Socialists deny reality by insisting that governments can competently run economies and believing that human nature can be forced into "perfection."  However, no socialist platform has ever been so removed from reality as the Democrats' current belief system.  Given that, perhaps it's not strange that Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Insane-istan) is denying that she ever encouraged her supporters to engage in violence against Republicans.

Every socialist experiment from the Russian Revolution forward has shown that socialism is predicated upon two fantasies.  The first is that the government can run an economy.  It can't.  As the famous "I, Pencil" video shows, the market functions best when people independently (and legally) advance their self-interest.  No government can make the millions of instant decisions that millions of individuals can make for their own benefit, creating an invisible hand that magically raises up everyone:

If a successful controlled economy is Delusion Number One for socialism, what's the second delusion?  The second is that humans can be forced through government coercion into becoming perfect people who will always cheerfully labor more for others than for themselves.  That's never worked, and it never will work.

Although the Puritans were not Marxists who believed in a managed economy, they engaged in a failed socialist experiment when they first arrived in America.  Even though all of them were inspired by the same shared religious morality, they still were unable to achieve Utopian perfection that would prevent starvation.  There is only enlightened self-interest — that is, moral people who work hard for their own benefit without becoming vicious predators along the way.

So, again, socialism is predicated on delusion.  But has there ever been a socialist experiment as deluded as the one playing out in America today?

We are currently being governed by a class of people who believe:

• Focusing obsessively on race, and classifying people solely by racial characteristics, is "anti-racist."
• Violent cadres of masked people attacking their political enemies, burning buildings, and engaging in violent censorship are "anti-fascists."
• People can change their sex at will because of their feelings, a subset of which is the assertion that men can have babies.
• Ending punishments for criminals (no bail arrests, decarceration, etc.) will end crime.
• Humans have the power to affect the earth's climate, a dynamic system that has been changing endlessly for 4.5 billion years.
• A welfare state can survive an open border.
• Introducing millions of unskilled Latin American laborers into America will not have any negative effect on low-income people who are already in America, especially American Blacks.
• Forcing employers to pay above-market wages will result in more jobs, not fewer.
• A decrepit, corrupt, senile man who campaigned from his basement got more votes than any presidential candidate in American history.
• Violent riots across American cities, causing hundreds of millions of dollars in damage, are peaceful protests.

Given this departure from reality, should we really be shocked that Rep. Maxine Waters is denying that she ever called for violence against Republicans?  If you're a conservative, you're familiar with this video:

On Sunday, though, Waters denied this evidence that she encouraged her supporters to engage in activity that almost inevitably leads to violence against political officials.  When she appeared on MSNBC with Ali Velshi, Velshi asked whether Trump's attorneys are correct that Democrats are guilty of inciting violence.  He noted that her statements, above, are one of the proofs Republicans advance for that assertion.

Waters responded with a fact-free rant rich with phrases such as "this president was out to destroy our democracy," "he sent those ... domestic terrorists to the Capitol," and "poor children in cages."  When Velshi pinned her down specifically about the above video, Waters denied absolutely that talking about "creat[ing] a crowd" around Trump officials to "push back on them" was an incitement to dangerous violence:

As a matter of fact, if you look at the words that I used, the strongest thing I was was to tell them they're not welcome, talk to them, tell them they're not welcome. I didn't say go and fight. I didn't say anybody was going to have any violence.

Well, I guess if you can believe six impossible things before breakfast — or, as Democrats do, all day, every day — I guess you can be Maxine Waters and deny that telling mobs to descend upon, harass, and push against politicians they've been told to hate is not an incitement to violence.

Image: Maxine Waters encourages violence against Republicans.  YouTube screen grab.