Socialism without Guns (Greece)

American Thinker ^ | March 1, 2012 | Larrey Anderson

[neverdem]

As their economic orgy fades to its inevitable end, the people of Greece find themselves in a country that resembles more of a debtor's prison than a representative democracy. The Greeks have sold their freedom for a mess of pottage. If the United States is not careful, we could soon find ourselves in a very similar situation.

Unlike the former Soviet Union, there was no violent Marxist "revolution" in Greece. Freedom was taken from the country's citizens without a single shot being fired. The Greeks squandered their freedom by electing, time and again, politicians who promised an unsustainable socialist utopia. The Greeks committed political suicide by creating socialism without guns.

It's hard to feel sorry for the voters of Greece. For years they have elected politicians who produced a progressive paradise: high wages, extended vacations, a shorter workweek, early retirement, and lavish public benefits. Think of a carnival of cash for clunkers -- where "clunkers" are the citizens of Greece.

The tab for these extravagant programs is past due -- and it shows. The economy of Greece is shrinking at an annual rate of at least 5.5%. Unemployment is officially at 20.9% and rocketing higher. Greece is way beyond bankrupt.

For a second time the economy of Greece is being "reorganized." Neither the citizens nor the elected representatives have much input; the bankers and bureaucrats of the European Commission, the IMF, and the European Central Bank are handling the economic and political restructuring of Greece. The elected representatives of the people of Greece have been reduced to casting "confidence votes" for the new order. Meanwhile, Greek citizens riot against...

[HiTech RedNeck]

it’s not even very good pottage

[ETL]

"Unlike the former Soviet Union, there was no violent Marxist "revolution" in Greece. Freedom was taken from the country's citizens without a single shot being fired."

Sounds like what's happening here under Comrade Obama and Co.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Greece is being scapegoated.

Greece did nothing that everybody else isn’t doing. They just had the least economy to sustain it. Germany, France and the U.S. have many Greeces within them (California, America’s inner cities, Euro-Muslim immigrants or AFSME pensions for examples) but they continue to use their productive parts to sustain the non-productive.

Greece, on the other hand, is being treated as some ‘other’ rather than as part of an EU and is being kicked to the curb rather than enabled and carried as dead weight as California, the inner cities, unemployable Euro-Muslims and AFSME have been.

[CitizenUSA]

Well, I think you’re right. Greece may have been a bit more aggressive with its wealth redistribution schemes, but virtually every Western nation is on the exact same course. There really is no such thing as a free ride, but that doesn’t mean people can’t ride free for some time.

Governments are very adept at delaying the bill, but it will eventually come due. In the meantime, there are millions of Americans on the upside of wealth redistribution, and they aren’t keen to give up their cut.

I think we’re fated to ride this one all the way to the bottom.

[Del Rapier]

Socialism does to culture what meth does for one’s looks.If you look at the situation,it really was created by socialist inertia versus cultural decay and misguided financial priorities.

[Irenic]

The Greek politicians will do as they are told, not by their constituents, but by a number of international organizations and committees. In short, the Greeks have managed to create a situation in which they no say in their future.

Is that the USA, too? We sure owe China...

No -- a 22% decrease in the minimum wage ought to help fix things. Why 22%? The answer is: because a bureaucrat in Brussels said so. (Brussels is in Belgium -- not Greece.)

In the end the goal is a global minimum wage. There is an ex IMF? World Bank? fella that talks all about it. Union reds blog about it. It is also interesting that Gordon Brown and Hillary Clinton are so eager for positions inside that cesspool. Obama is talking a global corporate tax rate, too.Chu is saying we need high gas prices.

http://biggovernment.com/dmitchell/2011/06/01/obama-administration-throws-support-behind-world-tax-organization/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQdOXOnZSr8

http://talkingunion.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/a-global-minimum-wage-system-needed-for-economic-recovery/

Romney sure is interested in that minimum wage adjusted carp. And Santorum likes the Unions, if they're not public unions of course...ahem.

Weren't those occupy folk at San Quentin recently? And a OP for storming capitals with guns...Oh, and Anonymous was going to clear all debt records of the Greek public?

World Communism?

[Jacquerie]

While the driveby media wrings its hands over a Santorum theocracy, GBTV has been all over the Greek crisis and what it means for us.

[Graybeard58]

In the end the goal is a global minimum wage.

That's one but there has long been talk at the U.N. for a globally applied tax to help combat "global warming", global gun control, global control of the internet, etc. What it's all about is global socialism/communism.

We won the great war with the U.S.S.R. concerning military might, even to the point that the U.S.S.R. doesn't even exist any more but the ideology is still there and still being pushed by communists/socialists all over the world. So much so that those ideologies have completely captured the heart and soul of a major political party in the U.S.

My late father was a democrat and he lived long enough to see the change happening. He died in 1974 and already knew that the democrat party was creeping rapidly to communism/socialism. I try to explain this to my 91 year old, "Roosevelt democrat" mother and she still refuses to "get it".

All I can do with her is, to continue to love her and never discuss politics with her and when she brings up the subject, I'm pretty good at steering the conversation to a different subject.

[Irenic]

Were you always a little r Republican?

I suppose mine was the opposite. My mother was Republican (not so sure on little r )and I had liked the Democrats, well...that changed. My mother loves to poke at me about it. *sigh* but I deserve it. Idjit!

I can understand how your mother resists changing her mind. They shifted, she stayed steadfast. She is a Democrat and they are socialist/marxist/communist/globalist- wearing Democrat as a disguise. Look at Patrick Caddell, he isn’t a happy camper.