Death of America?

Socialism and Communism do not work. This datum (and viewpoint) I am sure is no surprise to those who regularly read my essays. That it does not work is starkly demonstrated by the current Chinese regime. They have abandoned communism with regard to their economy, though it is still ruled by an oppressive leadership that allow no political descent.

There are various logical reasons why they do not work, though to those with false data and fixed ideas no amount of logic will have any effect to break through a concrete wall of belief that it does. If false data is ingrained deeply in the psyche there is no fact or even a legion of facts that can dislodge it, at least not without intensive effort.

It takes an honest and alert mind to recognize that something does not make sense and investigate the truth of it even when it slams up against what you have been taught from childhood.

There are very few examples of such things. David Horowitz is someone that grew up as the son of dedicated communists; steeped in the far left ideology but was perhaps more intelligent (or had more of a conscience?) and started to question the indoctrination he’d been saddled with. When he saw the hypocrisy of the leftist ideology and the product of it; his fixed ideas were somehow dislodged.

The same can be said of the handful of former Muslim terrorist that have repented and are speaking out against their former cohorts. Certainly in a lot of ways these people have it much rougher than Horowitz did. They not only have to overcome their own ingrained teachings but as well, the very real physical danger to themselves and their families for speaking out at all.

It follows then that most of those who have this affliction will find it difficult or impossible, for example, to recognize things such as all behavior is not necessarily the moral equivalent of another. That not all verbal slights justify horrendous retaliation or in the Jehadist world; that cartoons don’t  justify murdering the drawer of that cartoon. Or that writing a story does not justify a Fatwa to murder the author. Or making a movie doesn’t justify murdering the filmmaker…

Another example is with the so called “Stimulus” package. You have every bad actor, the banks, Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, and all of those that have lived beyond their means, being bailed out by those who were prudent and lived within their means.  You also have the government itself as a bad actor that encouraged even demanded the banks fund those bad mortgages and cover their ass with the Dodd/Frank law putting horrendous regulations on banks when Dodd AND Frank were the most vocal legislators pushing banks to do this!

Those advocating bailouts or any action that takes from the prudent to give to the imprudent, will never understand one of the basic laws of human interaction: When you reward bad behavior and penalize good behavior, you get bad behavior.

This is the reason the Great Depression was great. The government stepped in and sought to help by rewarding bad behavior and penalizing good. With government engaging in such actions, there is no incentive for the prudent to be such or for the imprudent to be anything else.

During rough times those who have, try to help those who don’t. Charity is voluntary. “Entitlement” is confiscation by the government and redistribution.

The mentality that any good can become of bailing others out of their responsibility for their own actions is that which needs to be nullified. That someone is “hurting” or down on their luck is not a license to confiscate resources from one to give to another.

In a free society those that are down on their luck will have to rely on the charity of those that have enough resources to give a helping hand to them. This is moral and it is beneficial to both the giver and recipient of the charity.

When government steps in, it is no longer a moral activity. Instead of being voluntary charity it becomes confiscation and extortion by the government. Instead of the receiver of the charity knowing it is charity and something to receive only long enough to gain one’s footing, it becomes “entitlement” with no imperative to stop receiving because, after all, it is an “entitlement” and thus instead of gaining ones footing the entitlement culture never gains footing but gains a life-raft to carry them along life’s stream without the necessity to even get one’s feet wet.

Not reversing the concept that entitlement is moral but indeed immoral and degrading to both those being extorted and those receiving the extortion will spell the inevitable decline and finally death of America.

I still hold out hope for the country. Certainly more people are waking to the product of a statist government (or progressive or liberal or socialist or communist one; as they are all of the same ilk).

More people need to wake up and it is the responsibility of all that are awake to awaken others.

//

Advertisement