Socialism has a bad connotation to it because it flies in the face of everything that America stands for. Or at least, what America once stood for and, God willing, will stand for again.
I'll be brief, Cajun. (See how I remembered to use the moniker?? I'd never want to mess with your professional resume is the main reason.)
The items you mention in support of Socialism are supposed to be handled by the government. You actually mention the very few things that are outlined in the Constitution, even. The federal government should provide defense, national infrastructure, etc. Education is another argument, and my view is that there is a place for government there as well, although it's not outlined in the Constitution. (Which, by the way, I suspect you have not read lately??)
Free speech and the other ideas you mention are not liberal ideas, in the sense that they are obvious ideas that the Founders felt were bestowed by our Creator and were (and are) inherently granted to everyone.
FDR did not pull us out of the depression with his New Deal. Far from it. The New Deal was a colossal mistake that prolonged the Depression, and what got us going again was a mix of WWII and the natural cycles of the economy -- it (the economy) does go up and down, bulls / bears, etc. No bad FREE economic cycle lasts forever, but Socialist or Communist economies can, and what happens is that the people eventually just take it as the status quo, and do not realize that things could ever be better.
Free enterprise, and free-dom are what America stands for. America does not stand for Socialism. If you read any US history you will discover this, so don't start with 1932 and claim that Socialism is inherently a good thing or an "American" thing.
To paraphrase one of the Founding Fathers: "Once the people realize they can vote with the power of the purse, I fear we shall not long last." Basically, once the rule of law and private ownership are gone, and 51% of the people choose to take from the other 49%, that's the beginning of the end. The only good thing about Obama is that he will likely hasten this process, and my hope is that once the people see what's happening, we have another turn around like Reagan in 1980 or even the Congressional deal in 1994. We'll see.
Like any good Conservative, I am hopeful and I am optimistic. America cannot and will not become the place that we left.
2 comments:
CB,
Did you read Doug Bucks response to my post? I reccomend it highly.
A few brief points on your response.
I didn't claim that socialism is inherently good or american, I simply pointed out that it is not inherently bad or unamerican. My main point being that inflammatory rhetoric that suggests that socialism is inherently bad or unamerican (like yours) makes little sense and does nothing to promote good policy making.
Second, I do read the constitution. I suspect quite often by most standards. However, I won't need to quote it to point out the internal inconsistency of your own arguments. You assert that the socialized aspects of our economy I mentioned are "supposed to be handled by the government" and point out that this is indeed in the constitution, but you also say "America does not stand for socialism" and it "flies in the face of everything america stands for." I hope you see the inconsistency here. Yes, they are socialized and yes, they are supposed to be handled by the governemt, as you say. As doug Buck said in his response, idealogues who refuse to acknowldge this makes the American economy partly socialized are "easily flummoxed".
You might be glad to know that while I hate the kind of mindless and inflamatory rhetoric the press repeats over and over about the left, I also hate it when they do it about the right. See my post from today "Capitalism shouldn't be demonized either... "
Cajun
One more thing. I may not thing too much of your rhetoric against socialism, but I do think its possible that you have some valid points about the New Deal. Doug has made similar arguments. That being the case, I made a sperate post up top and I hope you'll argue the point there. I do disagree with you overall, but thats not to say that I don't think you have some good arguments to be made, or might be partially right. But anyway I hope you'll check that topic out and make a post on it.
Post a Comment