(You can listen to this column, read by the author, here.)
I traveled all the way to the Czech Republic to find Colorado-style progressivism on stage.
There’s something so entertaining about the progressive socialists in charge of our state, cities and schools.
They have privileged lives, thanks to a relatively pro-market system, and they use that privilege to destroy the system that created it for them. And they endeavor to redistribute other people’s money to those that they see as “victims.”
Their favorite pastime is virtue signaling.
The great economist Henry Hazlett had a saying, “finish the equation.” Basically, he meant folks tend only to give one side of their story without mentioning the parts that don’t support their position. Kinda how modern socialists never want to give credit to the capitalism, which put the silver spoons in their mouths.
In my role as president of Independence Institute, I sometimes get to meet with other free market liberty groups in Europe. We compare notes on how our governments and their cronies run our lives and take away our liberties.
The most fascinating stories come from my friends in former Soviet bloc countries. Many remember their lives and economies ruined by socialism under their communist rulers.
While meeting many of them in Prague, I had the opportunity to join some for a Roger Waters concert. For those who don’t know, he was a member of the classic rock band Pink Floyd.
And who wouldn’t want to see a dinosaur rock’n’roll legend in the middle of Europe. So of course, I went. Call it white privilege.
Sometimes you just need to get away from it all to really understand your own hometown.
So, thank you Roger Waters! Roger, you are Colorado! You are smug. You are pompous. You are the antithesis of subtle.
You use the most elaborate largest stage system, light system, and sound system I’ve seen in an arena show (I used to work in the business) to screech about the evils of capitalism, the evils of America and to push the woke agenda in the largest font size I’ve seen.
You sir belong in the state Legislature, teaching a Women’s Studies class at CU Boulder, and sitting next to Candi CdeBaca on the Denver City Council.
The website Celebrity Net Worth estimates the rocker is worth about $310 million, (could be close to what our governor’s worth if he’d show us his real financials) with homes in the United States and England.
During his performance he had many huge video screens that looked like “The Wall” that hung above his stage, which was in the round. Very cool.
At one point, he played video clips of former President Ronald Reagan with a blood red face with the massive, I mean massive sized words, “War Criminal.”
In case you don’t get the irony, let me spell this out. One of the men most responsible for ending the Cold War and freeing the Czech Republic from a mass-murdering regime, was called a “war criminal” by a filthy rich rock-n-roller who likely would never have been able to play in this country during the Cold War.
There are mass unmarked graves just miles from where this multimillionaire was raking in even more dough.
Reminds me of CdeBaca railing on the Bill Daniels Fund scholarship she got because the late great man was a capitalist, but she didn’t offer to return the $80,000 she received. Birds of a feather.
He went on the whole show with constant anti-American themes and words on the screen screens. During the hit Pink Floyd song “Money” we were treated to dancing ugly pigs stomping around. Of course, Waters could give away his hundreds of millions, he hasn’t.
And there was a lot of “Fuck Fascism” banners on the mammoth screens. But never once was there a “Fuck Socialism” or a “Fuck Communism” one.
And while he put up exaggerated numbers of war crime dead under American presidents, he never put war crime dead under Stalin (20 million, way more than Hitler FYI) or Putin.
It’s very common for Colorado progressives to call everyone they don’t like fascist or alt-right yet exalt their socialists and say that they don’t do any violence.
After all, antifa is peaceful, even though they call for violence and riot in the streets.
Thanks for making me homesick Roger.
Jon Caldara is president of the Independence Institute, a free market think tank in Denver.
