Sunday, February 17, 2019
There Will Be Socks for All and Shoes for None
I admittedly keep wavering as to just how effective the socialist bandwagon in America will ultimately become. Part of me believes / hopes, as I had argued in the last post, that America’s essential nature protects it from the dystopian vision. Another part of me appraises events with concern as significant numbers of youth blindly praise the promise of “free [stuff] and equal” with the economic precision of a drunk on a slot machine.
Socialism in America has now reached a high water mark. I’ve always maintained that, in their enthusiasm, they’ve jumped the gun a bit. A few more years of stealth subversion would have served them better but, they now openly proclaim their goals and have no difficulty naming them — “socialism.” Of course they often attempt to soften their image by strategically placing the word “democratic” in front of their allegiance. Even North Korea is “The DEMOCRATIC People’s Republic...” What could be more democratic than calling your police state “democratic?”
Basically, what these people want is a giant commune with compulsory membership — “positive rights,” to be guaranteed a lifestyle at another’s expense, so long as one obeys the great state distributer. Once the socialist genie is out of the bottle, it’s nearly impossible getting him back in. All they need is one solid triumph in taking over the election system and they’re not about to step aside for different outcomes afterward. This is why we now see such active sympathy for the idea of allowing illegal migrants voting rights and why many among the Democrats favor ending the electoral college and packing the courts. The electoral college ploy will be an easy one. College “educated” millennials will see majority rule as “democratic” not having the sense to recognize that allowing high population centers to dictate election outcomes is far from democratic (in the generic sense). The votes of middle America will become irrelevant as the coasts and urban centers dictate the new socialist vision — bread and circuses for the illegal, ill-informed, and autocratic. Bondage and victimization to state theft for the hard-working, the intelligent, and those who favor family over collectivist abstractions.
I’ve heard people argue that having police and fire departments is socialism but it wasn’t municipal services that dragged Venezuela into mass-poverty. Socialism isn’t about individual government programs — “Medicare for all is socialism so what’s wrong with socialism?” Socialism is a system of governance that permeates the entire view of how one wishes to see society run. A socialist believes that the state is best qualified to run all aspects of life. It’s an innately elitist philosophy that believes that the “smart” people must rule. Of course they see themselves as the smart people. By default it requires feeding power to a centralized political authority. If one believes that power corrupts then one can certainly see the connection between a powerful government and a corrupt government. Corruption in a capitalist economy means that a crooked politician can personally enrich themselves (usually with the assistance of government). Corruption in a socialist economy means that a bureaucrat can restrict and even harm the lives of common citizens as a matter if official policy. How corrupt can a government be that has little or no power?
In the end, all strains if leftism are coercive value systems, aggressive and dogmatic. The left might argue that conservatives are aggressive in their desire to be left alone but that’s hardly making a case that both sides of the spectrum are the same in their goals. There’s a vast difference between wanting power to free ones’s self from another’s dictates and wanting power to control or punish others. Conservatism (“classical liberalism”) believes in the values of a constitutional republic, “negative rights” — the right to be left alone and believe in and promote the values of one’s choice. The left’s assumption is that free people will be cruel, selfish, and “greedy” and therefore require their heavy hand to impose goodness. Most people, when living in accordance with their own values, are charitable and cooperative. The mandatory “compassion” of leftism is insincere at best and, more often than not, a mere manipulative tool for imposing their will.
It should be no wonder that, when we see Democrat policy in action (e.g. their stance on illegal immigration) we see that most of their effort goes into solidifying and maintaining their power. The Democrat’s party wants illegal immigration to ultimately stock their voting blocks to achieve power...so they can exert power and keep power. Conservatives want a wall to insure the security of fellow citizens.
Once leftists obtain high degrees of power, it is no longer an issue of waiting for the next election. There are no pendulum swings in a state seized by socialists. The energies of state become devoted fully to maintaining the state and any centrifugal forces toward individuality and freedom are crushed.
A citizen of America can only hope that their fellow citizens have the common sense to see that bread and circuses are not policies that assist one in the pursuit of happiness or democracy.
