…you clearly haven’t been paying attention.
The Political Insider (requires registration for e-mail alerts) is fielding a poll, trying to find out who we want for the next Republican presidential candidate. It’s all multiple choice, with the usual suspects. There are some general opinion questions too. The one that really got me is; “Do you think the tea party represents the Republican Party?”
Oh boy. First; No, or I sure hope not. But that’s not the proper question. The proper question would be; “Do you think the Republican Party represents the tea party?” The answer is; “Hell No, that’s why the tea party exists. Get it?”
That, you Insiders, is the problem, and so the tea party is trying to overrun the Republican Party, co opt it, and bring it into line. The other question I did not see is; “What should be the primary goal of the Republican Party over the next several years?”
The one, simple answer is; “Get rid of socialism and purge the socialists from American government payrolls. All of it. All of them.” We’ve had enough.
They didn’t give us the opportunity to answer in our own words, so I deleted the message.
Where’s Joe when you need him?
(McCarthy)
Recently, someone pointed out to me that, under Socialism, government owns the means to production.
Where is this happening in America?
Let’s see…Government owns GM and Chrysler–last I checked, they at least pretended to produce cars–but I could be wrong about that.
Government now owns Student Loans–which, arguably, is one means of producing an education.
Government now owns a large percentage of mortgages–which is, arguably, the means of producing homes and even businesses, to some extent.
Government now owns a major Retirement program, called “Social Security”.
While Government hasn’t yet taken over the Health Care industry, they recently passed ObamaCare–which is a definitive move to taking over approximately one-sixth of our Economy. This, and Government already has Medicare and Medicaid.
Yes, we are gradually becoming a Socialist State. But I should point out that a government doesn’t need to own the means to production. If you pass enough laws and regulations, you can de facto own the means to production, even if individuals actually hold the deeds to those means.
Indeed, some National Socialist did this in some country in Europe somewhere–businesses “owned” the means of production, but government agents could come in at any time, look at the business’s books–as far as they want–and then put heavy fines on the business for the smallest of errors. The government also offered rewards to employees who turned in their bosses for the slightest of infractions to the country’s laws…all this sort-of reminds me of, oh, I don’t know…OSHA? The EPA? The ADA? The FDA? The USDA? The BATFE?
If I recall correctly, there was some sort of skirmish that caused the National Socialists of that country to lose power. As far as I know, though, the country didn’t completely give up on Socialism, though, although I may have heard in the news somewhere that they may be distancing themselves further from Socialist policies. I’m not sure, but they may have even denounced our move towards Socialism…but then, a lot of countries have been doing that lately–even China–so I wouldn’t trust my memory on that!
Lets not mince words, or be coy. What we have is more akin to Fascism, and the Fascisti were devout followers of Marx. Fascism was their answer to reaching full-on Marxism, which is socialism, incrementally. As I’ve said many times;
“Every little bit of socialism (government interference) demands a little bit more. Just a little”
Instrumentalism, or, as Obama stated it regarding medical care (I paraphrase – you’ve all seen him say it); “We’re not going to get to single payer all in one step. But we will get there”
“If you pass enough laws and regulations, you can de facto own the means to production, even if individuals actually hold the deeds to those means.” This is essentially Mussolini’s manifesto.
I’ll assume, ubu, that you’re aware of all these things already, yet you come on here anyway, with these silly attempts at hair-splitting. Eventually you only discredit yourself.
I do not care what the socialists call themselves from generation to generation, year to year or week to week, whether it be “Fabian” or Progressive” or “Eugenicists” or “Marxists” or Nazis, or they just want “Social Justice” or any of the common, inane crap designed to fool people. I’ll call them all socialists, or statists, or communists, or common criminals for that matter, as they’re all in the same category, advocating force to shape society, or for personal gain, or both, as opposed to the American Principles of Liberty.
M’Kay?
Correction – that’s “Incrementalism” (using subterfuge along with small gains over time to achieve evils that people would never accept in large steps) not “Instrumentalism.” My music industry roots are showing.
There’s really only two types of government: Collectivism and Individualism. All these “Socialist” or “Communist” or “Fascist” terms are simply different terms for Collectivism–and whether or not they are implemented differently, the results are always the same.
Some have made the claim that you could have a hybrid of the two, but Ludwig von Mises is right, when he says you can’t have both. At best, you can have a “Hampered Free Market”, as he calls it–Individualism burdened by taxes and failing social programs that could ultimately be better provided by the “free market”.