Regarding my article today on the two horrible books by Eric Schlosser and Barbara Eherenreich ("Fast Food Nation" and "Nickel and Dimed"), both of which have been NY Times bestsellers and are huge hits on college campuses, an emailer reminds me that Eherenreich is the co-chair of Democratic Socialists of America. The NY Times, Washington Post, and other papers that have lionized her never mention this, of course.
The web site of the "democratic" socialists is a real hoot. These communists in sheep's clothing think that the magic "d" word somehow absolves them of all the absurdities and atrocities that are inherent in socialism. The site proudly boasts that their organization is "the largest socialist organization in the U.S." and "the principal U.S. affiliate of the Socialist International."
In a section entitled "Where We Stand," these supposedly "democratic" communists say, "We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit . . ." That would be the kind of private profit, for example, that is pocketed by the commercial publisher of Eherenreich's juvenile book, and by all the "leading newspapers" that have praised her to the treetops for her hoary trashing of free markets.
These characters seek "to establish an openly socialist presence in American communities and politics." That of course is whey Ehrenreich and Schlosser wrote their books. Don't be duped by their professed concern for the fat and the "working poor."
