Longtime Internet users will recognize the phrase “All your base are belong to us [1].” It’s a comically stupid but popular English translation from a late ’80s Japanese video game. In a nutshell, it is a declaration of dominance – everything of yours is now mine.
That sentiment has emerged in Washington – from Hillary Clinton. The presidential candidate used it when she made her feelings about private property known at the Democratic National Committee’s winter meeting.
Clinton must have been shocked that the free market works so well that some Americans actually profit from dealings other than Whitewater. So she decided this sort of thing must end.
“The other day the oil companies recorded the highest profits in the history of the world. I want to take those profits. And I want to put them into a strategic energy fund that will begin to fund alternative smart energy, alternatives and technologies that will begin to actually move us toward the direction of independence,” she told the audience.
Notice she didn’t say tax the profits. She just said “take.” I shouldn’t be shocked. A left-wing politician wants to take from people who earn a profit and spend it on something that hasn’t made a profit, like much of the alternative energy field.
Naturally, a politician vowing to steal from the public received the typical ho-hum reaction in Washington. Most of the mainstream media ignored it entirely, though about 200,000 people viewed the comment on Youtube thanks to the Drudge Report.
CNBC’s February 2 “Kudlow & Company” was one of the few shows to address the Clinton gaffe. Host Larry Kudlow seemed stunned by Clinton’s comment. “Wow! May I just say, with all due respect, that is the most anti-capitalist confiscation of private property.”
Author P.J. O'Rourke simply said “Hillary Clinton is Hugo Chavez in a pantsuit.” He’s right. They are both out to nationalize oil companies for their own personal power. Chavez is just more honest about it and that sort of honesty eludes our would-be Madam President.
By comparison, Chavez accelerated his mad rush toward state control early this year by nationalizing the telecom and electricity industries and taking over four oil production facilities, according to the Los Angeles Times. “We're heading toward socialism, and nothing and no one can prevent it,” Chavez said.
The difference is simply one of power. He has it. She doesn’t … yet.
The night of Clinton’s speech, MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson said her world view made him “uncomfortable,” and called it “almost a megalomania.” Megalomania? A Clinton?
Hillary might be power-mad, but she isn’t stupid. She knows she can attack industry and private property and many in the mainstream media won’t lift a finger to complain – or even cover it. According to Nexis, the only networks even to acknowledge the Clinton quote were Fox News, CNBC and MSNBC.
What about those stalwart journalists at ABC, CBS, NBC or even CNN? They helped make it happen. For years, network newsies have been hammering profitable companies – oil, pharmaceuticals, insurance, retailers and more – every time they do their jobs and succeed.
Back in 2005, CNN’s Miles O’Brien presented a story about high third-quarter oil profits as “something to get your blood boiling” and “get you a little outraged.” The broadcast networks were just as irresponsible.
On October 26 of that same year, NBC’s “Today” accused oil companies of subjecting consumers to “pain” at the gas pump while enjoying their own profit “pleasure.” Anne Thompson stated that “while American consumers have suffered through months of record high gas prices, the oil companies have hit a gusher.” She later said “news of these gargantuan numbers is sure to ignite the debate over how much is too much in a time of crisis.”
That’s been the theme ever since. How much profit dare a company make? If you aren’t careful, the media will attack you – neglecting to tell the world that their own profit percentages are far higher than any oil company’s.
A successful firm’s earnings report no longer results in celebration. It gets criticized as if the very word “profit” has become profanity in the eyes of our left-wing media.
No wonder Hillary Clinton says she wants to “take” (that’s “steal” to us ordinary folk) the profits of one of America’s most successful companies. She thinks she can get away with it because many in the media embrace her uber-leftist, thieving, Stalinist ideas.
Thankfully, to paraphrase the Internet fad and apply it to presidential candidates: “All your future are belong to us.” Hopefully, Americans will figure that out before it’s too late.
Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Free Market Fellow and director of the Media Research Center’s Business & Media Institute.