Here in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, progressives like to point out government handouts and say, See? We’re all socialist now! Like this columnist at the New York Times who wrote:

“All it took was a pandemic of potentially unprecedented scale and severity and suddenly it’s like we’re turning into Denmark over here.”

In addition, the brain trusts who make up the panel of “The View” chimed in. Here’s Sunny Hostin, commenting on government providing assistance to those affected by the economic squeeze:

“. . . and that is sort of a socialism-type concept.”

She also insisted that social security and paid leave are “socialist,” too.

Can we just stop with this nonsense? These are social programs. They do not mean we are now a socialist nation, coronavirus or not.

Let’s review what socialism really means, shall we?

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

“any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”

Again, here are the key phrases that progressives conveniently overlook: “collective or governmental ownership. . . of the means of production.”

But, thanks to our fading understanding of history, too many people think that socialism means equality for everyone, according to a Gallup article from 2018.

No wonder Millennials are so enamored of the socialist utopia that Bernie Sanders promotes. It’s a perfect con for the ignorant young who are full of idealism and short on knowledge.

But. .  . but Scandinavia! cry Sanders and his acolytes.

However, Scandinavian nations don’t want to be called “socialist.” In fact, as the Danish prime minister once told Bernie Sanders:

“I know that some people in the US associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.”

So say it loud and proud: the United States is also a market economy. In fact, it’s that economy that will help manufacture goods that we need for this emergency.

For example, auto giants Ford and General Motors have offered to produce hospital ventilators for COVID patients. Plus, a small pharmaceutical company in South Carolina seeks to expand its operations in response to the pandemic. You’ve probably never heard of it, but Nephron produces 98% of the inhalation solution used in the US.

Other American entrepreneurs are answering the call.  A design engineer in San Francisco is calling for designs to create an open-source ventilator for COVID patients. Investors are are offering to fund start-ups for ventilators, masks, and therapeutics. And even in Italy, the European hotbed of COVID, a small 3D printing company stepped up to produce a small part for ventilators. If they can do it there, we can do it here in spades.

As for those dire grocery store images we’ve been seeing lately — like these pictures I took last week at a local supermarket:

They may look like Venezuela, but remember those shelves are bare because of panic. Stores keep restocking those shelves, not because of socialist policies, but because of capitalism.

We don’t need what a fellow from the Brookings Institute called — are you sitting down? — a “Strategic Toilet Paper Reserve.” And it’s not from “The Onion,” either. These people seriously think we need a government plan to get TP to every tuchus in America:

“All of this says that what we need right now is a government-backed Strategic Toilet Paper Reserve. That Reserve makes a promise that even if your local Costco an out, you still have the right to buy 2 rolls per week from the government’s stockpile.”

This is laughable. But this is also the socialist society that people like Bernie Sanders and his ilk have in mind for America. Never forget that, even after this emergency blows over.

And speaking of Bernie, what’s he doing these days?

Apparently he went Joe Biden and told off reporters who asked about his fading campaign:

“Stop with this. I’m dealing with a f–ing global crisis. You know? We’re dealing with it and you’re asking me these questions.”

I can just see Bernie now, wagging his bony finger in the face of the reporters like some 21st century Nosferatu.

So how is Bernie dealing with the “f-king global crisis”? He’s not, of course. But President Trump, for all his fits and starts, is going balls-to-the-wall to get the nation through this emergency. You may or may not agree with the bailouts Trump has approved — that’s not my point. He is, however, using the free market system to ramp up the solutions we need. No socialist nation would ever be able to accomplish that.

Welcome, Instapundit readers!

Featured image: marybettiniblank/pixabay/cropped/pixabay license.