Are we all socialists?

Ignorance is on display today with Twitter’s #SocialismChecklist. Bernie Sanders matched Hillary in Iowa caucus so that has encouraged his supporters to expose their embarrassing support for a socialist. So much ignorance of history and economics on display. Most of them are very funny. There appears to be two flavors of socialists out today: angry and clueless.

The angry socialists are hammering on evil corporations.  Walmart dared to make a profit, which means they stole money from every consumer that should have been given to government as taxes. Their evil lawyers and lobbyists helped them get away with because Wall Street is controlling every decision we make. And Koch brothers.  

The clueless socialists are creating checklists of all the good things that socialists have done. Essentially it is a list of things that people agree are good about America and crediting socialism with their existence. We wouldn’t have schools, bridges, fire departments or libraries without socialism, they say. Therefore the government should be in charge of healthcare and minimum wage should be $15 an hour, they say.  

One thing that socialist don’t lack is a sense of futility. They don’t know when to quit. I will give them that. All experience has shown that socialism is a failure but that doesn’t bother them. They just want to try again and experiment with a more pure form of socialism because the last was tainted in some fashion.  Their arguments are destroyed but their zealous belief is not to be swayed.

Benjamin Franklin is famous for many things. Among them is the establishment of a public library and the first fire department. Does that make him a socialist? Only by today’s definition that all good things are socialist. However, the books and the building were privately owned. Access was open to the club and later to the public. The collection remains as private property with access to the public. The fire fighters charged for services.

This is not socialism. Not even so-called democratic socialism. You can’t vote that the library belong to the public. The problem with socialism is that violates property rights, which are essential to liberty. What about the fire department? It is socialist unless no one makes that evil money providing a service to the community? 

Are roads socialist? No, although if the socialists would limit themselves to bridges and roads then I would have less gripes with them. The problem is that they want the government to run everything. We will all just share everything. That’s the economic failure.  Socialism is forced sharing. But people don’t like to be forced to share. It is against human nature. Roads are a good use of government. The establishment of roads is called for in the Constitution. The Romans built roads. It makes sense for everyone to share and benefit. It is an asset that makes other functions of government and society possible. Do you want your healthcare run like roads? We will have committees gather to review reports that take years to write. Open meetings must be called for public input. Tax rates must be established by legislature. We will bid out the work to get the best price and see what pieces of the project should be delayed because there are almost never enough funds. Open books help to combat fraud and abuse. Just try that with cancer surgery. Most medical decisions are personal and quick. No one wants public comment and a vote before your knee surgery. Or a photo review of your kidney stone removal. And they only take out half before they run out of money. Stitches provided by the lowest bidder. The fact is that government should be involved in some things, but as few as possible.

I would like to hear the result of the argument between the angry and the clueless socialists. We need free bridges and health care. Everyone must have fire departments and libraries.  Who is going to provide it? Are the evil car manufacturing corporations supposed to provide free fire trucks? Must the evil corporatist book publishers be forced to fill libraries at gunpoint? What entity is going to build and maintain the roads if not the evil corporations?  Imagine how the hospitals get built, the supplies are made and shipped to each nurse’s cabinet by socialist good feelings alone. Can’t be done. It’s been tried.  The beauty of free enterprise is that people can make money providing what others want or need.

Let’s recap. Socialism is bad. It is a stupid idea that fails every time it is tried. People go hungry when government involvement restricts resources and incentives.  This is the history part. When people try it they end up running out of simple things like bread and toilet paper. This has been the case from the Mayflower to Venezuela. Bastiat tore apart the socialist argument in 1830. Socialism should have died then but someone always has a new flavor. Bernie and his wise and experienced youth vote think they can make it happen. If only we didn’t have socialized education.

Neo Pacificism

aka Greg is a liberal
Ron Paul and his followers are not very attractive when they sound crazy.  I agree with 90% of what Ron Paul says so I don't mean to be unfair.  My biggest gripe is their neo-pacificism.  They want to end all war and go home.   Nice - if it would really work. 

America - the World's Policeman

In many ways the US is the world's policeman.  We help provide the globe with security.  We were dragged into wars around the world to kill bad guys.  The Great War was a disaster for everyone, except the United States.  One of the smartest of men and one of my least favorite presidents got us into Europe to support our allies in the fight.  We returned to isolationism again until the Nazis could not be ignored.   We killed them to support our allies.  We teamed up with Stalin to fight the greater enemy.  We could have kept fighting against the communists after the Nazis were beat but everyone was tired of death and destruction.  We left eastern Europe to be taken over in the betrayal at Yalta and Potsdam.  We wanted to go home again but the communists wanted to take over the world.  We killed them in Korea, Vietnam, and backed them down everywhere else.  Back to cars and rock and roll?  Yeah, if only the islamists would get a life.  So we fight on. 
 Empire?
We didn't intend to get an empire but we have one.  We dominate with our language, our culture, our economy and our military.   Oddly enough, we give all the land back.   Through the last hundred years we have conquered most of the world and given it back.   But we kept a few strategic bases.  We told people how to live and once they complied we left them alone.  We have a decent track record with Germany and Japan being our greatest successes but we helped Italy, Philipines, Cuba (before it was taken over again) etc.  In Germany and Japan specifically we told them they couldn't have an army and that we would protect them.  We gave them security against all threats but mainly the Soviets.  We promised to save our friends in Taiwan from the Chinese communists.  We keep the peace throughout the world.   The US Navy is one of the best insurances for peace and the best guarantee of trade.  They keep the sea clear and deliver help where ever it is needed. 
We fight the bad guys.  We build and buy and sell.  We have the most money, the biggest armies, the free-est people.   That puts us on top.  Our enemies have failed and our allies burn themselves down with socialism.   We are the world's policeman.   (For those that want peace, there are still some neighborhoods that we don't enter.)   We bring peace and democracy. 

Bad examples?
Is the policeman always right?  No.  Should we have invaded Iraq after 9/11?  The question assumes that one is the cause of the other but we were already in Iraq before 9/11.  We were there to enforce rules imposed on Saddam because he was killing people in Iraq rebelling against him.  They saw him as weak after we kicked his can when he invaded Kuwait.  Yes, we wanted Kuwait's oil and we promised them we would help keep them safe in exchange.  We can't have our own oil because of earth worshipping environmentalists but that is another story.  Saddam has been killing his own people and invading his neighbors since he came to power.  He bragged about training terrorists to kill us so we killed him.  I hope we can enforce some laws there and give freedom a chance to grow there like in Japan and Germany but we might fail because we are too nice. 
Libya invasion is a joke and Obama offers no explanation for that one.  I don't know why Congress allows him to violate all laws to bomb people there. 

If we don't want to be the policeman then we should give some notice so our friends can get ready.  We need to give our allies time to build up their armies.  Korea will have to beef up for the coming invasion from the North.  You can kiss Taiwan good bye at the first sign of weakness.  Japan and Germany will militarize.  It might be good for France to try to figure out how to hold a rifle again.  Russia will expand.  Pakistan and India will nuke each other.  Africa and middle east will go dark.  South America will go tribal, each warlord fighting over turf.  China and Russia will have to come to a truce to kill each other later as they attempt to play cop. 

Worried about Money?  We spend far more on welfare from the federal government than we do on the military.  That is where we need to cut the federal budget.  Social Security, medicare, and all the other twisted welfare ponzi schemes.

We need to end wars and be clear about our goals over seas but there is no reason for a retreat. We certainly shouldn't leave Guam and Diego Garcia as Ron Paul suggests. We are in the position of the leviathan.  We bring peace through strength like no else can.   If the Canadians or Australians want to take over I would welcome it but I don't see any good candidates for the job of world cop.  Hopefully I made it clear that we need one.  If we don't do it - there will be chaos or a new cop.   Thinking everyone will play nice if we put down our guns and go home is silly.  There are bad people in the world and they won't play nice just because the cop retires. 
Use our military to help people, to bring order and peace.  To deliver donated food in emergencies.  To set an example of freedom.  Kill bad people when necessary.  Leave when no longer needed.  But don't quit.  Especially when no one else can do the job.  We need to fight against evil.

ridiculed when right

From George's interview with Michelle:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/george/2011/06/john-quincy-adams-a-founding-father-michele-bachmann-says-yes.html

Gerorge Stephanopoulos:

"For example, earlier this year you said that the Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution and the Declaration of Indepedence worked tirelessly to end slavery. Now with respect Congresswoman, that's just not true. "

It is true and George is wrong. Although Michele could have answered the question better.

Why was she invited on GMA? How many times have others been on?

George was wrong and yet was ridiculing Michele for her ignorance. Could he possibly have an argument with her expression "tirelessly"? Do leftists make fun of Michele because of the results achieved? Slavery was not abolished but progress was made. Good arguments laid the foundation for the end of slavery. More negotiation and debate would be needed. When debate failed to achieve the ends then battles began.

There is a benefit in this event that some people will review our history. It is sad that such things are forgotten. The founding fathers are revered for what they accomplished but also for what they set in motion. They started a country but set up a framework for the government of a people that has become the greatest that the world has ever known.

Liberty is the key to unlocking man's potential and the founders recognized it was important for all. They failed to achieve it in their lifetime.

Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Mason etc were all opposed to slavery as documented recently in many columns but notably by Mark Levin on his facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/mark-levin/george-stephanopolous-flake/10150221375725946

The frustrating part is that to so many people in America Michele Bachmann has lost the argument. Ignorant George wins because no one knows any better. So the less educated wins. That disturbs me. Even if some one were to point this out to George he would never make an apology to Bachmann nor educate the public of our country's history in restitution of his error. Just look at all of the comments at the end of the transcript. So many people admitting they hate Michele and calling her stupid.

She was right.