SANITIZING SOCIALISM
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
After the collapse of the Soviet Union & its buffer satellites of eastern Europe, there was an article in National Review about an effort to sanitize the word socialism. I’d never really thought any sanitization was necessary because I’d never perceived any aura of evil such as that attached to fascist, nazi, communist, etc. & there certainly wasn’t any associated with the words liberal and progressive which have always conjured up a higher purpose.
Any effort has been successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams or, more appropriately, worst nightmares. This year, has seen an explosion of politicians flaunting socialism as a badge of honor. The way was prepared two years ago with the presidential candidacy of avowed socialist, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Socialist Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez defeated long tem incumbent Cong. Joe Crowley in New York. Ayanna Pressly, from Chicago, defeated long term very progressive Democratic Cong. Mike Capuano in Massachusetts and Cynthia Nixon did well against another extreme liberal Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York. James Thompson embraced the socialist label to win a congressional primary in Kansas; an unlikely state. Ben Jealous, backed by Sanders, won the Maryland Democratic gubernatorial primary in a crowded field. Democratic New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio has made no secret of his socialist views since his venture into politics & was an ardent supporter of the communist Sandanista Nicaraguan government. There were others.
Stephane Courtois, et al, (in The Black Book of Communism) attributed 21 million deaths to Adolf Hitler’s German National Socialist Workers government and 20 million to the Union of Soviet Socialist Union. Another 70 million have been laid at the door of Chinese Communism & 2 million to Cambodia’s Killing Fields. There have been more in Ethiopia, Cuba & Viet-Nam under other communist/socialist governments. In all, approximately 150 million people met their deaths at the hands of their own governments, the overwhelming majority by socialist, of various stripes.
No one has confronted any American with the bloody history of socialism in the twentieth century, the bloodiest century ever. No one has asked this most crucial question; what type of socialism do you espouse, national socialism, soviet socialism or some other kind?
Socialists try to disclaim responsibility for those deaths by saying they weren’t really socialist, yet Fidel Castro and Mikhail Gorbachev called themselves socialists, not communists.
Hitler, for his part, had many socialist views as did most of his henchmen. He was an admirer of Mussolini and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as were most progressives of the day. Mussolini despised democracy and later socialism, but never showed how fascism differed. Latter day murderous examples such as Fidel Castro, Mao Zedong, Danny Ortega, Hugo Chavez and the sadistic Che Guevara escape their opprobrium & even evoke their admiration.
When socialism results in GULAGs, The Final Solution and The Cultural Revolution, they claim it wasn’t really socialist. Convenient. They blame Hitler’s murderous regime on a fascism, similar to Benito Mussolini‘s Italy. But Mussolini had been a socialist and, if you look at the ten planks of The (Communist) Manifesto of Karl Marx, an ultimate socialist, you can discern a fascism, a partnership between government and industry. These are from planks 7-9, “…extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state, …, Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture… Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries…Combination of education with industrial production, etc.”
Mussolini said “Fascism is a religion,” and “Nothing outside the state.” Marx famously said, “Religion is the opiate of the masses.” Hostility to religion is a common denominator of these regimes. It is common knowledge that progressives attend church less frequently than conservatives. They give less to charity than conservatives, believing that they ‘give at work.’ through their taxes.
Socialism hates religion because it competes for the people’s solace. “Don’t turn to God, turn to us, Man & his religion of government; we are your salvation,” is their motto.
There is no room in the progressive/socialist world for ‘life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness,’ the cornerstone of our nation’s philosophy of government as laid out by Thomas Jefferson. Government will provide, not God.
Hitler had his Brown Shirts, Mussolini his Black Shirts and Mao his Red Guards. Today’s socialists have black clad Antifas and other thugs to riot, intimidate , harass and beat opponents. No Democrat or progressive has condemned their excesses.
It is human nature to pursue your own perceived self-interest, which also includes altruistic goals to help one’s fellow man, usually at the behest of religious bodies. Exhortations to assist those in need occur throughout The Old & New Testaments. The Judeo-Christian God of Abraham requires it.
Socialism is at war with human nature which is why it always fails. Socialists know that human nature is the enemy thus, their hostility to & contempt for the common man.
Their entire philosophy revolves around anger & elitism. They are angry at a system that has produced great inequalities but ignore its standard of living beyond anything else in history. They never consider that inequalities usually are due to some government intervention in the economic process in the first place.
They further believe that only they are imbued with the necessary skills to correct things. Nothing else can explain their attitude of smug self-righteousness.
Their hostility to others leads to their ostracism of those who do not accept their views in totality. Alan Dershowitz, a lifetime liberal, has found it out since he criticized efforts to impeach Donald J. Trump and to derail Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
The Bible tells us that no one stands in God’s eyes above anyone else. Liberals believe no one stands above themselves, God or otherwise.
Socialism fails for those who are forced to pay for it but it succeeds for the looters. Here is a similar article from Walter E. Williams.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/05/our-ignorance-of-socialism-is-dangerous/
I disagree with the statement, “Socialism is at war with human nature which is why it always fails.” I think a major part of human nature is dominance hierarchy behaviors by many means; the horrors are too natural. Socialism is a ruinous extended phenotype that benefits the ruling class at the expense of the rest. Venezuela, Nicaragua (again) and South Africa are the most recent victims. Here in the US the welfare state grows automatically faster than does GDP, and not a mention from the political class of the hundred fifteen trillion dollars in unfunded federal entitlement liabilities which is $943,000 per taxpayer and rising. (USdebtclock.org)
Our most recent majority Democrat federal government, 2009-2011, imposed a permanent great leap forward in dictatorship of health care, in federal spending and in government power. The majority Republican federal government, 2017-now, gave us a temporary tax cut, some regulatory relief and no reduction in spending. The next Democrat government could complete the health care take-over, subsidize medical marijuana, subsidize preschool and college for all, subsidize a “basic income” for all, legalize illegals so they can vote, increase income taxes and enact a wealth tax. One session of Congress can do it.
How can we effectively resist the political class’s natural drive for total power? How can we resist the tendency of voters to prefer loot over liberty and personal responsibility?
Ha! Recipients of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but the makers’ wealth! See what I mean:
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-24/more-half-america-gets-more-welfare-it-pays-taxes
“The majority Republican federal government, 2017-now…” Since then we know that the span was 2017-January 3, 2019. Demographic change plus automatic entitlement growth plus the successful long march of the neomarxists through our institutions probably means that the 115th Congress is the last dying gasp of the taxpayer class.
Salust said, “Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.” And Marx claimed that socialism was inevitable. 40% of US households are net taxpayers which is still a sizable electorate to try and reach.