The Patriot Post® · Wednesday Short Cuts

Insight: “All socialism involves slavery. … That which fundamentally distinguishes the slave is that he labors under coercion to satisfy another’s desires. The relation admits of many gradations. Oppressive taxation is a form of slavery of the individual to the community as a whole. The essential question is — How much is he compelled to labor for other benefit than his own, and how much can he labor for his own benefit?” —Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

For the record: “Elizabeth Warren [on Friday] said that banning semi-automatic firearms will work. A few minutes later, Warren says that banning abortion does not work because people can still get abortions on the black market.” —The Daily Wire’s Ryan Saavedra

Observations: “Imagine if, 30 years after winning the Cold War, America elects a communist as president. What a tragic farce that would be. The kind of thing that will baffle historians for centuries to come.” —Matt Walsh

Political futures: “For a supposedly dominant frontrunner, Bernie is not dominating. Basically, Bernie is floating, and Biden clogged up the moderate line. The only question is whether anyone will be able to Roto-root this thing before Bernie floats to victory.” —Ben Shapiro

Some kind of “front-runner”: “Joe Biden has run for President three times. In 1988, 2008, and again in 2020. He is yet to win a single delegate in a Democrat nominating contest.” —Sean Davis

Friendly fire: “I, personally, am very, very concerned about some of the folks who are running. I think, you know, if we run under a democratic-socialist banner in 50 states, I think we lose the industrial Midwest. I think we lose 48 states. I think we lose working-class union voters who have negotiated their private healthcare and want to keep it, and they don’t want to be forced into a public healthcare system.” —Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan

Grand delusions: “I refuse to suggest any Democrat can lose. I think we could run Mickey Mouse against this president and have a shot.” —Joe Biden, who seems bent on losing the nomination by destroying his “electability” argument

Tone deaf: “When you hear all these pundits and experts, cable TV talkers talk[ing] about the race, tell them, ‘It ain’t over, man. We’re just getting started.’” —Joe Biden (He’ll need to start eventually to have any chance.)

Jumping the shark: “Let me say tonight that this victory here [in New Hampshire] is the beginning of the end for Donald Trump.” —Sen. Bernie Sanders

And last… “Did you know: The California homeless population grew by around 21,306 people in 2019. This is more than the national increase in 49 other states…COMBINED! Mike Bloomberg just said that California is a model for the rest of the nation. Is this what he was talking about?” —Charlie Kirk