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What Socialism Is
Nancy Morgan
RightBias.com
September 4, 2009
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When a word comes too close to actually identifying an inconvenient reality, secular
progressives spring into action. The offending word is either redefined or reduced
its first letter, thereby signifying that polite society will no longer accept it.
You've heard of the N word, the B word (think Hillary) and now comes the S word.
By its abbreviation, the S word, formerly known as socialism, infers a negative
connotation. A negative connotation richly deserved due to the incontrovertible
fact that socialism has failed every where it has been tried.
In a nutshell, socialism is an economic system where property is held in common,
not individually, and its ideal is a centrally directed economy. Socialism entails
the substitution of group decision making for individual choice. In this case, the
'group' making the decisions are the 32 (and counting) unelected and unaccountable
czars Obama is anointing.
The origins of socialist thought come directly from Aristotle. Aristotle believed
that since only actions aiming at a perceived benefit to others were, to his mind,
morally approved, then actions solely for personal gain (capitalism) must be bad.
This theory of Aristotle's is the basic premise of the Obama administration. By
claiming the 'moral high ground' of the 'greater good' Obama and his minions have
free reign to radically alter both our system of government and the hundreds of
years of tradition it represents.
Under the guise of altruism and the greater good, Obama has launched a full scale
attack on capitalism. The very capitalism that has fed the world for decades. The
capitalism that has produced the highest standard of living in the freest and most
productive country in the world. But, according to the ruling elite, capitalism
is bad, because it entails, gasp, 'profit'. And every progressive worth his salt
knows profit is only possible on the backs of less fortunate. Right?
Obama and the secular progressives who now determine policy in America pride themselves
on being the intellectual representatives of modern thought and thus superior in
knowledge, wisdom and moral virtue than those who hold traditional values (conservatives).
They believe their duty is to offer new ideas to the public and deride whatever
is conventional and/or traditional. Newness, not truth, is their main value.*
The fly in Obama's ointment is the fact that the system of socialism isn't very
good at creating wealth. Only individuals do that. But hey, socialism is 'ethically
superior' and that's what counts. Right?
Obama was voted into office based on his skill at selling abstract ideas like equality
and justice. Millions of Americans bought into his spiel. Most likely the very same
Americans who buy lottery tickets. Against all reason, they were led to believe
that the government can provide them a free lunch. And there will be no cost to
them. And best of all, these moochers can also claim the moral high ground. After
all, they are victims of rich capitalists. And that's not fair! And its not their
fault that they haven't won life's lottery.
The problem with their premise can be reduced to two words. Free will. God gave
us free will - the ability to fail or succeed based on the choices we make. Obama
proposes to do away with free will and vest those decisions in a central government.
Losers can now breathe a sigh of relief. Whew. Now, instead of losers, they're much
valued victims. And the new socialist society Obama and friends are in the process
of implementing has a moral duty to shield them from the consequences of their bad
choices. But best of all, socialism allows life's losers the moral high ground as
they systematically plunder the fruits of another man's labor.
This is socialism. This is what President Obama wants America to be. But students
of history insist on asking the question: How long can a society survive that rewards
failure and punishes success? Unfortunately, America will get an answer to that
question if Obama is allowed to continue transforming our country into his 'new
and improved' idea of a socialist utopia.
* Hayek's 'The Errors of Socialism'
Nancy Morgan is a columnist and news editor for
RightBias.com
She lives in South Carolina
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