Socialism/Communism and our American Way of Life
If our country elects one of the increasingly socialist and
virulently leftist candidates as president in 2020, we would be heading down
the path of, most recently, Venezuela, and historically, many other countries that
have failed as a result of adopting socialism/communism as a form of
government. Having been exposed to an
overwhelming left-wing point of view taught by leftist professors at many colleges
and universities, millennials, and particularly, gen-zers, increasingly think
that socialism, with its idealistic altruistic sub-theme, would be an
attractive alternative to our current moribund government. Why the “C”
word? To quote Lenin, “The goal of
socialism is communism. Vladimir Lenin”
Apparently the poli-sci courses that these people took in
their 90’s and 00’s colleges were a little weak on historical perspective, and
missed the fact that socialism/communism invariably led to brutal, totalitarian
regimes that literally murdered their producers, and ultimately failed. Apparently missed in these courses was the
fact that once socialism has exhausted the niceties of wealth equalization and
confiscation, totalitarian force is necessary to complete the process. “If you’re going to take what I’ve earned,
you need a disarmed populace and force of arms to do it.” Total deaths of human
beings attributed to socialism/communism in the 20th century is
upwards of 120 million.
An observer of history can already see the seeds of
encroaching socialism trending toward totalitarianism in the U.S. The most egregious signs and symptoms of this
can be seen in what we euphemistically call our “cultural war”, but what is
really encroaching socialism knocking on our national psyche and way of life.
We see this in attacks on the first amendment in the way
free speech that differs from leftist opinions is being forcibly and violently
blocked in our streets, meetings and universities.
We see it, particularly in California, with Orwellian “newspeak”
redefining words like “felon” to gentler terminology so as not to unduly offend
the criminal (or justice involved individual).
We see it in the incessant leftist movements to abrogate our
second amendment rights by increasingly restrictive anti-firearms laws that
penalize lawful gun owners, but fail to address the real issues of criminal and
mentally incompetent gun possession and use.
We see it in the ridiculous extremes that identity politics
is taken by identifying and rewarding more and more leftist defined sub-groups
of society, rather than advocating for equal rights for all Americans.
We see it in the disregard of the law and civil order in our
major cities (and some states), where “sanctuary” is given to criminals and
illegal aliens in defiance of federal law.
We see it in the literal anarchy that has overtaken portions
of leftist run major cities, where homeless “tent cities” and “sidewalk squatters”
have turned once beautiful areas of these cities into rat-infested cesspools
with human waste flowing in the streets.
These are but few examples of the existential danger of the democrat-socialist
left mores that have changed the democrat party from one of rational
opposition, to the party of “resistance”, “obstruction”, and literal
destruction of the distinctly American values that made our country
exceptional, and the greatest country in the world.
The insidiousness of what I describe is exacerbated by the accompanying
din of the vociferous leftist activists, magnified by academia, and a by mainstream
media that has quite obviously “gone off the rails” in support of this leftist
movement, which on its surface is only vehemently anti-Trump, but which in fact
supports all of the above pro socialist/communist principles.
What can we do to stop or slow down this march toward
socialism? Barring some messianic conservative
savior dropping from the sky, the immediate answer is “vote for Trump”, because
he has been such an iconic oppositionist to all things leftist and socialist. If only he wouldn’t tweet so much. If only he edited his “off the cuff”, “in
your face”, pronouncements. If only he
paid more attention to actual history and facts.
Wishful thinking! The
Donald is a wealthy, opinionated, real estate developer and contractor from the
NYC streets, who extended his brand and brashness to Hollywood, and now to the White
House. We ain’t changing him. He approaches Angela Merkel and Vladimir
Putin and Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un with the same aplomb as his “apprentice”
participants. All we can hope for is
that this “bull in a china shop”, (pun intended), doesn’t break too much while
he is reestablishing the economic strength of the country.
So we opt for Trump in 2020.
But we also need to decisively take back the house, and keep the senate
with a super majority, if possible – not easy tasks in this highly partisan and
polarized country, many of whom watch the major networks for news, and are
literally exposed to leftist, multimedia propaganda. Thank goodness for the counter voices on Fox
News and affiliates, and publications like the Wall Street Journal, National
Review, Reuters and AP (sometimes), and others.
Unless we want the socialist “Bathroom Commission” to tell
us which toilet to use in the future, we need to get out grass roots efforts to
elect republican candidates. It’s not
enough that we elect the big guys. We
need to make sure that our representatives to state and federal offices are
anti-socialist republicans. I suspect
that many real “bread and butter” Americans across our great country know the
score, and do not want our country to be socialist. Let’s hope they remember in 2020.
It’s sad that many Americans have taken their political/social affiliations to the level of strong faith, to be believed without debate or discussion, rather than open to rational and intellectual examination and scrutiny. Forgetting about the vociferous activists and hot-heads who take to the streets or internet memes, virtually any attempt to discuss political issues these days in polite company, is likely to turn acrimonious soon, with one party defending all things Trump and Fox News and rightist principles, and the other side showing what appears to be absolute emotional hatred of Trump and the right, and almost faithful worship of the left and the increasingly socialist side of the democrat party.
Members of the same denomination and church and even the same family become estranged and “unfriend” each other on social media over these political disagreements that border on evangelical religious faith. So far they have not taken to killing each other as they did in the middle of the nineteenth century over slavery and state’s rights, but the instantaneousness of communications in our internet society makes dissemination of our beliefs and disagreements ubiquitous and literally all-encompassing. One could cool off when writing a letter with pen and paper, and when reading it at the other end. Now, we can transmit that angry emotion via social media around the world with a mouse click.
Pithy quotes about socialism
There is nothing in socialism that a little age or a little money will not cure. - Will Durant
Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word, equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery. Winston Churchill
Communism is a way of thinking. Socialism is wimpy communism. When you don't have the courage to become a communist, you become a socialist. Jaggi Vasudev
Socialism states that you owe me something simply because I exist. Capitalism, by contrast, results in a sort of reality-forced altruism: I may not want to help you, I may dislike you, but if I don't give you a product or service you want, I will starve. Voluntary exchange is more moral than forced redistribution. Ben Shapiro
The goal of socialism is communism. Vladimir Lenin
A lie told often enough becomes the truth. Vladimir Lenin
Socialism and Communism are extremely attractive to a superficial observer. It is not until you get into the details, or actually experience it, that it becomes apparent that it does not work.
Thomas Peterffy
All socialism involves slavery. Herbert Spencer
This much I would say: Socialism has failed all over the world. In the eighties, I would hear every day that there is no inflation in the Soviet Union, there is no poverty in the Soviet Union, there is no unemployment in the Soviet Union. And now we find that, due to Socialism, there is no Soviet Union! Subramanian Swamy
In practice, socialism didn't work. But socialism could never have worked because it is based on false premises about human psychology and society, and gross ignorance of human economy. David Horowitz
Ray Gruszecki
August 23, 2019
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