“In truth, Karl Marx was responsible for framing my perspective of the world we live in, from my childhood to this day. It is not something that I volunteer to talk about in ’polite society’ much these days because the very mention of the M-word switches audiences off.” Yanis Varoufakis, Greek Finance Minister, Visiting Professor at the University of Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson, School of Public Affairs
MOSCOW — It strikes me that while I’m sitting in Moscow, a place where they are still trying to overcome 70 years of the Marxist/Leninist experiment, I watch with horror as again the world has to deal with the consequences of Karl Marx and his teachings. Marx’s Communist Manifesto led to the destruction of whole societies and to the deaths of more than 100 million people at the hands of Stalin and Mao, not to mention all of the other communist despots over the last century. His teachings have never worked but that doesn’t stop the Left from continuing to teach them and try them. Unfortunately the real world consequences are all too real.
The Syriza government came into power with the promise of removing the austerity needed to bring the recovering Greek economy back into good standing with global institutions, and to keep the country in the Eurozone at the same time. The people could have their cake and eat it too. That was an impossible task and Syriza knew it. However, they lied to the people to gain power. Does that sound familiar? The Greek economy was recovering when Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his party were elected. It is no longer.
It is in free fall. The lives of millions will be forever harmed.
Most likely Greece will now be forced to accept aid from Russian President Vladimir Putin, drawing Greece into the Russian Eurasian Economic Union. How does that impact NATO or the EU? This remains to be seen but I think it is safe to say, this will not end well for the Greek people, or for Europe for that matter.
But how does the University of Texas have anything to do with this, you ask? It is an established fact that the faculty of American universities are, by an overwhelming majority, leftist. In 2005, a study was released by George Mason University that stated, in general, 72 percent of American college professors considered themselves liberal. The more elite institutions were 87 percent liberal and 13 percent conservative. And this was in 2005, it seems things may have gotten worse since then, based on circumstantial evidence in the media.
The University of Texas at Austin has a reputation as being a bastion of liberal thought and indoctrination. So I’m sure the faculty was ecstatic when Yanis Varoufakis accepted a visiting professorship in 2013 to teach “economics” to the creme of American youth. The university also crowed about one of their own being selected as the Greek Finance Minister last year, quoting Mr. Varoufakis on the UT News website, “As the next finance minister, I can assure you that I shall not go into the [E]urogroup seeking a solution that is good for the Greek taxpayer and bad for the Irish, Slovak, German, French and Italian taxpayer.”
I wonder if you ask the average Greek who has lost his life savings, and is queuing up to get his 60 euros a day from the ATM as capital controls are implemented, how that’s working out for them.
I would bet money that the remaining Marxist professors at UT are not focusing on the Greek situation with their students. I would bet they are not talking about the historical failures of socialism and Marxist teachings. Most likely, in their minds, I’m sure the Greek problem is President George W. Bush’s fault.
The University of Texas is culpable because in its zeal to promote liberalism and indoctrinate UT students into a life of Marxist thinking, it gave Mr. Varoufakis a platform to continue the Marxist lie. Because UT students will not receive the opposing conservative viewpoint, the dirty deed is even more despicable.
Much of the teaching of these professors is couched in “cultural Marxism.” How many American kids have been released into the workforce without the ability to understand how the real economy works, unprepared to deal with that reality of accountability? How many have been released into American society with a chip on their shoulder, ready to be offended at any supposed “microaggression?”
I have no problem with different points of view being taught in our educational system. That is what is supposed to happen. Kids should be given differing opinions and be able to choose their own way. However, that is not the case today. The corruption of our educational system by the Left will have real consequences. Our sovereign debt is approaching $20 trillion. Do you hear any profs at UT warning about that? I doubt it. Puerto Rico, an American territory for all you baristas out there, just announced there is no way it can pay what it owes its creditors. Default is inevitable.
Think what is happening in Greece can’t happen here? You are wrong. We are well on the way. When the bond market realizes that America doesn’t have the will or ability to service its mountain of debt, the consequences of Leftist teachings will become all too real.
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