They've finally admitted it. In an Esquire article reprinted on MSNBC the author reports that "Generation O" doesn't care if you call them socialists. To me, that's a sure sign that we really have become a socialist country. It's also a sign that our educational system has failed in teaching the value and importance of liberty and responsibility and what the Declaration of Independence and Constitution really mean. Basically, we're screwed.
The article is entitled "What's So Bad About Socialism, Anyway?", which may be a valid question. Actually, I am OK, with a certain amount of socialism, in the form of laws and regulation that help keep people honest and keep greed in check--since is fairly obvious that people can't seem to do that themselves, as the Founding Fathers intended. However, I am opposed to government ownership of the means of production and distribution. The reason is simple: governments don't manage businesses very well.
If we are to use our resources efficiently and with as little waste as possible, then businesses must be managed in such a way as to maximize those resources and minimize waste. The best way to do that is via self-interest, the profit motive. Humans act differently when the consequences of the their actions are apparent, be they positive (like profit), or negative (like loss). If the government controls the means of production and distribution, then the profit motive goes away and the motives are up for grabs. When the profit motive is gone, the most likely motive becomes power. Those in control may or may not have our best interests in mind, and most likely they will have the interests of their own power structure in mind.
Under socialism, poverty and class distinctions grow, and civil liberties shrink, and prosperity suffers. The people have less time, money and other resources to put toward improving the quality of life and the advancement of society, and civilization withers. Capitalism with democracy, on the other hand, is a proven means of achieving prosperity and enlightenment, thus contributing to the advance of civilization. Capitalism can prevent wars, cure diseases and make the world a better place. Socialism, in some for or other, is responsible for all of the wars of the 20th century.
If there is any thing that we can learn from history (which apparently, isn't being taught properly anymore) it's that freedom is worth dying for, and power corrupts. Now, we can sit back and watch history repeat itself.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tax and Spend Hypocrisy, Part 2
Now, MSNBC news is saying, in an article of Feb. 26, that this year's budget deficit will be the largest in history ($1.75 trillion), which is four times as much as last year's budget deficit from the previous administration ($455 billion, and a previous record), and "a percentage of the economy — just over 12 percent — not seen since World War II".
This is the "new era of responsibility"? And they were complaining about the Republicans' irresponsible spending. I'm getting really tired of the self-aggrandizing hypocrisy, and even more tired of the government-metastasizing* spending.
* As George Will said: Government exists to metastasize. What's really significant about that saying is that the word metastasize is typically used when referring to the spread of cancer in the body.
This is the "new era of responsibility"? And they were complaining about the Republicans' irresponsible spending. I'm getting really tired of the self-aggrandizing hypocrisy, and even more tired of the government-metastasizing* spending.
* As George Will said: Government exists to metastasize. What's really significant about that saying is that the word metastasize is typically used when referring to the spread of cancer in the body.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Thank You, Larry H. Miller
Local businessman, philanthropist, and Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller recently died from complications of diabetes. He was not only a good businessman, but a good man. Since it was built, the large arena in Salt Lake City where the Jazz play has been named by the largest donor: first Delta, and now Energy Solutions. Recently, there has been a call for the arena to be renamed in Miller's honor. I agree with this proposal and recommend that everyone else who agrees also make their voice heard by contacting arena management and expressing that desire.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Border Patrol Hazards, Part 2
In December 2007 I wrote a post here about the U.S. Border Patrol agents who were jailed for doing their jobs. Recently, and with very little publicity, the agents were released from prison, but have still not been pardoned, and a Congressman from Texas is pursuing an investigation of the matter. This is a start, but is long overdue.
In related news, Mexico's drug war has begun spilling over into the U.S. and actions at containment in Mexico by the Mexican Army have been met with public protests that closed border crossings. This is all insanity. While I am certainly in favor of anyone's right to make a living, selling drugs is just reprehensible. And certainly anyone has a right to protest, and to be stupid, but this situation is getting out of hand. The Mexican Army is right to be defending against and attempting to contain this drug war, and when it spills over onto U.S. soil, we have the right to join the war and defend lands, people and property, even if some drug smugglers get killed in the process.
The fact is that our borders are way too open, and we are way too lenient on drug smugglers and dealers, and Congress is doing nothing about it, and is even exacerbating the problem. We need to start making some noise about this, and make sure that we are all well-armed and ready to defend ourselves as necessary.
In related news, Mexico's drug war has begun spilling over into the U.S. and actions at containment in Mexico by the Mexican Army have been met with public protests that closed border crossings. This is all insanity. While I am certainly in favor of anyone's right to make a living, selling drugs is just reprehensible. And certainly anyone has a right to protest, and to be stupid, but this situation is getting out of hand. The Mexican Army is right to be defending against and attempting to contain this drug war, and when it spills over onto U.S. soil, we have the right to join the war and defend lands, people and property, even if some drug smugglers get killed in the process.
The fact is that our borders are way too open, and we are way too lenient on drug smugglers and dealers, and Congress is doing nothing about it, and is even exacerbating the problem. We need to start making some noise about this, and make sure that we are all well-armed and ready to defend ourselves as necessary.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Tax and Spend Hypocrisy
For the last several years, we've heard complaints about the cost of the war in Iraq and President Bush's overspending. Most of the complainers have been liberals or Democrats, but, mostly both. Now, less than one month into the new administration, President Obama (I still have a hard time with that...) and the Democrat-led Congress want us to support them in passing a so-called "economic stimulus" bill with a price tag approaching $1 trillion* and a financial system bailout that could be as much as $2.5 trillion** (that's $2,500,000,000,000!), both of dubious efficacy, and they are vilifying Republicans who are opposing them. At this rate, the Democrats will spend more in the first year of the Obama Administration, than the Republican Bush Administration did in eight years! When does it stop?
What's more, people need to realize that a president may propose a bill, or a budget, and the president signs the bills to make them into law, but it's Congress that constructs and passes the bills to begin with, and who has the authority over the national purse-strings. The fact is that both sides of the aisle spend more money than the nation has and they are just feeding the problem. If we are going to reign-in government spending, it has to be Congress that does it, but a president with some guts would help, too.
Oh, and by the way, thank your kids for this, since they're the ones who'll be paying for it for the rest of their lives.
On the bright side, though, the Republicans are playing this one smart. All but three of them are opposing the stimulus plan. This sets them up to point the accusing finger at the Democrats come election time. I just hope that they can keep being frugal, but I doubt it.
* To be fair, the stimulus plan is actually $838 billion***, but let's consider how much that really is:
** To give you an idea of how much $2.5 trillion really is:
Thanks to my bro-in-law for this:
What a profound and short little paragraph that says it all!!!
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of ANY nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005
What's more, people need to realize that a president may propose a bill, or a budget, and the president signs the bills to make them into law, but it's Congress that constructs and passes the bills to begin with, and who has the authority over the national purse-strings. The fact is that both sides of the aisle spend more money than the nation has and they are just feeding the problem. If we are going to reign-in government spending, it has to be Congress that does it, but a president with some guts would help, too.
Oh, and by the way, thank your kids for this, since they're the ones who'll be paying for it for the rest of their lives.
On the bright side, though, the Republicans are playing this one smart. All but three of them are opposing the stimulus plan. This sets them up to point the accusing finger at the Democrats come election time. I just hope that they can keep being frugal, but I doubt it.
* To be fair, the stimulus plan is actually $838 billion***, but let's consider how much that really is:
- That amount would by 3,352,000 nice $250,000 homes.
- It would buy two school lunches for every elementary and secondary school student (55,000,000) in the country for every day their entire school career, from 1st grade to high school graduation (assuming they all graduate), and you would still have money left.
- It could send 4 million students to Harvard, for all four years of their Bachelor's Degrees. I wonder what kind of education system would we have if we put even half of this money into it.
** To give you an idea of how much $2.5 trillion really is:
- If my calculations are correct, 2.5 trillion miles is about how far light would travel in about six months, at 186,000 miles per second.
- The distance from the earth to the sun is 93 million miles; 2.5 trillion miles is enough to go to the sun and back 134,408 times.
- With $2.5 trillion, you could buy a billion nice new cars (at $25,000 each). To park them all, you'd need a parking lot the size of Massachusetts.
- The amount of $2.5 trillion would be enough to buy $250,000 homes for 10o million families. So basically, you could by a decent home for every family in the United States with this amount of money. Maybe that's what they should do.
Thanks to my bro-in-law for this:
What a profound and short little paragraph that says it all!!!
"You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of ANY nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."
- Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 - 2005
Friday, February 6, 2009
Wolves at the Door
It's very likely that somebody will call me crazy for what I'm going to write here, but I really believe it's true. So, crazy is as crazy does, I suppose.
I've been thinking lately about our current economic troubles, and it occurs to me, in hindsight, of course, that's it's all too perfect, too neat, tidy. It's as if this has all been planned and constructed to happen in a particular way, at a particular time. Bear with me here, and allow me to try and describe what I see in my mind's eye.
In the late 1990's, there was a push by government liberals to get lending institutions to increase mortgage lending to minorities and those of low income. In fact, there was an article in the NY Times to that effect, that I have referenced before. With looser lending rules, more people were able to buy homes, and more people were able to place themselves in tenuous and unwise financial situations.
Then, when gas prices approached $4 per gallon in the United States, the cost of living rose to unprecedented and unanticipated levels. Not only did fuel prices rise, but so did the prices of all of those items that require petroleum products for manufacture, production and transport. In short, when gas prices rise, the prices of everything else rise, too.
Therefore, those people who were in a dangerous position already, with a house they couldn't really afford and a mortgage hanging over their heads, were placed in the position of having to choose between paying the mortgage and buying food. So, since hungry bellies always win, they defaulted on their mortgages, bringing us to the housing and financial industry meltdowns.
Now, we are ripe for the government takeover of a number of major financial institutions, accompanied by draconian rules for for how these businesses should be run, included "fairness" in wages and other such Marxist* ideas, and the people who have been foreclosed on are screaming in agreement. In a short time, something will happen (most likely a terrorist attack) that will justify the government taking over other businesses and organizations, and then we are in the grips of fascism*.
This seems to be a concentrated effort to reduce the power and influence of the United States and its people, and to keep us on the edge of desperation. Why? To keep us subjugated, in line, and powerless. When we are always working to keep our families fed, clothed and housed, then we have very little resources to put into any kind of complaint or protest, to resist the encroachments on our freedom. When we are busy surviving, we are not able to protect our liberty. Also, a people on edge are also more likely to favor socialist* government programs that promise to keep them safe from the wolves just outside the door. Unfortunately, it seems that we have already allowed the wolves in, for "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves."
So, who is doing this, and how? I'm not sure, and I don't know how to find out, but our national leadership seems to be implicit the scheme. Here's a start:
In 1944 Norman Thomas, the head of the Socialist Party of America said:
* In my mind, at least for the purposes of my point in this post, the words "Marxist", socialist" and "fascist", and the concepts for which they stand, are synonymous and interchangeable.
I've been thinking lately about our current economic troubles, and it occurs to me, in hindsight, of course, that's it's all too perfect, too neat, tidy. It's as if this has all been planned and constructed to happen in a particular way, at a particular time. Bear with me here, and allow me to try and describe what I see in my mind's eye.
In the late 1990's, there was a push by government liberals to get lending institutions to increase mortgage lending to minorities and those of low income. In fact, there was an article in the NY Times to that effect, that I have referenced before. With looser lending rules, more people were able to buy homes, and more people were able to place themselves in tenuous and unwise financial situations.
Then, when gas prices approached $4 per gallon in the United States, the cost of living rose to unprecedented and unanticipated levels. Not only did fuel prices rise, but so did the prices of all of those items that require petroleum products for manufacture, production and transport. In short, when gas prices rise, the prices of everything else rise, too.
Therefore, those people who were in a dangerous position already, with a house they couldn't really afford and a mortgage hanging over their heads, were placed in the position of having to choose between paying the mortgage and buying food. So, since hungry bellies always win, they defaulted on their mortgages, bringing us to the housing and financial industry meltdowns.
Now, we are ripe for the government takeover of a number of major financial institutions, accompanied by draconian rules for for how these businesses should be run, included "fairness" in wages and other such Marxist* ideas, and the people who have been foreclosed on are screaming in agreement. In a short time, something will happen (most likely a terrorist attack) that will justify the government taking over other businesses and organizations, and then we are in the grips of fascism*.
This seems to be a concentrated effort to reduce the power and influence of the United States and its people, and to keep us on the edge of desperation. Why? To keep us subjugated, in line, and powerless. When we are always working to keep our families fed, clothed and housed, then we have very little resources to put into any kind of complaint or protest, to resist the encroachments on our freedom. When we are busy surviving, we are not able to protect our liberty. Also, a people on edge are also more likely to favor socialist* government programs that promise to keep them safe from the wolves just outside the door. Unfortunately, it seems that we have already allowed the wolves in, for "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves."
So, who is doing this, and how? I'm not sure, and I don't know how to find out, but our national leadership seems to be implicit the scheme. Here's a start:
In 1944 Norman Thomas, the head of the Socialist Party of America said:
The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened. . . . I no longer need to run as a presidential candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democrat Party has adopted our platform.I mourn for our nation and our freedom.
* In my mind, at least for the purposes of my point in this post, the words "Marxist", socialist" and "fascist", and the concepts for which they stand, are synonymous and interchangeable.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Global Warming Revisited, Again
I found what appears to be the most intelligent site on the web related to the global climate change issue. It is the site of an organization called ICECAP (International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project), and they take a very intelligent and even-handed approach to the issues. Visit and check it out: icecap.us.
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