Socialism and Reality
By Steve McCann
AmericanThinker.com
The images on the television screen emanating
from Europe are a sobering reminder that
socialism has failed wherever it has been tried
and will always do so despite the best efforts
of the die-hard true believers. The riots in the
streets of France and Greece, the announced
layoffs of nearly 500,000 government employees
in the United Kingdom, and the potential
national bankruptcy of Ireland, Spain, Italy,
and Portugal are the current face of this
failure.
Yet within the halls of power in Washington,
D.C. there is a socialist/progressive cabal,
and its titular leader Barack Obama,
oblivious to this reality. These ideologues
continue to cling to the belief that they
have a unique ability to succeed where so
many others have failed. The egocentric
American Left know no bounds, and their
determination to impose their will upon the
United States has not and will not abate
despite the results of any election.
Having been raised to believe in their
preordinance to rule and incubated in an
environment of national peace, prosperity,
and a lack of adversity, these adherents to
a powerful central government, with
themselves at the controls, are incapable of
change and admitting failure despite
overwhelming current and historical
evidence.
The original and present-day proponents of
socialism fail to take into account one very
basic but immutable factor: the fundamental
nature of the human race as manifested in
the industrial age. The most dominant trait
mankind has, as do all living creatures, is
an innate desire to survive and prosper.
While some may willingly choose to pursue
subsistence on their own terms, to the
majority of the human race, the path of
least resistance is the most desired. Thus,
mankind is susceptible to financial scams,
gambling, crime, and resentment or violence
towards those who may have more. But above
all, many people are very open to the
concept of a central authority providing
them with the means of livelihood with no
thought as to the how (the public-sector
unions being the most egregious current
example).
A secondary characteristic of human race,
and the most dangerous, is the need by some
to conquer or maintain total control over
their fellow man. Lust for power has always
been with us.
The mid-19th
century saw the industrial revolution and
the rise in living standards and education
for the populace in Europe. It was during
this same period that socialist/Marxist
theory appeared. Those who considered
themselves superior to the masses, and in
the past may have achieved ruling status
through the power of intimidation over the
illiterate and unwashed, now had to look to
other means to achieve control of the levers
of governing.
The easiest course to assume this power was
to promise, in return for the support of the
people, that the state, through a new ruling
class, would provide the citizenry
cradle-to-grave economic security. Thus, a
Faustian bargain encompassing the desire by
the majority for ease of survival and others
for the need to rule was entered into. The
populace, having committed itself to this
compact, would expect never-ending freedom
from adversity.
However, within this arrangement is the seed
of its own destruction. For socialism to
succeed, it must have an economic
underpinning that can provide the foundation
for massive social spending. The Soviet
Union, as early as the 1920s and '30s,
proved that complete state control of the
means of production was a colossal failure,
as it could not produce sufficient wealth to
support the population, and their version of
socialism (Communism) had to be enforced at
the point of a gun or by starvation.
Only the capitalist economic system, which
is anathema to a powerful central government
and its attendant oligarchy, can produce
sufficient wealth necessary to underwrite a
social safety net for the general public,
promulgate upward mobility, and finance the
security of any nation.
Capitalism, reflective of that portion of
mankind choosing to seek subsistence on
their own terms, does by its nature
celebrate the success of the individual, not
the collective. Individuals, separately or
together, driven by the motive of
self-enrichment, produce goods or services
desired by others. In the process, jobs and
wealth are created, thus benefiting society
as a whole.
A massive tension exists between those who
adhere to central government control and
swear fealty to socialist philosophy and
those who produce the wealth of a nation. As
the state inherently has more power than the
individual, once socialist doctrine
dominates the ruling class, government
begins a relentless process of injecting
itself into the affairs of the individual
and producer class.
Those who believe they have a manifest
destiny to rule and are faithful to
socialist tenets have an overwhelming
egocentric psyche and a predisposition to
control the populace and economic activity
through laws, regulations, taxes,
intimidation, and in extreme cases, outright
force. The result is the inexorable march
toward state control of the economy. Despite
the history of failure, every new generation
of adherents to socialist ideology believe
that they can make this arrangement work and
maintain their unwritten agreement with the
citizenry.
But the reality is that they cannot, as the
economic engine of capitalism will not
continue to produce wealth if it is
increasingly put under the thumb of
bureaucrats and central planners inevitably
attempting not only to institute
governmental management of the economy, but
also to regulate the day-to-day activities
of all citizens. The motivation of the
producer class will be stifled, and they
will either drop out, join the dependent
class, or simply move on to other, more
hospitable countries -- a reality more in
play than ever in today's global economy.
In due course, centralized governments will,
as history has shown, turn to excessive and
unsustainable borrowing, as well as
inflation, to finance their societal
obligations. The contract between the
statists and the citizens who were promised
cradle-to-grave security cannot be
maintained, as the economic underpinning of
this arrangement will quickly erode.
Social and economic chaos resulting in
dramatically lower standard of living must
inevitably ensue, and in some cases, these
circumstances will lead to violence or
revolution. No amount of promises,
demonization of capitalism, seizure of the
means of production, takeover of the media,
confiscatory taxes, or printing of money
will reinstitute prosperity or security for
the populace. These desperate actions serve
only to accelerate the downward spiral.
Within the United States, because of the
socialist indoctrination of the governing
class, this process is well on its way and
will culminate, if not stopped now, in the
end of this nation as an economic and
military power.
The founding fathers of the United States,
one of the greatest confluences of brilliant
minds in the history of mankind, understood
the basic nature of human beings. They
accordingly set forth a form of government
and written Constitution to greatly limit
those who seek hegemony over the people and
to limit the ability of the people to seek
unlimited security from a central
government. They recognized that only the
individual free to pursue economic happiness
will result in a society wherein all can
benefit on a sustained basis.
President Obama and his minions represent
the greatest threat to the United States
since its founding. The images of failure
from around the globe must not be lost on
the American citizens. They must understand
that the country's destiny rests in
utilizing the governmental structure
bequeathed to them by the founders to strip
away, as quickly as possible, the power
expropriated by today's ruling class.
The winning of elections is tantamount.
However, there must also be a concurrent
resolve to purge the destructive and
delusional philosophy of socialism from the
institutions of government. Only then can
the United States avoid the fate looming
over the horizon.