The Socialist Lie to America

The other morning I was watching a documentary on Fidel Castro made in the late sixties, less than a decade after the “revolution”. The film crew was allowed to follow him around the countryside as he met with the Cuban people. He rode around in his jeep wearing his trademark green uniform, he and his army escort bouncing over muddy roads. He was doing what statist politicians have always done-listen to every problem, no matter how trivial, and promise to fix it. He promised roads to every village and milk to every family. He vowed to root out corruption and provide a pension for every man and woman “just for being old”. All the people smiled and cheered, believing that he cared about them as individuals and that father Fidel would take care of their every need. Hmmm, sounds familiar....I can hear a faint chant....”Yes we Can!”

The most telling part of the program for me was an interview they had with a jeweler/watchmaker. Before the revolution he had his own shop and made a good living. He had a nice house and a good car. After the revolution, however, he said that the first thing Fidel and his gang did was eliminate private businesses. The man continued what he was doing but the shop was no longer his and he was now paid a wage he said was a fifth of what he made before. I was nodding in agreement at this point. We see it here. President Obama is following the same playbook. He is forcing himself and the federal government into the private sector, nationalizing industries, extending government control, firing CEOs and determining what people make, not just at the low end, but at the high end as well. The goal is to raise the low end a little, bring the high end down a lot, until everyone makes and has the same amount of money regardless of talent, productivity or laziness.

Continuing with the interview, the man then talked about the benefits he received from Fidel. His children went to school, one of them even became a doctor. He didn’t have to pay a cent. When his wife had a baby, all the costs were covered, he paid nothing. Then he smiled and delivered the punchline-when one considers all the stuff he gets for free, “I make more now than I did before!” He weighed the loss of his freedom to do with the fruits of his labor what he wanted against the benefits of Fidel’s program and decided he was better off. At least he was honest.

That is more than I can say for what is going on with the statists in this country. For the jeweler in Cuba, he could weigh the loss of eighty percent of his income against the benefits of “free” health care and education and decide that for him it was a net benefit. He believed the loss of his freedom, political and economic, was worth it. Of course, I suppose he could have just been putting on a good face about it. After all, Fidel and his boys didn’t give him a choice.

In this country, we are being lied to about our socialist benefits. The jeweler in Cuba understood at some level that his “free” benefits cost him eighty percent of his income, the loss of his property rights and his political freedom. We are being told that for “ninety-five percent” of us, the socialist benefits really are “free”. Candidate and president Obama said ninety-five percent of the people would get a tax cut even if the majority of those ninety-five percent didn’t pay taxes in the first place. Against that promise are the promises of Fidel, free health care and education for all and...wait, there’s more. The government will also help pay your mortgage, buy you a car, give you a job and “if you let us act now, we’ll double the offer and it won’t cost you a penny.”

It is a lie, of course, because even if taxes aren’t raised on the sixty percent that pay nothing, or next to nothing, the amount of spending necessary to provide all of these things is unsustainable without reaching into the pockets of more and more Americans. The problem is that as long as there are people like the Chinese who will lend us money at low rates, we can print the rest without igniting runaway inflation and we can squeeze more out of the top five percent that pay the majority of the taxes, it will be “free” for the majority and they will encourage the statist to do more. Even if they dimly understand the loss of freedom that government involvement entails, rationed health care for example, the majority will look on it as a net gain. Unlike the Cuban jeweler, they will lose little or no income to receive their benefits. In reality, for a short time, it will be a net gain. Money they don’t have to put into health insurance is more disposable income for them. Money they save on a subsidized mortgage is more money in their pocket. If they don’t have to contribute to their child’s education they have money they can put into a new, eco-friendly car. Its all free money! No wonder it is such an easy sell.

There is no “free lunch” however. Sooner or later our credit will become worthless and interest rates will go sky high, if we can get anyone to lend to us at all. Inflation will result in government payments for all the “freebies” being made with worthless dollars. And when the government controls the majority of the economy and taxes the productive to the point they see no point in producing, they will have killed the goose that was laying the golden eggs. When (not if) all these things happen, the true cost of all the freebies will come home to all Americans with a vengeance. All those generous benefits will be cut drastically or eliminated. Everyone’s production will be taxed at exorbitant rates. Dollars will be nearly worthless. Productive industries will have been ruined through government intervention and the economic infrastructure as well as the human capital within it will have been damaged to such an extent recovery will take a very long time.

The question is when all this happens, when the mighty United States of America has been reduced to such an extent, when all our incomes are taxed at eighty percent or more, when we have lost our rights to private property and political freedom is just a distant memory purged from the history books, will we smile and say with our Cuban friend, “I’m better off now than I was before”?

“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”

Ben Franklin

My feelings: If this must come to a fight for our freedom, bring it on NOW!

2 posted on 05/13/2009 9:11:26 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Once a Republic, Now a State, Still Texas!)

When we all share equally in the bounty of the earth, who will get to summer on Nantucket?

ML/NJ

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