. People who claim to favor socialism/communism are ignorant of the fearsome reality they are in practice.  

Our mainstream media has completely devolved from its intended purpose of informing us with the facts to a propaganda engine designed to drive public opinion. You need your memory to be only slightly better than that of a goldfish to remember that Kamala Harris was the least popular vice president, the most radical leftist senator and a disaster to California’s legal system. Even though she could not carry her own state in 2020 and she received zero delegates in the 2024 presidential primary, overnight the propaganda wing of the Democrat party transformed her into a messianic figure, savior of our democracy. Democracy; I’m surprised she can utter the word after being installed by party elites without a single vote of the people.  

The brainwashing of the democrat party is remarkably effective. Democrat National Convention delegates joyfully chanted “We love Joe” after the party bosses blackmailed him into withdrawing his candidacy and anointed Kamala. For Harris to go from the least popular vice president in modern times to a few days later having DNC delegates exclaim “We love Kamala Harris, and I can tell everybody else loves Kamala Harris” shows the power and efficacy of media brainwashing.  

Harris seems to have no issues holding contradictory positions simultaneously, a gift she may have inherited. Kamala’s Jamaican father is a Marxist economist professor at Stanford. “Marxist economist” is an oxymoron because “Marxist” and “economist” can’t coexist. It would be like claiming you are a Protestant atheist. Only in a liberal progressive university setting could there be a Marxist economist professor. Compounding the contradiction, he is a “Marxist” who draws a substantial salary. How can someone be paid to be a Marxist? I guess Marx himself established that standard. 

If you have been watching the DNC you may believe that Harris was officially nominated on Tuesday night. Nope. Harris was actually nominated on August 6th during a “virtual roll call vote,” so the vote you watched on Tuesday was a lie, likely contrived to guarantee Kamala’s ascension without any possible friction on the floor of the convention. Democrats apparently only trust democracy when the people in charge control who votes and how they vote.  

At the DNC, Joe Biden firmly ensconced himself as the “Liar in Chief” when he once again forcefully repeated the foundational lie of his campaign. It is a lie that has been widely and completely debunked, even by Snopes and MSNBC: The Charlottesville Fine People Hoax. Biden described again, in lurid detail, events that did not happen. No joke.  

This should come as no surprise as lying is like breathing for the Biden administration who seems unburdened by truth. We learned days ago that the administration had overstated job growth by a whopping 815,000 jobs, that is 150% of actual. What else are they lying about? Everything? 

As we near the election, when you hear obvious misstatements by either side, stop for a moment and consider if they are ignorant, brainwashed or lying. The better you understand reality the more accurately you will be able to predict future events. 

It’s just common sense.

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Brent Regan is chairman of the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee.