RUSH: Here\u2019s Asher in Des Moines, Iowa. Asher, thank you for waiting. Hi. How are you?<\/p>\n
CALLER: I\u2019m well, Rush. How are you?<\/p>\n
RUSH: Good, sir. Thank you.<\/p>\n
CALLER: Question is, how can Bernie justify being a millionaire and make 500 grand a year on books? I mean, isn\u2019t he only a political celebrity because of the voters from Vermont? He didn\u2019t build that. I mean, shouldn\u2019t he be giving the money back to them?<\/p>\n
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RUSH: That\u2019s exactly what he\u2019s saying, by the way, when he says that his millionaire status did not come to him by way of the American dream. He said anybody can write a book. He said (impression), “You can\u2019t blame me, can\u2019t blame me for writing a book that people wanted to read.” What he doesn\u2019t talk about is all the properties his wife owns.<\/p>\n
The Sanders family net worth is a little north of a million bucks, folks, but — look. On all this, nobody is saying Crazy Bernie, you\u2019re a hypocrite for making the money. What we\u2019re saying is Crazy Bernie, where is your self-pay 70% tax rate on all this? You\u2019re saying that having this kind of money is immoral. You say that having this amount of money or more is harmful to America, that it\u2019s unfair, that it needs to be redistributed.<\/p>\n
So where is your check to the IRS for 70% of whatever it is you have? Or maybe even 90. You know, you add what Cortez and some of these other lunatics are saying and they\u2019re talking about 90%.<\/p>\n
The point is that these people are typical. They create a bunch of rules and promptly exempt themselves on the basis, “Well, you know, the leaders have to be self-sufficient. The leaders have to be able to able to be mobile and move around. That\u2019s why we\u2019ll still be flying our jets while you\u2019re on the mule. We have to be able to lead the cause and travel the world, which is why we\u2019ll be flying our jets and you\u2019re gonna be in a wagon train or whatever.”<\/p>\n
They always do. They always do. I was on the golf course over the weekend, and we were talking about this puzzlement that we all have of what is the lure to every young generation? It\u2019s almost inescapable, the lure of socialism. What is it? And an interesting theory was put forward.<\/p>\n
Somebody said, “Rush, when you and I were growing up, there was a living embodiment of the disaster of socialism and communism, and it was called the Soviet Union.” Well, young people today do not have a Soviet Union. There isn\u2019t an example of failed socialism, communism, as prevalent as the Soviet Union was for us. The Soviet Union was a 50- to 70-year existence, a 50- to 70-year teachable moment.<\/p>\n
All we\u2019ve got now is Venezuela and Venezuela\u2019s not big enough, not powerful enough, never has been a threat to the United States. It\u2019s some little tinhorn down there. And it\u2019s not enough, its abject failure in socialism is documented, it\u2019s a hundred percent true, but it\u2019s not big enough to convince young people. They look at it and say, “Well, it\u2019s the wrong people running it, didn\u2019t have enough money, depended on oil too long,” or whatever. They can come up with any kind of excuse.<\/p>\n
Do you know what the closest — and I\u2019m gonna maybe step in it here — do you know what the closest example today we have to the abject disaster we think is awaiting us, what\u2019s the closest example? And I\u2019m not talking about China because that will never work. People\u2019s tech gear comes from China. And don\u2019t say North Korea because nobody takes them seriously, little pot-bellied dictator.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not that big an exhibit yet. But it\u2019s getting there. What is the nearest example we have of the eventual implosion? California. Now, Europe, as a whole, yeah, but, see, the news coming out of Europe is not truthful enough. Europe is not being reported on as failing. Europe\u2019s not being reported on as imploding. It\u2019s not being reported on as being overrun by immigrants.<\/p>\n
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But California — and it\u2019s not bottom up yet. But there is no Republican Party. It\u2019s a one party state. They have been overrun by illegal immigration, and California used to be a dominant Republican state, and not that long ago. It was the state of Ronaldus Magnus, George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson.<\/p>\n
The Republican Party used to be dominant in that state. It\u2019s gone, and for one reason: illegal immigration and the rise of the radical, uber-left. Do you know in the California assembly there are seven Republicans? What must that be like for them? They are looked at as a total joke by the Democrats in the assembly. They\u2019re probably not invited to any meetings. They\u2019re probably not on any committees, and if they are, they\u2019re for comic relief.<\/p>\n
California is all these sanctuary cities. California is, aside from the coastal areas, California is a state that is close to abject poverty. The divide, the income gap, the wage gap, the wealth gap in California is stark! The people who live inland in the valleys and live up north and in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada can\u2019t compare to the wealth in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, San Francisco on the way up and then you go down to San Diego for a little bit.<\/p>\n
But it has clearly got the ingredients of a state that is at some point not going to be able to sustain itself. But it doesn\u2019t look like that now. Let me give you an example, albeit a small example. Where is this? In fact, I\u2019ve got two. But let me find the one in California. This involves police cars. What did I do with this? Oh, there\u2019s a great Norman Podhoretz thing — where is this? Don\u2019t tell me I put it in a different Stack.<\/p>\n
Anyway, in Laguna Beach, California, there is a huge controversy about police. The police department is actually putting the words “police” on their police cars, and residents are livid. They\u2019re claiming it\u2019s inciting violence that is anti-immigrant, that it is intimidating to people who might have broken the law in the past.<\/p>\n
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There are other little aspects. The American flag is on the police cars, and they\u2019re livid at that. They\u2019re having meetings in the town council in Laguna Beach over the threatening nature of the American flag and the word “police” on the police cars. We already know the sanctuary city situation and circumstance. We know in San Francisco we\u2019ve got maps of poop piles. We have income disparity such that people who work there more and more cannot afford to live there. And that\u2019s becoming true of Los Angeles in a way.<\/p>\n
I even saw a story on one of my tech blogs the other day that $300,000 a year in the Bay Area is not enough to get by. Now, everything\u2019s relative, but I\u2019m saying this is already something people out there believe.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
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My whole point was – this guy I was talking to on the golf course Sunday — the lure of socialism. What is it? When we were growing up there was the Soviet Union for all of our lives as a testament to what communism is. It kills people. Communism kills people. There is no prosperity. There is no plenty. There\u2019s no abundance. There\u2019s nothing but fear every day of your life.<\/p>\n