Tuesday, June 30, 2009
American Socialism?
I've been reading that our President has taken America straight into Socialism. Wow. That's bad, huh? Of course, I doubt that anyone saying that has ever read a socialist document, like maybe The Communist Manifesto. I have read the thing. It's long, tedious, and pedantic. Also Utopian. That's all well and good, but no Utopia ever seems to work out, not even Marx's one.
For the record, Communism, per Marx, is when the workers own the means of production. Eventually the State will wither away. There has never, so far as I know, been a Communist country in the world. Ever. The Soviet Union was just State-owned Capitalism. A perfect monopoly, if you will. Companies that offer stock option plans are closer to being Communist than the Soviet Union ever dreamed of being. I wouldn't worry about Communism if I were you because I really don't think it will ever happen. Honest.
Socialism, per Marx, is a transitional stage toward the Utopia of Communism. The workers, in the form of the State, which they have come to control, own increasingly large shares of the means of production. That's "means of production" as in automobile plants and such. So I see where the alarmists are coming from. But, here's the thing. We, the People own less than a tenth of one percent of the means of production in this country, and we're trying to get out of that ownership share as soon as possible. Less than a tenth of one percent is not socialism (although one can argue that it's misguided, but that's another story.)
We have had Socialism in this country, though, and big time. When the railroads needed to build a way to California, the government gave them not only the land for the tracks, but also a lot of other land that they then sold to settlers who would be their customers. That, friends, is government handouts on a grand scale. Then there are the homesteaders who got their forty acres by setting up camp on the land. And let's not forget the miners who got the rights to incredible fortunes for the princely sum of $3.50 per year per claim. And the grazing rights for the ranchers all over the American West, well they're worth billions, and they cost $2.50 a cow/calf. I'm not making this up. It's government handouts all over the place, folks!
Back East it was even simpler. All you had to do is run off the local population, nasty things really, and set up your town. The government didn't even require homesteading. Just be the first one to set up, and you were in! The entire country, from Ohio (State #17) on has been subdivided into township and range just so people could take advantage of government largess. Socialism? It pales beside what Americans have gotten for free from their government over the centuries.
So really, folks, taking over a couple of car companies that have, apparently, been run by Daffy Duck for the last few decades, and providing health care added on, are a drop in the bucket compared to the Socialist paradise America has been from the beginning. I'm really surprised that more people don't see it.
Steve
For the record, Communism, per Marx, is when the workers own the means of production. Eventually the State will wither away. There has never, so far as I know, been a Communist country in the world. Ever. The Soviet Union was just State-owned Capitalism. A perfect monopoly, if you will. Companies that offer stock option plans are closer to being Communist than the Soviet Union ever dreamed of being. I wouldn't worry about Communism if I were you because I really don't think it will ever happen. Honest.
Socialism, per Marx, is a transitional stage toward the Utopia of Communism. The workers, in the form of the State, which they have come to control, own increasingly large shares of the means of production. That's "means of production" as in automobile plants and such. So I see where the alarmists are coming from. But, here's the thing. We, the People own less than a tenth of one percent of the means of production in this country, and we're trying to get out of that ownership share as soon as possible. Less than a tenth of one percent is not socialism (although one can argue that it's misguided, but that's another story.)
We have had Socialism in this country, though, and big time. When the railroads needed to build a way to California, the government gave them not only the land for the tracks, but also a lot of other land that they then sold to settlers who would be their customers. That, friends, is government handouts on a grand scale. Then there are the homesteaders who got their forty acres by setting up camp on the land. And let's not forget the miners who got the rights to incredible fortunes for the princely sum of $3.50 per year per claim. And the grazing rights for the ranchers all over the American West, well they're worth billions, and they cost $2.50 a cow/calf. I'm not making this up. It's government handouts all over the place, folks!
Back East it was even simpler. All you had to do is run off the local population, nasty things really, and set up your town. The government didn't even require homesteading. Just be the first one to set up, and you were in! The entire country, from Ohio (State #17) on has been subdivided into township and range just so people could take advantage of government largess. Socialism? It pales beside what Americans have gotten for free from their government over the centuries.
So really, folks, taking over a couple of car companies that have, apparently, been run by Daffy Duck for the last few decades, and providing health care added on, are a drop in the bucket compared to the Socialist paradise America has been from the beginning. I'm really surprised that more people don't see it.
Steve
Labels: Politics, Social Commentary
