I have spent much of my career around self-described communists, democratic socialists, admirers of Bernie Sanders, and professors who think Lenin and Stalin were not sufficiently progressive.

After so many faculty meetings, one begins to recognize that there are really only shades of red.

The American experiment never depended on producing perfect citizens. It depended on understanding that no political system could substitute for moral renewal.

Now, as younger voters embrace self-proclaimed socialists in places like New York, Americans naturally wonder what such movements would mean if they gained real political power. Mayor Mamdani has suggested that no problem is too large or too small for government intervention.

So let us conduct a thought experiment.

Suppose Karl Marx was right.

Suppose the wealthiest families accumulated their fortunes only through exploitation, political favoritism, monopoly, corruption, or violence. Suppose the rich become rich only by taking advantage of everyone else.

Even if we grant Marx that premise, where does it lead?

I know what you are thinking. Professor Anderson, have you lost your mind? Has much learning driven you mad?

Stay with me. I am asking the question socialists cannot answer.

When politicians promise that government will solve every problem, regulate every industry, subsidize every need, and redistribute every inequality, they demand extraordinary trust in political power.

Listen carefully to their rhetoric. No problem is supposedly too large or too small to be solved by expanding government authority into every corner of life.

But why should that follow?

Why would anyone embrace a philosophy that treats people as corrupt when they gather in families, businesses, churches, or private institutions, but assumes those same people become altruistic lovers of mankind when they enter government?

RELATED: Jefferson’s line of revolutionary fire still burns

John van Hasselt/Sygma/Getty Images

If concentrated wealth corrupts those who possess it, why would concentrating even more wealth and power in the state eliminate corruption?

The irony is as dense as a room full of critical-theory PhDs.

The democratic socialist says: Give me vast power so that you can be free.

You cannot have it both ways.

History supplies a remarkably consistent answer.

The French Revolution condemned aristocratic privilege. The Russian Revolution condemned the bourgeoisie and the czar. Communist revolutions throughout Asia and Latin America began by identifying corruption among wealthy or politically connected elites.

Some of those criticisms contained elements of truth.

Wealth has often been accumulated through injustice. Powerful families have oppressed the weak. Cronyism, favoritism, and corruption recur in every fallen society.

But the proposed socialist solution creates an even greater danger.

The revolutionary insists that the wealthy possess too much power. He therefore proposes creating an institution with vastly more power.

The wealthy may possess billions of dollars. The state can confiscate trillions.

The wealthy may own companies. The state claims authority over entire industries.

The wealthy may influence markets. The state commands armies, police forces, intelligence agencies, prosecutors, regulators, prisons, and courts.

If fallen human beings abuse power, why would giving some of them virtually unlimited political power solve the problem?

It never has.

Communist governments repeatedly follow the same pattern. They begin with promises of justice, equality, affordable housing, free education, medical care, and security for the poor.

They end with repression, stagnation, censorship, secret police, totalitarianism, and ruling classes whose privileges exceed those of the elites they replaced.

They also tend to end with rivers of blood.

Even if Marx correctly recognized that human beings exploit one another, he made one catastrophic mistake: He assumed that this tendency disappears when those same human beings become government officials.

Governments are not composed of angels. They are composed of people. And people do not become virtuous because they receive a government paycheck.

The contrast would be funny if the consequences were not so severe. Those who claim to distrust evil billionaires place extraordinary trust in politicians who possess powers no billionaire could dream of exercising.

If corruption follows power, why assume government is immune?

I have seen the same contradiction among the radical left-wing faculty that dominate our state universities. They condemn oppression, nepotism, cronyism, and abuses of authority.

Then they acquire power.

They promote their friends, punish dissenters, and censor everything to the right of Mao.

America’s founders confronted this problem directly. They understood that power corrupts because they understood something deeper: Human nature is fallen.

James Madison famously observed that if men were angels, no government would be necessary. Because men are not angels, government itself must be restrained.

The Constitution reflects that insight through divided powers, federalism, checks and balances, and limits on government authority.

The goal was not to create perfect rulers.

It was to prevent any ruler from accumulating too much power.

Yet the founders recognized something else modern politics forgets.

Political institutions cannot cure the human heart.

John Adams warned that the Constitution was made only for “a moral and religious people” and was wholly inadequate for any other.

RELATED: The cure for liking socialism? Visiting a socialist country

YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images

His point was not that Christians are incapable of sin. Free government depends upon citizens capable of self-government. When individuals cannot govern themselves morally, the state expands to govern them externally.

That is the lesson America risks forgetting as we celebrate 250 years of independence.

Our greatest danger is not simply expanding government or growing inequality. It is believing political power can redeem fallen humanity.

It cannot. Marx’s solution is doomed to repeated and bloody failure.

Whether oppression comes from wealthy corporations or an all-powerful bureaucracy, the underlying problem remains the same. Human beings misuse power because human hearts are corrupted by sin.

Democratic socialists now promise young voters the end of the wealthy and an endless supply of free goods. At the same time, they exploit constitutional forms to entrench their power, excuse election abuses, and stretch the 14th Amendment far beyond its authors’ intent.

The American experiment never depended on producing perfect citizens. It depended on understanding that no political system could substitute for moral renewal.

But if Americans abandon what is good and holy in sufficient numbers, checks and balances alone will not save us from socialist exploitation.

Christianity offers an answer that reaches beneath economics and politics to the human heart.

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3 that he must be born again.

The gospel does not merely redistribute wealth. It transforms rich and poor alike. It teaches generosity instead of greed, service instead of domination, and humility instead of pride — out of love for God, not fear of government.

Without that transformation, every revolution produces a new ruling class.

Perhaps America’s greatest achievement after 250 years has not been discovering the perfect political system. It has been recognizing that no political system can save us. Christ can.

Only redeemed people can preserve a free republic. And redeemed people are not created by the state. They are created by the saving work of Jesus Christ.

​Bernie sanders, Communism, Constitution, Democratic socialists, Freedom, James madison, Jesus christ, Karl marx, Opinion & analysis, Totalitarianism, Zohran mamdani 

In the wake of America’s vibrant 250th birthday celebrations, Sunny Hostin of “The View” apparently felt the need to counteract the widespread patriotism by claiming American flags make her feel unsafe.

On a July 6 episode, the woke co-host said, “There are times when I walk into a community, and I see American flags all over the community, and I suddenly feel unsafe because there is a section of this country that has co-opted the American flag, and they equate being an American or an American flag with white supremacy, and that should never be the symbol of white supremacy, but they have weaponized [it].”

BlazeTV’s Sara Gonzales calls Hostin’s comment “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard.”

“I feel very safe when I go into a community with American flags everywhere because I’m like, ‘OK, cool. They love our country. They probably have guns. I’m safe,”’ Sara says.

Perhaps Hostin would prefer “a Chinese communist flag” instead, she quips.

Hostin’s comment, she explains, stemmed from the panel’s conversation about a viral photo taken on July 4 capturing a black woman on the Washington Metro surrounded by masked members of the white nationalist group Patriot Front, which Sara says is most likely a “fed op.”

Hostin — a privileged Notre Dame grad with a bachelor’s and J.D., former federal prosecutor, multi-millionaire co-host, legal analyst, and bestselling author — had the audacity to then claim this viral photograph embodies her experience as a black woman in America.

“As a black woman, my lived experience in this country was embodied by a photograph that was taken in celebrating the 250th,” she said, referencing the viral image.

But apparently the picture doesn’t just embody her own experience but the experience of black Americans in general.

“That for me was a defining image of modern America for black Americans,” she added.

Sara notes that the black woman Hostin apparently identifies with was previously arrested and charged for indecent exposure on public transit.

She also can’t help but scoff at Hostin’s phony victimhood.

“I’m a ‘View’ host. I get paid too much money just to bloviate and say dumb bulls**t, and somehow this is my lived experience as well,” she mocks.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

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To enjoy more of Sara’s no-holds-barred takes on news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

​Sara gonzales unfiltered, Sara gonzales, Sunny hostin, The view 

A Fox News report compared the video denials of sexual harassment from two Democratic candidates and found some eerie similarities.

Graham Platner has denied allegations of sexual assault from a woman he dated and is resisting calls to step down from his campaign for one of Maine’s seats in the U.S. Senate.

‘Just like all of the Dems resounding their endorsements. All scripted.’

The report found that his denial had many of the same elements as the one issued by former Rep. Eric Swalwell in April when he faced similar accusations.

Swalwell said in his video that he wanted “you to see and hear from me directly.”

“I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me,” Platner said in his video released on Monday.

“These allegations of sexual assault are flat false,” Swalwell said.

“Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said.

“I’m gonna spend time with my family and friends, and I appreciate those who have reached out to me to show support,” Swalwell said.

“We’re taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love,” Platner said.

Both Democrats were ridiculed greatly on social media.

“Did they have the same script writer?” Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina responded.

“Keep going … there are more I suspect,” California politician Gloria Romero replied.

“Just like all of the Dems resounding their endorsements. All scripted,” another user said.

“Democrat sexual predators are so common that they have a template for a response. Eric Swalwell and Graham Platner must have gotten the outline in their welcome packet when they registered to run for office. Just insert your name and read!” another critic joked.

RELATED: Donna Brazile gets CRUSHED online over bizarre reply to allegations against Graham Platner

“Same script. Same denial. Same DNC playbook. … Who wrote the script for them?” another response reads.

Many Democrats have rescinded their endorsements for Platner and called for him to step down from the campaign, though others are still defending him.

While Platner continues trying to hold on to his senatorial hopes, Swalwell set a grim precedent. The California Democrat was forced to abandon his gubernatorial hopes and resigned from office.

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​Eric swalwell, Graham platner, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Us senate, Midterm elections, Politics 

The beleaguered campaign of Graham Platner has come to an end after a woman he dated formerly accused him of sexual assault.

Platner was seeking to defeat Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and help Democrats take back control of the U.S. Senate in the midterms before the bombshell report hit Monday.

‘We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.’

Platner said he was suspending the campaign in a post Wednesday evening.

“My name might be on the ballot right now, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine,” he said.

“What comes next needs to come from the people of Maine,” he said in the video.

“We believe that for the movement to continue, it can’t be me. For that reason, we are suspending campaign operations,” he added.

Platner denied the accusations from a woman who dated him nearly five years ago and documented her allegations in an extensive Politico report on Monday.

“Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false,” Platner said in a statement about the accusations Monday.

Platner had also released a video calling the allegations “troubling, serious, and false” but admitted he was considering dropping out.

“Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting,” he said, “and mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.”

On Wednesday, after numerous Democrats revoked their endorsements and called for him to step down, he made the fateful announcement.

Platner’s campaign was plagued from the beginning by numerous scandals, including a Nazi-linked tattoo on his chest and accusations that he had sought romantic partners while married to his wife.

RELATED: ‘Should be nowhere near Congress’: Even ‘The View’ thinks Graham Platner is a TERRIBLE candidate

The latest polling showed Platner slightly ahead of Collins by a slim margin of 2 percentage points, which was well within the margin of error.

He blamed some of his past behavior on mental health issues stemming from his time serving in the military during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

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​Graham platner, Senate race, Sexual assault, Maine, Sen susan collins, Politics 

Tony Robbins is excellent at delivering speeches and engaging in discussions, but viewers were not buying his latest offer.

Last month, Robbins sat down with a computer scientist who made bold predictions in the 1990s about what artificial intelligence would soon be capable of.

‘Bartok just bought a Sony robot dog and had it paid for and shipped to the house.’

In 1999, Ray Kurzweil said that by 2029, AI will be able to perform any intellectual task that humans can. These claims, made in his book “The Age of Spiritual Machines,” led to his discussion with Robbins, who, toward the end of the podcast, made some bold claims himself.

“I have an agent that blows me away,” Robbins said, referring to one of his own AI agents.

“Its name is Bartok, and Bartok comes back and said, … ‘I see Elon and several others are making robots. Are you considering getting a robot?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I will be getting a robot when the right ones are out.'”

Robbins said that just two days after his AI asked if he would be open to merging the AI with a robot dog, one of Robbins’ staff members claimed the AI had already purchased one.

“I get a text from one of my staff members, and it says, ‘Bartok just bought a Sony robot dog and had it paid for and shipped to the house and is asking permission to program it.'”

RELATED: The AI boom is sending Apple and Xbox prices to the moon

While this reality would seem rather frightening, Sony’s most advanced robot dog is actually still a toy, and it is not very devious at all when compared to humanoid bots.

Kurzweil then asked Robbins, “Where did it get the money to do [this]?”

“That’s what I said,” Robbins replied. Then, the bulk of Robbins’ major claims were presented. The 66-year-old said he asked his staff member how the AI could access his bank account but was told this was not possible because it is “programmed for integrity” and “didn’t touch” the account.

Instead, Robbins claimed the AI made the money itself on Moltbook. As Blaze News previously reported, Moltbook was designed as an online space for AI agents — and AI agents only — to have open conversations in a forum-like setting. However, it was later exposed that humans could and did have access to it.

Referring to the website as “Moltok,” Robbins said it was there that AI agents “created their own rules, their own language” and “traded a $100 million of real money between them.”

Robbins’ claims continued: “He made 12 NFTs, sold them to other agents, … bought the [dog], shipped it here. … None of this is programmed in.”

While Robbins may have been referring to people using agents to trade cryptocurrency on their behalf, he did not provide any evidence of AI agents working independently, although he was not prompted to either.

On X, viewers let Robbins have it and tried to let him know that his story didn’t seem credible.

“I’ll take, Things That Didn’t Happen for $800 Alex,” one poster wrote, adding fuel to the debate. When prompted, Grok itself found no verification.

RELATED: Time to declare independence from phishing scams — here’s how

Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images for America Business Forum

Sentiments ranged from claims that Robbins was being misleading to the idea that he did not realize his claims were not possible, described by some as “borderline elder abuse.”

Others chimed in with their own sarcastic stories, like an AI agent that made “a billion dollars over night and then bought me a sports team from another ai agent.”

Another X user said, “I don’t think Tony understands that this is not in the realm of things you can just make up for an engaging story.”

In addition to the claim about trades, Robbins said his agent Bartok was one of the “first 500” agents on Moltbook to engage in the activity and is “very well-respected,” presumably by the AI community.

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​Tech, Tony robbins, Artificial intelligence, Moltbook 

Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison tried to make an argument in defense of socialism and was immediately mocked and ridiculed on social media for the effort.

Ellison was being interviewed by Dean Obeidallah, a CNN opinion writer, when the Democrat claimed that having a police force was a socialist policy.

‘Equating cops paid by taxes to socialism is the dumbest, most dishonest garbage an Attorney General has ever spewed.’

“You know, there are elements of socialism that are part of our system today, including Medicare and Social Security,” Obeidallah said.

“How about policing? How about, you call the cops — guess who pays them? Your tax dollars! Guess what that is? That’s socialism, pal, sorry!” Ellison interrupted.

“You don’t contract for your own private police department, or fire department, or water inspection, or public works!” he added.

Video of Ellison’s bizarre argument was posted to social media by the Republican National Committee, where he was lambasted.

“This might be the DUMBEST statement I’ve heard from the leftists in Minnesota,” Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) responded. “Let me be clear: Keith Ellison would rather spend your hard-earned taxpayer dollars on FRAUD rather than public safety. INSANE!”

“He’s parroting a stupid argument that Sophomores make when they think they are smart,” another critic replied.

“You absolute clown, equating cops paid by taxes to socialism is the dumbest, most dishonest garbage an Attorney General has ever spewed,” one detractor said. “Socialism is government stealing the means of production and dictating your life, NOT basic law enforcement to prevent savagery.”

Others pointed out that Ellison’s identification of the police as an element of socialism also contradicted his support for the police defunding movement.

“Yeah, that’s why Keith Ellison advocated to Defund the Minneapolis Police Department. Because he hates Socialism,” Townhall columnist Dustin Grage responded.

RELATED: MS Now’s Donny Deutsch MELTS DOWN over socialist takeover of the Democratic Party: ‘It’s a DISASTER!’

“Considering that Ellison thinks the police are irrevocably tainted by racism and colonialism, then I guess we see how socialism turns out,” another X user replied.

Obeidallah is known for comparing the pro-life policies of Republicans in the U.S. to the brutal murder of women by Taliban extremists in Afghanistan.

Ellison has also previously expressed support for the left-wing extremist group Antifa.

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​Keith ellison, Socialism, Defund the police, Online backlash, Politics 

An artificial intelligence company’s CEO said the public is better off preparing for the inevitable rather than fighting it.

The founder of AI studio Particle6, Eline van der Velden, says she worries for people who don’t embrace AI, and that includes detractors of her new project.

‘We have to accept that this is going to be part of our every day.’

Resistance is futile

Van der Velden’s studio is behind the AI character named Tilly Norwood, whom the company is pushing as the first AI actress to ever exist. Now, Particle6 is announcing its wholly AI movie titled “Misaligned.”

According to Variety, the movie is described as a comedy-drama and a “coming-of-age story infused with existential AI chaos.”

During press for the film, van der Velden pushed a viewpoint that her company is at the tip of the spear in what she considers to be the inevitable.

When ABC News’ Kyra Phillips asked why audiences should embrace her movie, van der Velden revealed that the purpose of her project isn’t exactly to make money.

“It’s less about, you know, making this a box office hit and more about preparing people for the transition that we’re about to go through, so retooling, reskilling people, and getting them ready. I think that’s the most important thing to me,” the CEO told the host.

Van der Velden then cited several celebrities who have either promoted AI outright or decided to use it in production processes as evidence that “we’re seeing a slow warming up of the industry.”

RELATED: Physical media revolution! Global brands join fight to troll Sony with ‘digital’ food and products.

–

Clanker go home

Van der Velden soon went on the offensive, saying that she has concerns for those who do not accept her worldview.

“We have to accept that this is going to be part of our every day. And I worry for people who put their head in the sand and don’t embrace AI because the future world will require people to have AI skill sets,” van der Velden claimed.

For the praise the CEO cited from actors, there have been equal — if not more — parts in opposition, including from Morgan Freeman, who mocked the AI actress in November.

“Nobody likes her because she’s not real and that takes the part of a real person,” Freeman stated. “So it’s not going to work out very well in the movies or in television. … The union’s job is to keep actors acting, so there’s going to be that conflict.”

RELATED: Hollywood screams as Google invests $75M in A24 — but swears its AI tools won’t scare creatives

Florencia Tan Jun/Sportsfile for Web Summit/Getty Images

Creative controller

Van der Velden defended her project as “just creating characters,” explaining that, as a former actor, she has been creatively fulfilled by her e-daughter.

“The reason I called her an actor was that she could play multiple characters, and I was an actor, and I feel like I’m creatively fulfilled by her being able to create all these, you know, play all these different characters in different films.”

Variety noted that the AI film is being designed as a hybrid production combining AI art with traditional film and TV.

“Our work this year has proven something we suspected all along,” van der Velden added, per Variety. “AI can support premium narrative filmmaking, but only with substantial amounts of human craft, skill, judgment, and time. That’s not a limitation of the technology. That’s the point.”

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​Lifestyle, News, Artificial intelligence, Movies, Entertainment 

For years, progressives have worked to soften the public’s perception of their agenda with carefully chosen language — but that strategy is getting harder to maintain.

And after President Donald Trump claimed that they use the word “social democrat because it sounds so nice” when they really mean communism, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) argued that he only said that because socialism is so “popular.”

“I mean, he is ridiculous, but the reason he’s using communism is because he knows socialism is really popular,” Jayapal told Kaitlan Collins on CNN.

“So, he’s trying to turn this into communism when he knows that the ideas that social democrats are running on, that progressives are running on — universal health care, universal child care, making sure that people get paid higher wages — those are incredibly popular,” she continued.

“He’s trying to attach an ideology to it, a label that isn’t correct,” she added.

“Hold on a second,” “Pat Gray Unleashed” executive producer Keith Malinak says. “So, Jayapal, she just said that Trump is using the word ‘communism’ because he knows that socialism is popular.”

“So, can you flip that and say that she and her gang are using the word ‘socialism’ because they know the word ‘communism’ is unpopular?” he asks. “I mean, seriously, she’s basically saying the quiet part out loud.”

And David Jenkins of the Democratic Socialists of America has confirmed this, explaining on video, “Our goal is liberation. Our goal is communism.”

Gray doesn’t understand his logic, asking, “Since when has communism ever liberated anybody?”

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​Communism, David jenkins, Kaitlan collins, Keith malinak, Pat gray, Social democrat, Socialism, Pramila jayapal, Donald trump, Pat gray unleashed 

A former judge who helped an illegal alien elude federal immigration officials has been given a slap on the wrist, but she says she will still appeal the sentence.

Hannah Dugan resigned from the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench after she was convicted for obstructing justice when she helped Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, an illegal alien from Mexico, flee from Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

‘I have been cast as a scofflaw and as a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job. Your honor, I will not let those minutes on April 18, 2025, define my life’s work.’

Flores-Ruiz had been arrested for charges that included strangulation and suffocation, battery, and domestic abuse. He later pleaded no contest to the charge of battery and guilty to re-entering the U.S.

In Aug. 2025, Dugan was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and concealing a person from arrest. She was convicted on the felony obstruction charge and found not guilty on the lesser misdemeanor charge.

On Wednesday, nearly a year after Dugan’s indictment, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman ordered her to pay a fine of $5,000, but she will not serve prison time.

“I think this is a situation where an otherwise good person, upset by immigration policies in this country, made a bad decision in the moment,” Adelman said.

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Dugan to prison time between 15 and 21 months.

Dugan remained defiant even in the moments just before Adelman issued the relatively lax sentence.

“My acts that day were consistent with community concerns at the courthouse,” she said. “My judicial acts were not done with any malicious intent or to advance any personal interests.”

She went on to say that she plans to return to public office after being being “forced” to retire.

“In January, I resigned from my office so the constituents would have a judge in my branch to begin the year,” Dugan continued. “I have been cast as a scofflaw and as a hero. I am neither. I am a public servant who was just trying to do my job. Your honor, I will not let those minutes on April 18, 2025, define my life’s work.”

Dugan’s attorneys indicated they plan to appeal the sentence.

RELATED: California Democrat calls for ICE to be abolished after Homan announces ‘record’ illegal alien arrests

Adelman rejected an argument made by Dugan’s attorneys that she was shielded from prosecution out of “judicial immunity” from her position as a judge.

Surveillance video from the courthouse showed the former judge confronting the federal officers and instructing them to go to the office of the chief judge before helping Flores-Ruiz exit through a side door.

Despite Dugan’s actions, Flores-Ruiz was tracked down by federal authorities and removed from the U.S. in Nov. 2025.

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​Domestic abuse, Illegal alien, Immigration and customs enforcement, Mexico, Slap on the wrist, Immigration, Politics