Socialism coming to America

One of my favorite Biblical passages is Hosea 4:6.  It says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge”.  As I witness more and more people in this country turn to socialism or socialist principles, I say that that passage applies at no better time than today.

As a 1960’s baby, I grew up with a clear education and understanding of the differences between the 4 different social-economic forms of governmental systems of the world – capitalism, socialism, communism, & totalitarianism.  As there is little disputing that capitalism frees the individual.  The other three government systems either restricts or denies individual freedoms.  It is abundantly obvious that this knowledge is no longer dispensed in the governmental educational system today.  If you doubt me, take a look or listen to the youths of America.

America had a severe wake-up call in the 2016 US Presidential election when we all watch in stunned silence as avowed socialist Bernie Sanders ran as a Democrat, and maybe if not for some backroom shenanigans by Hillary Clinton and the Democrat National Party, would have won the Democrat Presidential nomination. Isn’t it interesting that socialist seem to find a home in the Democrat Party?  I’m just asking a question.  One of the most alarming aspects to take away from that experience is that the naked socialistic tunes that Sanders was blowing was music to the ears of the youth.  According to a 2016 Times.com article, it reported, “of 1,000 Americans aged 18 to 26 found that he is the most respected political figure, and that more would prefer to have dinner with him than Beyonce, Kanye West and Justin Bieber.”  The seemingly hypnotic trance of Sander’s socialist utopian dream beats apparently resonated with many of America’s young, and the disenchanted as well.  Washingtontimes.com in a ’17 article revealed that “the majority of millennials would prefer to live in a socialist, communist or fascist nation rather than a capitalistic one”.  And now the socialist political candidates are shedding their masks, jumping out of their closets, and losing their Orwellian doublespeak for blatant socialistic promotion and rhetoric.  In fact, the Democratic Socialist of America, the nation’s largest socialist organization, has grown its ranks from 5,000 to 35,000 nationwide since Trump’s election. No longer do democrat politicians feel the necessity to hide their socialist identity to pass as traditional main-stream to win elections, like Barack Obama did. Case in point, is the dramatic upset of the long time democrat Rep. Joe Crowley in New York’s 14th Congressional District this year by an unknown avowed socialist 28 y/o community organizer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who won on an strictly take from those based on their capacity and give to those based on their need and the haves versus the have-nots platform.

But why is this phenomena occurring now when the American economy is as good as it has been in a long long time according to reports such as channel4.com’s fact-check reports that since Trump’s election: Unemployment is down from 4.6% to 4.1% [the unemployment rate has dropped 17% for Hispanics, 14% for Black Americans [historic low], and 11% for Asians], economic growth is up from a paltry 1.2% to 3%, the rate of inflation has plummeted from 2.1% to 1.7%?  And there’s not one poor person in this country, no matter how poor they may be, would trade places with any poor person from any other country.  Let’s get real!  But this is not about Trump.  It’s about having a deep reverence for the reward of hard work, love of personal independence and personal responsibility, and most of all a true love of personal freedom and love and appreciation of being an American living in America; against those who have an irrational sense of entitlement and severe aversion of personal responsibility, and a battle between individualism vs the collectivism.  I have seen many reports trying to explain the bizarre illogical rush to the ideals of a form of economic governance that has never ever, ever, ever, I mean never ever, produced an economy whereby the average man could not only dream of being rich, but could actually become rich and see his or her dreams come true.  The disastrous and tragic failures of naked socialism as an social-economic governmental vehicle for individual freedom and prosperity, as well as communism and totalitarianism, is not unknown.  It’s no longer being taught.  Too many Americans, particularly the youth, due to the literal blackout of such unfavorable news on real socialism and many academic liberal progressives psychologically rejecting historic fact that naked socialism doesn’t work, don’t have any idea how morally crippling naked socialism is to the human soul.  Many have never experienced true socialism up close and personal. Many youths have no true idea of the economic and social decimation of Venezuela since former dictator President Hugo Chávez sought to reduce “inequality” and poverty by transferring all control of all of the nation’s production of wealth from the private sector and private individuals to the government.  It has dropped from one of the richest countries in South America, to one that has the world’s highest inflation rates and is plagued by hunger and violent crime – and the dumpster fire is not close to being contained nor extinguished.

Millennials and young Americans have not been educated, at home nor in the government educational systems, about the National Socialist Party of 1930’s Germany, formally known as the NAZI Party, the terror and the slaughter of millions of humans under communists and totalitarian rulers of German’s Hitler, China’ Mao, Russia’s Lenin and Stalin, and Cuba’s Che, nor how today’s European nations are struggling to be “Santa” to all of it’s citizens while finding a way to pay for the gifts.  Too many Americans are of the grossly false notion that the government is self-funding, that it gets money from some massive money tree.  While in reality, the government only receives money from the taxes collected from the people, i.e., you and I.  It can not create wealth. It can only redistribute wealth that it receives from you and me. PERIOD!  Quite simply put, the more that we demand for the government to do for us, spend more money in our name, it will have to take more money from us or cut back in other services that benefit us to do it.

But, maybe this is our destiny.  As 1700’s Scottish historian Sir Alex Fraser Tyler prophetically remarked, “The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.  These nations have progressed through this sequence:  From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again to bondage.”  We may be living on borrowed time.  It is up to each of us to teach our posterity the tragic lessons of the past, so as they know not to travel that road ever again.  They need to know that you don’t get a trophy just for showing up, that you can’t expect to live a luxury lifestyle with a pauper’s bank account, and that you may be told no, have your feelings hurt, and be offended. That it will require hard work.  But in America, there is a new day for which you can renew your life. American capitalism, and Americanism, is the greatest economic marvel for individual freedom and liberation in the past 300 years.  But if we choose not to pass on our history of individual freedom and prosperity to our coming generation, history tells us that it will not be kind on them.