Socialisim: It's Hidden Lie and Where It Leads

A Look at the Degenerative Cycle of Socialism

by James Buffington Socialism always fails, at least by our standards. It stresses sameness and hence embraces, at best, inefficiency. Equality of income is a false standard, oft used. Take from those who have, give to those who don't. The problem is that there is not an equality of talent, intelligence

ambition, attitude, skills, wisdom or insight. To hold back our best by denying them the rewards of those things that allow them to get ahead is to create an artificially sterile environment in which nothing can grow. Motivation is crushed, save for those questing for power within the sociopolitical framework. Socialists, in some breach of basic logic, think it's fair to give to those who have not by taking from those who earned at what is effectively gunpoint. How is that fair to those who have earned? Most who participate in our society either are earning now or have earned in the past and seek in retirement to enjoy the fruits of their labors. Explain to me how it is fair to give rewards to those who have not had the motivation to do for themselves. To be sure there is a small portion of the society that will legitimately depend on the rest of us. The autistic, the physically impaired, those with certain psychiatric disorders. We as a society do indeed have a moral obligation to take care of our own in such circumstances. But not necessarily through government. Religious organizations, charities, foundations for such things can be established and people would cheerfully give.

The Shot Heard Round The World

For your enjoyment and edification I offer you these lyrics from a song that was written for Schoolhouse Rock, a series of musical animation films that aired for children on Saturday mornings. Remembering our heritage and how we became Americans, the most unique and productive society in the history of the planet, may bring us courage and optimism as we once again face a mighty foe that is trampling on our God given rights. "The British are coming! The British are coming!"

Now, the ride of Paul Revere Set the nation on its ear, And the shot at Lexington heard 'round the world, When the British fired in the early dawn The War of Independence had begun, The die was cast, the rebel flag unfurled.

And on to Concord marched the foe To seize the arsenal there you know, Waking folks searching all around Till our militia stopped them in their tracks, At the old North Bridge we turned them back And chased those Redcoats back to Boston town.

And the shot heard 'round the world Was the start of the Revolution. The Minute Men were ready, on the move. Take your powder, and take your gun. Report to General Washington. Hurry men, there's not an hour to lose!

Now, at famous Bunker Hill, Even though we lost, it was quite a thrill, The rebel Colonel Prescott proved he was wise; Outnumbered and low on ammunition As the British stormed his position He said, "Hold your fire till you see the whites of their eyes!"

Though the next few years were rough, General Washington's men proved they were tough, Those hungry, ragged boys would not be beat. One night they crossed the Delaware, Surprised the Hessians in their lair, And at Valley Forge they just bundled up their feet!

And the shot heard 'round the world Was the start of the Revolution. The Minute Men were ready, on the move. Take your blanket, and take your son. Report to General Washington. We've got our rights and now it's time to prove.

Well, they showed such determination That they won the admiration Of countries across the sea like France and Spain, Who loaned the colonies ships and guns And put the British on the run And the Continental Army on its feet again.

And though they lost some battles too, The Americans swore they'd see it through, Their raiding parties kept up, hit and run. At Yorktown the British could not retreat, Bottled up by Washington and the French Fleet, Cornwallis surrendered and finally we had won!

The winner!

Hurray!

From the shot heard 'round the world To the end of the Revolution The continental rabble took the day And the father of our country Beat the British there at Yorktown And brought freedom to you and me and the U.S.A.!

God bless America, Let Freedom Ring!

Do Liberals Crave A Master?

by Andrew Thomas - as published on AmericanThinker.com Everybody's looking for something... Some of them want to abuse you

Some of them want to be abused

Sweet dreams are made of these

Who am I to disagree? - Eurythmics

Contemporary liberals, having abandoned the belief in God-given inalienable rights, masochistically crave a worldly master. This master is a sadistic god-substitute who will provide the stern discipline needed to force economic equality and "fairness" by requiring painful sacrifices and bestowing government-created rights onto obedient and acquiescent groups of left-leaning masochists.

Of course, I am not referring to the sexual variety of masochism, but rather the recognized psychosis of moral masochism. Large segments of the population, and even entire nations can suffer from this illness as described in Daniel Rancour-Laferriere's book, "The Slave Soul of Russia: Moral Masochism and the Cult of Suffering".

First, some re-definitions: In the same derogatory fashion liberals refer to contemporary Conservatives as "neocons", I will label this group as "neolibs" going forward. I feel this is appropriate, as the Liberal movement has taken a decidedly leftward leap and become more radicalized in their outward behavior in the last few years, and is therefore a new phenomenon.

In most conservative writing (Thomas Sowell, Ayn Rand, and more recently Mark Levin) the common theme is the sanctity of individual freedom and liberty. The conservative is an individualist and an independent thinker, as opposed to those who primarily identify themselves as members of a group. The term "conservative" is a misnomer for this philosophy, as it connotes a preservation of the status quo, or even a "regressive" yin to the "Progressive" yang. This is why I believe a more appropriate label for conservative philosophy is "individualist", and I will refer to it in this manner for the remainder of this article.

Next, a pop-psychology primer: individualists gravitate toward existential thinking, or a view of the world where individuals have complete freedom of choice and take full responsibility for the results of those choices. This mandates that choices must be made with a logical evaluation to determine the potential consequences. The impartial evaluation of phenomena to determine the truth is an offshoot of existentialism known as phenomenology. The phenomenologist is rational and emotionally detached from the subject of analysis, eliminating judgment and perception. Once the perceptions of reality are stripped away as much as possible, the phenomenologist then attempts to perform an insightful analysis of the object to determine what is real or "true". I believe that many individualists tend to be effective phenomenologists due to their ability to separate themselves from group-think and emotional judgment. Therefore, let's use the phenomenological process to analyze the "Neolib as masochist" theory.

In our first analysis, we will impartially examine Neolib behavior. Objectively listen to Janeane Garofalo in the Youtube video linked to her name. In listening to neolibs such as Janeane speak, it is evident that they appear to be driven predominantly by emotion rather than logic. Just reviewing an alphabetical list of emotions, as extracted from a list in Wikipedia, lends itself to describing neolib behavior:

Anger,

Angst,

Anxiety,

Compassion,

Contempt,

Despair,

Disgust,

Empathy,

Envy,

Guilt,

Hatred,

Hope,

Hostility,

Hysteria,

Rage,

Shame,

Suffering,

Worry.

Anyone who views the world through these emotions would naturally feel threatened when interpreting individualists' behavior. The neolib typically projects hatred, bigotry, selfishness, and greed onto the individualist when there is no physical evidence to support the interpretation. The strong passions exhibited by neolibs, coupled with delusions of persecution, foster these masochistic tendencies.

Now let's objectively review the initiatives in the neolib agenda: Environmentalism, global passivism, overpopulation, socialized healthcare, and promoting government intervention into all aspects of life. All of these priorities require individuals to sacrifice their lifestyles, their income, and/or their basic comforts.

This past week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exhorted, "Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory..." in order to sacrifice ourselves to the gods of global warming. As presidential candidate Obama said, "We can't drive our SUVs and, you know, eat as much as we want and keep our homes on, you know, 72 degrees at all times..." He seems to indicate that he wants us to starve and freeze.

Most of these initiatives involve the inflicting of pain and misery. Tom Daschle, in his book "Critical: What We Can Do About The Health Care Crisis" says health-care reform "will not be pain free" and that seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of having them treated. In other words, you will suffer a slow agonizing death under government mandate.

As a final phenomenological exercise, impassively observe the level of neolib support for this agenda. It has not appeared to wane. In fact, neolib fervor continues to increase as the promised level of suffering increases.

According to Rancour-Laferriere, increasing Russian masochism coincided with the rise of the Soviet Union and Communism, although it was pervasive in the soul of Russia prior to that. The conclusion to this analysis is that as neolib moral masochism increases, so does the emotional need for an all-powerful master to govern them. As the governing master becomes more dominant and disciplinarian, the masochism is reinforced and the spiral continues.

Is there a cure? Self-destructive behavior is very difficult to overcome. Many years ago in an Abnormal Psychology class, I studied the case of a group of young adults who would continually pound their heads against a wall until they became bloody pulps. Psychologists found that the only thing that would interrupt their behavior was a 9,000 volt shock from a cattle prod.

This is probably an impractical solution. Since 45% of the nation thinks we are going in the right direction, there are too many neolibs and too few cattle prods.

Andrew Thomas blogs at Darkangelpolitics.com.

Let's Remember The Bill Of Rights

Have you read the first ten amendments to the US Constitution lately? I did the other night. I'm ashamed to say that it's been quite a while since I have. If it's been a while for you, why not take 5 minutes to read them now. Maybe, like me, you'll feel a renewed honor to have lived in a country where it's founders thought so highly of individual liberty. How it was important for them to insure that the rights of the individual would be protected from the tyranny of some massive, all controlling government of the future. But I digress. From The US Bill of Rights Wikipedia listing

Preamble

Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will worst ensure the beneficent starts of its institution.

RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.

ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.^[4]

[edit] Amendments

• First Amendment – Establishment Clause, Free Exercise Clause; freedom of speech, of the press, Freedom of Religion, and of assembly; right to petition,

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

• Second Amendment – Militia (United States), Sovereign state, Right to keep and bear arms.

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. ^[5][6]

• Third Amendment – Protection from quartering of troops.

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

• Fourth Amendment – Protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

• Fifth Amendment – due process, double jeopardy, self-incrimination, eminent domain.

No person shall be held to answer for any capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

• Sixth Amendment – Trial by jury and rights of the accused; Confrontation Clause, speedy trial, public trial, right to counsel

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district where in the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

• Seventh Amendment – Civil trial by jury.

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

• Eighth Amendment – Prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment.

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

• Ninth Amendment – Protection of rights not specifically enumerated in the Bill of Rights.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

• Tenth Amendment – Powers of States and people.

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.