Is Marxism Back in Fashion? 

          According to the lead article in this week’s edition of Bloomberg Businessweek it is!  In a well written, thought provoking essay, Peter Coy writes, “…the gloomy, combative philosopher seems to find adherents in each new generation of tyrants and dreamers.  You might even say the Bearded One has rarely looked better.”  Coy goes on to say that “…Marx’s thought is worth studying, grappling with, and possibly even applying to our current challenges.”  He then proceeds to chronicle a litany of present day notables who are giving Karl Marx a second look, never mind the failures of his original followers, who Coy aptly describes as “…some of the 20th century’s worst mass murderers…”. 

An Incomplete List 

          Conspicuously absent from Coy’s list of modern day admirers of Marx is the President of the United States, Barack Obama, the veritable poster child of Marxism in the 21^st Century.  But then Coy’s publisher, Michael Bloomberg, would not abide such an assertion in his left of center journal any more than he could tolerate a balanced discussion of the destructive path down which Mr. Obama’s radical left wing economic policies have taken us.  As Mayor of New York City, Mr. Bloomberg is one of the country’s wealthiest liberal businessmen, an oxymoron (see WOW) if ever there was one.  How could a businessman be liberal you rightfully ask?  In Bloomberg’s case, some have suggested that he is a victim of ‘liberal guilt disorder’ along with other left wing businessmen, Warren Buffett and George Soros, all Obama stalwarts who seem to feel uncomfortable with how they made their billions. 

Marx and Marxism…Gratefully Dead  

          There is good reason why most Americans who own or manage a business, whether large or small, are conservative.  It is because they have worked hard all their lives for whatever success they have achieved and they sincerely want others to have the same opportunities they’ve had.  This is possible only in an economic system that embraces free enterprise, small government, private ownership, the profit motive and self determination…all principles which Marxism eschews.  It is these very businessmen and women who hire employees, kindle innovation and actually produce things…and in so doing, are the driving force behind our economy.  You will not find them on Mr. Coy’s list either.  It is a sure bet that they will not be reconsidering Marxism any time soon.  After all, they are the living proof that capitalism is the best economic system, because it does the most good for the most people.