Cloud Cuckoo Land
June 1, 2010 - by
Last week on his Facebook page, Raleigh Congressional candidate Bill Randall boldly challenged his readers: “Do not read the following if you are not willing to face this challenge head-on. Is there a remnant out there who aren’t willing to give up? This great Republic must be preserved.”
Well, naturally, I clicked on the link to ‘Randall’s Challenge’ and what popped up next was a strange document: An article called the “Ten Planks of Communism.”
It’s not clear who wrote the “Ten Planks” but its meaning is clear: It says in 1848 Karl Marx laid out 10 conditions that determine if a nation is Communist and that, today, all 10 of those conditions have been met by the United States – so, in other words, we are now officially communists.
Now if that claim sounds a bit sweeping, well, it was about to get stranger. The first condition of Communism – according to Bill Randall’s challenge – is “the abolition of private property” and, Randall is saying, that has already happened in the United States.
Since I still own a home, office, two cars and six acres of land I figured that bit of logic was exaggerated – but you can decide for yourself. Because Randall’s challenge lays out exactly how and when private property was abolished in the United States.
By passing the 14th Amendment 142 years ago in 1868.
I’ll save you the trouble of looking up the 14th Amendment. In 1865 the 13th Amendment freed the slaves and in 1868 the 14th Amendment gave slaves citizenship. What does that have to do with private property? Only one thing I can tell: It says the government didn’t have to “pay any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave.”
So, according to Randall’s challenge, the United States government took its first step on the road to Communism by emancipating slaves and not reimbursing the slaveholders.
If that sounds like a stretch consider this: Randall’s challenge also says the United States took another step down the road to Communism in 1920 when we passed the 19th Amendment – which gave women the right to vote.
So, now, I guess I’m a communist because my wife can vote.
And I have to say, if that makes me a communist, I’m stuck, because there’s no way I’m going to tell Page she’s disenfranchised – no matter how often Bill Randall tells me I’ve got to do it to save the Republic.
***
I expect, after I publish this article, Bill Randall’s “Ten Planks of Communism” is going to vanish from his Facebook page. But, if you want proof I’m not making this up, to see Randall’s original post [Click Here] and go to the bottom of the page.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans
Cloud Cuckoo Land
June 1, 2010/
Last week on his Facebook page, Raleigh Congressional candidate Bill Randall boldly challenged his readers: “Do not read the following if you are not willing to face this challenge head-on. Is there a remnant out there who aren’t willing to give up? This great Republic must be preserved.”
Well, naturally, I clicked on the link to ‘Randall’s Challenge’ and what popped up next was a strange document: An article called the “Ten Planks of Communism.”
It’s not clear who wrote the “Ten Planks” but its meaning is clear: It says in 1848 Karl Marx laid out 10 conditions that determine if a nation is Communist and that, today, all 10 of those conditions have been met by the United States – so, in other words, we are now officially communists.
Now if that claim sounds a bit sweeping, well, it was about to get stranger. The first condition of Communism – according to Bill Randall’s challenge – is “the abolition of private property” and, Randall is saying, that has already happened in the United States.
Since I still own a home, office, two cars and six acres of land I figured that bit of logic was exaggerated – but you can decide for yourself. Because Randall’s challenge lays out exactly how and when private property was abolished in the United States.
By passing the 14th Amendment 142 years ago in 1868.
I’ll save you the trouble of looking up the 14th Amendment. In 1865 the 13th Amendment freed the slaves and in 1868 the 14th Amendment gave slaves citizenship. What does that have to do with private property? Only one thing I can tell: It says the government didn’t have to “pay any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave.”
So, according to Randall’s challenge, the United States government took its first step on the road to Communism by emancipating slaves and not reimbursing the slaveholders.
If that sounds like a stretch consider this: Randall’s challenge also says the United States took another step down the road to Communism in 1920 when we passed the 19th Amendment – which gave women the right to vote.
So, now, I guess I’m a communist because my wife can vote.
And I have to say, if that makes me a communist, I’m stuck, because there’s no way I’m going to tell Page she’s disenfranchised – no matter how often Bill Randall tells me I’ve got to do it to save the Republic.
***
I expect, after I publish this article, Bill Randall’s “Ten Planks of Communism” is going to vanish from his Facebook page. But, if you want proof I’m not making this up, to see Randall’s original post [Click Here] and go to the bottom of the page.
Posted in General, North Carolina - Republicans