Posted by
John Caile on Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:05:41 PM
We've all heard the above phrase uttered by seemingly intelligent, (and supposedly "moderate") people, followed immediately by a statement in support of, you guessed it...socialism. A sampling:
"I'm not really a Socialist, but..."
"...something should be done to make health care more affordable."
(Translation: you believe that your fellow citizens should be forced to pay your medical bills - i.e. socialism)
"...something should be done about the price of gas (or medicine, or food, or insurance, or whatever)."
(Translation: you believe that "the government" should control the prices of privately produced goods and services - i.e. socialism)
"...people should be able to earn a decent wage."
(Translation: you believe that "the government" should somehow guarantee a certain standard of living, even to the lazy or incompetent - i.e. socialism)
"...it's not fair that CEO's make so much."
(Translation: you believe that "the government" should restrict the income of people more successful than you - i.e. socialism)
"...my husband lost his job and we need help."
(Translation: you believe that you are entitled to have "the government" protect you from risk - i.e. socialism)
"...I really think smoking bans are a good idea."
(Translation: you believe that "the government" should be able to force private businesses to cater to your personal wishes - i.e. socialism )
"...the rich should pay more because they can 'afford' it"
(This one is easy - "from each according to his ability" is straight out of classic Marxist doctrine - Face it; you ARE a Socialist)
It's not hard to explain why so many Americans have fallen prey to the lure of the nanny-state - it's tempting to believe the seductive offer of "free stuff" combined with a promise to "protect" us, not merely from foreign invaders or domestic criminals, but from every conceivable difficulty that life might throw at us. Especially when it's wrapped in cozy rhetoric about "compassion" and "fairness."
Unfortunately, starting with Franklin Roosevelt, incremental socialism has already created the exact situation the stealth Marxists have been seeking: a populace so inextricably bound to one government program or another, that each additional tiny step towards a socialist America seems, by itself, insignificant.
And they never stop, no matter how many times their policies prove to be wrong, and wrongheaded. We now know that Roosevelt, adored and worshiped by the Left, put into place policies that exacerbated an economic recession that would likely have been short and shallow, and instead produced the Great Depression. Yet they're commitment to socialism persists.
As bad as the socialism of the 1930's was, the changes that will occur under a Democrat legislative majority AND the first unabashedly Marxist president in American history will be even more catastrophic in the long term. An Obama presidency represents nothing less than a threat to the very existence of the world's most successful Constitutional Free Market Democratic Republic.
But Obama can only accomplish his Socialist dream with the aid of "useful idiots" - those willing enough (and arguably, STUPID enough) to go along with him. So, the next time you start a sentence with "I'm not really a socialist...but" you might want to take a moment to contemplate what you're saying.
And what you are actually doing to your country.