Stealing America: What My Experience With Criminal Gangs Taught Me About Obama, Hillary, and the Democratic Party by Dinesh D'Souza

Author:Dinesh D'Souza
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Commentary & Opinion, Political Ideologies, Conservatism & Liberalism, American Government, Executive Branch
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-11-17T03:23:13+00:00

Chapter 8

SILVER SPOONS AND

GENETIC LOTTERIES:

The Lucky Luciano Scam

No one deserves his place in the distribution of natural assets any more than he deserves his initial starting place in society.1

—John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

In this chapter we turn to the final progressive pitch, what I call the Lucky Luciano scam. The Sicilian-born mobster Charles Luciano was called “Lucky Luciano” for surviving innumerable close calls, including several beatings, a throat-slashing, and a couple of assassination attempts, mostly caused by his refusal to join a rival mob boss. Luciano was arrested twenty-five times for assault, illegal gambling, blackmail, and robbery but never spent any time in prison. In short, he had what Machiavelli terms fortuna on his side.

What Machiavelli meant by fortuna is the twists and turns of fate. While Machiavelli conceded that luck has a role in all things and is inherently unpredictable, he insisted that it should not be cursed but rather embraced. Fortuna, he argued, can be at least partly steered through ingenuity and force of will. Criminals, I discovered during my confinement, understand this. Like Machiavelli, they are realists. They rejoice at good luck and attempt to work around bad luck as best they can. Progressives, however, rail at luck as a form of injustice and seek to use government to correct the vicissitudes of fortune.

Let’s remember, however, that this is a pitch. Progressives aren’t actually confused about luck; they are using luck to sell their ideological formula. In this respect, progressives are doing exactly what Machiavelli advocates and what criminals do. They have converted the omnipresence of luck in society to justify an omnipresent government role as the arbiter and regulator of luck. Luck has become a profit-center for modern progressivism.

We can see this quite clearly if we follow the fortunes of Hillary Clinton. She is a woman who has clearly had fortuna on her side, and in addition, she and her husband have ingeniously and ruthlessly manipulated their circumstances for personal gain.

Hillary rode her husband’s success to become first lady of Arkansas, then first lady of the United States. Then she won an easy race in liberal New York to become its junior senator. As a senator she accomplished, well, nothing. Then she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, losing to Barack Obama, who appointed her secretary of state. Despite extensive travels, Hillary’s achievements as secretary of state are essentially nil. As with Benghazi, most of her notable actions are screwups. In an apparent confirmation of the Peter Principle, however, Hillary is now back as the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.

Hillary is fortunate, not merely in her career path, but also in being the surprise recipient of hundreds of millions of dollars that have been rained on her and her husband both directly and through the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation has raised more than $2 billion in contributions. A substantial portion of that came from foreign governments. Some sixteen nations together have given $130 million. In addition, through speeches and consulting fees, more than $100 million has ended up in the pockets of the Clintons themselves.

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