Got Socialism?
That’s the new bumpersticker Blake Wylie is giving away with the purchase of a copy of one of his works of art.
Thing is, it’s not a joke. Investor’s Business Daily published an interesting piece today, The Sweet Illusion of Socialism, that I suggest you read.
An excerpt:
In April, when Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., was asked if presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama was a Marxist, he replied:
“I must say, that’s a good question . . . I will tell you that during this campaign, I’ve learned some things about him, about the kind of environment from which he came ideologically. And I wouldn’t . . . I’d hesitate to say he’s a Marxist, but he’s got some positions that are far to the left of me and I think mainstream America.”
It was a good question, but there is a broader one: Will America hold to the principles of capitalism and free enterprise or will it embrace elements of socialism, Marxism and communism?
The author, Terry Sater, writes that like we haven’t done that already. The question in this election is whether we’re going to give them a bear hug or not.
Another bit:
In May, two House Democrats called for nationalization of the U.S. oil industry. A June Rasmussen poll reported that 37% of Democrats liked the idea. Webster’s defines “communism” in part as “a theory advocating elimination of private property” or “a totalitarian system of government in which a single authoritarian party controls state-owned means of production with the professed aim of establishing a stateless society.”
In 2004, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said: “We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good.” She could have easily quoted Karl Marx, who said: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”
It’s a short piece, so I won’t quote any more, but give it a read.
This is what I was writing about in The George Orwell Daycare Center. This is what 100 years of subtle (and not so subtle) alterations to our education system and media outlets by people who have embraced the beautiful lie despite the record of history has resulted in: a population of which half has pretty much wholly abandoned the spirit, intent, and letter of the Constitution, and the large majority of the other half only vaguely remembers what it was supposed to be for.
Marx and Engels have prevailed, using Antonio Gramsci’s strategy. The next President will either be Barack Hesitate to Say He’s a Marxist Obama, or John Quote “First Amendment Rights” McCain. (Unless Hillary gets lucky while Barack’s on his current World Tour.)
Neither one of these men – Senators both – seems to have much of a grasp of of the Constitution they swore an oath to uphold and defend.
I am reminded of another quote by Robert Anson Heinlein:
The worst thing about living in the declining era of a great civilization, is knowing that you are…