Posted on 06/30/2016 6:53:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
One of life's enduring mysteries is why the left -- against overwhelming evidence to the contrary -- insists on more taxation, more government spending and more government control over the private sector. Europe's socialism has, over the last several decades, generated few private sector jobs and lags in growth when compared to the United States with its comparatively lighter hand of government.
What does it take to show that, good intentions aside, government bureaucrats cannot spend money as efficiently and as effectively as the people who produce the money? The most recent example is Venezuela. Hugo Chavez's handpicked successor now presides over a country with food lines and soaring inflation, all directly attributable to the pursuit of a socialist paradise where a benevolent and enlightened government redistributes wealth from the greedy few to the entitled many. It ... does ... not ... work.
Vin Scully, the Los Angeles Dodgers broadcasting legend now in his 67th and final year, recently offered the following assessment of socialism: "Socialism, failing to work as it always does, this time in Venezuela. You talk about giving everybody something free and all of a sudden there's no food to eat. And who do you think is the richest person in Venezuela? The daughter of Hugo Chavez -- hello! Anyway, oh and two."
I recently received the following letters. Scully inspired the first, from the wife of a CPA.
"Given Vin Scully's analysis of socialism, I write to inform you that my husband, Dennis, has several Venezuelan clients. Dennis wrote to one and asked about the situation was down there. Here's the Venezuelan's reply."
It reads: "Dear Dennis: Thanks for your concern. Sadly, the news doesn't show the cruel reality that we are living. However, we (my family and my colleagues) are not surprised, we were expecting this. I have been storing food, first aid and necessity items since two years ago; we are buying medicines from abroad; I did install a power plant at my home.
"We avoid being outside the house any time -- the violence, the kidnapping, the crime, it's at any time, anywhere. I expect to send my oldest boy (17 years old) away, now that he is finishing high school. Like I said, reality always surpasses any precaution that we could have.
"As a lawyer, it is absolutely frustrating: there is not justice at all; the Supreme Court is a joke; the majority of the judges were congressmen from the government party and they don't have any shame to rule always in favor of the government. Sorry for this explosive note. But we feel like we are trapped here, that the world does not believe how serious this situation is.
"Even though I believe that each State must fight its own fights, this battle is unfair, because one side -- today, the majority of the country -- doesn't have any 'arms' to fight for; we don't have money; we don't have communication networks or press; we don't have support or protection for the public forces; and we are not allowed to use the democratic ways, like protest or revoke action. So it seems there is no peaceful way out. But, yes, I'm well and safe, hoping that we could save the country and recover our democracy."
The second letter was from a tax attorney, who wrote about the real-world effect of Hillary Clinton's plans -- echoing Hugo Chavez -- to raise taxes on the grounds that "the rich don't pay their fair share" and to give the money to those she deems deserving. He writes this is what happens:
"As a tax lawyer, I can tell you right now that any new revenue expectations the liberals have from raising taxes will be overstated or nonexistent. Here's why: Savvy taxpayers react to tax law changes, and thereby dampen the effects of those changes. I'm a perfect example: If Hillary raises ordinary income and capital gains tax rates for those of us in the 1 percent, I'm moving more of my money into double-exempt, tax-free municipal bonds and out of dividend-paying stocks. Others may increase their use of pension plans and IRA's to defer income taxes.
"Unfortunately, this concept of unintended consequences is lost with Hillary's constituents. Naturally, this is why, when capital gains taxes are lowered and/or ordinary income tax rates are lowered, revenue increases -- folks like me will tend to move investments out of municipal bonds and back into dividend-paying (or even non-dividend) stocks, and lower capital gains rates may also make others more likely to sell appreciated assets, thereby accelerating revenue."
Full-blown socialism, as in Venezuela, or income redistribution, as in America, is an assault on prosperity. The victims are those who can least fend for themselves, the very people the left purports to care the most about.
Vin Scully for president!
“Why?”
Simple.
It is because America is now led by an enemy in the White House. Why is this not obvious to you?
Rich people don’t pay taxes, they collect taxes. You pay the tax when you buy the gallon of milk at the store, or the gallon of gas at the pump.
Politics is the art of disguising the identity of the hand in your pocket. You think you’ve got your hand in his pocket, when in fact it is in your own.
Greed isn’t the guy making a billion selling you what you need to live. Greed is you wanting his billion without you running the risks he ran and making the investment he made. Greed is you electing people promising to take control of what you didn’t build, and take it away from the guy who did build it. Greed is the socialist politician, and the socialist voter who voted him into office. Its the guy in the mirror who really didn’t build that.
Greed doesn’t build anything, it destroys anything it touches and leaves you digging through the trash looking for food while the people you elected to take control are looking to save the patient by upping the dosage.
I’m thinking it’s because the leftists are all irresponsible, lazy, and self-entitled brats / idiots who need a nanny state to take care of them. It’s the only thing that makes any real sense to me. The reason they hate capitalism is because it requires a lot of work; something they don’t want do (unless its involved with the arts and passion / emotion) so they despise and are jealous of us hard-working when we succeed thinking in collective socialistic thug groupthink terms that the capitalist needs to fork over some of that cash. Jealousy and self-entitlement are the socialist’s driving forces.
Because there are always a plethora of ill-informed or outright stupid voters who fall for the “fair share” message. It’s been a reliable winner for the left going back to the Bolsheviks. They’re just sticking to what works for them. Frankly, for the common person, there must more appeal to the left’s message of “we’re going to stick it to the rich guys and hand you the money” vs. the right’s message of “we’re going to trust you to take care of yourself and we expect you to do the right things by working hard, saving for your retirement, and spending prudently.” When it comes down to it, more people must like the idea of being a perma-adolescent than owning the responsibilities of being an adult.
I believe it is narcissism (writ large).
The overweening compulsion to feel good about themselves, even superior! - blinds them to the results their corrosive ideology produces.
An immoral people are easily controlled.
We’ve lost the 30 year Olds in this country. The assholes I work with are socialists or so they think.
THey’ll figure it out when they figure out why most jews are demoRATS even though they are known to not live off of the teet of the government.
The reason is brainwashing. After a life of brainwashing (programming by schools/TV/movies/sitcoms to control emotions and embed beliefs, people are literally unable to use critical thinking skills (be human).
Brainwashing dehumanizes people-—creates artificial irrational emotions which are deeply embedded (which become habit) and when they are exposed to “truth” (facts/Reason), “cognitive dissonance” will occur and they are made so uncomfortable that they have to reject the truth. The emotions will easily block the Truth/Facts and you are incapable of being human (use Reason). (Reason/Mind is the ONLY thing which makes us in the image of God.
The ex-kgb agent did classes on the results of “programming” (Yuri Bezmenov) who stated in early 80s that the US has had several generations of “conditioning/brainwashed” useful idiots (like Black Lives Matter and Bernie Bots now—only then they were “New Agers/Hippies—drugged out irrational minds/removed from Reality (Truth/Virtue)). Cultural Marxist invaded our universities in the 30s and John Dewey, Humanist/communist, took over elementary “education” to destroy Classical Christian Curricula and inject cr*p/warped Marxist literature. It was the start of complete elimination of the ideology of Christianity/Classical Curricula—he ONLY curricula that created the Age of Reason and Minds like Newton and Tesla—the ability to “think” in coherent, logical ways (self-directed, Real Life experience).
You need Free Time-—away from controlling authorities (do your own thing—like a Daniel Boone/Davy Crockett with Real Life Skills (AWAY from the village (tv/groups) so you develop individualism (thinking for self—not being directed by others 24-7 (programmed/outer control). Virtue formation is learning INNER CONTROL of everything (no need for govt/state if all are angels (have inner control)(Founders) which only is developed when practicing “thinking” for yourself/reading great books with great wisdom.
Our children are being raised in front of screens and montired in group-think factories like prisoners-—exactly as Fichte wanted when he stated children can be made so irrational (so dumb—so dehumanized) that they can be made to believe “Snow is Black” or boys are girls-—and be so stupid and ignorant of Traditions/History/Truth (God), that they will literally be insane (unable to understand Reality/Truth so will be pawns of the State).
Fichte and Wundt developed the psychological “warfare” to insert in curricula (Common Core is their completed wet dream) which destroys children’s ability to “think coherently” so they will never be able to “see the big picture”. They do it with banning the Truth/God and filling children up with Lies/warped Marxist version of “truth” 24/7
I, Pencil is an article written in 1958 by Leonard E. Read. The burden of the article is how diffuse are the inputs to make a simple item like a pencil. Of course a particular company - Eberhard Faber, in the example instance - made the pencil. But Mr. Eberhard and Mr. Faber did not simply speak the pencil into existence; the company has to have buildings housing machinery, and workers to operate the machines. But beyond that, the Eberhard Faber workers have to have food, shelter, and normal amenities - including those required by their families.And the same is true of the vendors who supply Eberhard Faber with the machinery they require, and all the obvious materials - wood, graphite, rubber, and the ferrule material and the enamel. All those vendors have their own equipment, workers, and supply chain. And in all cases the workers need food, shelter, and normal amenities. So although the pencil certainly does not exist without Eberhard Faber, society works together to make the pencil. And everything else.
The correct word for all the support which surrounds the total production of the pencil - or anything else - is society. Not government, note well, society Back in the day, a Civics teacher gave a homework assignment intended to teach - as the teacher smugly said the next day - that “society” meant nothing other than “government.” At the time, I did not accept the teacher’s notion, but I did not then know that the very start of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense puts paid to that idea:
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.Thus we can see that although Elizabeth Warren is in a very real sense right that “you didn’t build that . . . somebody else made that happen,” that is not to the credit of the government. Society - including Eberhard Faber particularly - makes the pencil. The socialist merely criticizes “the man who is actually in the arena - and appropriates the credit due to others, who worked to a bottom line while the critics second-guessed.Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one . . .
That is interesting, but to be honest what does this have to do with the subject of the ob-ed?
Socialism is for LOSERS who want their fair share of what they did not sacrifice for. Winners are willing to sacrifice immediate gratification by investing their time and earnings to make their fortunes grow, rather than spending everything they receive on living in the comfort they have become accustomed to.
Socialism is sloth and robbery. As far as I am concerned, it’s criminal.
That, and it NEVER works.
We need to articulate why socialism should be rejected, not just because it didn’t work (for the umpteenth time) but because socialism’s critique of capitalism is entirely beside the point.Society is a blessing, but government is evil. Necessary, perhaps - but evil, nonetheless.
As the Venezuelans are all too painfully learning.
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