Posted on 05/08/2016 7:52:01 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Life isn’t much fun these days in the world’s socialist paradise. If you had to choose a country you didn’t want to live in, Venezuela would be near the top of the list. Corrupt, dysfunctional, bankrupt, crime-ridden, drug-infested, short of practically every basic commodity, it can’t keep the lights on, keep the government running or brew its own beer. Last weekend six army officers were arrested for stealing goats from a farm because they were hungry.
Venezuela has become the basket case of the western hemisphere, a case study on how not to run a country and a living example of what happens when a left-wing government is let loose with utopian economics. The cruel irony is that Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves — 298 billion barrels —the raw material on which to build a pleasant and prosperous nation. Yet it recently began importing oil from the U.S., a country it has spent a decade deriding as a mortal enemy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...
We should send Bernie and Hillary there.
Hillary won’t go unless there is something left to loot.
Doesn’t mean anything. The idiots here are going to have to experience it themselves.
Good and hard.
I recall a time in the not too distant past when Venezuela chopped off its leftist nose to spite its face by refusing to sell oil to the US.
In spite of the perfectly obvious failures of socialism many here in the USA will gleefully vote for a Hillary or a Bernie. Amazing! You just can’t fix stupid.
For too long in America, we have called Democrats "liberals," when, in fact, they are and have stood for ideas which are the antithesis of "classical liberalism."
Now, and over the past several decades, they have morphed into and now identify themselves as "progressives," a term which, in itself is misleading. The so-called "progressive" philosophy is, in fact, most regressive, for it advocates failed ideas which lead to tyranny and oppression, not to freedom, opportunity, productivity, and plenty. "Progressive" ideas are more aptly described by the word "socialist."
In the following quotations from Churchill, we can see thoughts of his on the subject dating from 1908 to the 1950's. Much of what is happening in America today is described within these words:
"When I see the present Socialist Government denouncing capitalism in all its forms, mocking with derision and contempt the tremendous free enterprise capitalist system on which the mighty production of the United States is founded, I cannot help feeling that as a nation we are not acting honorably or even honestly." - Winston Churchill, Woodford Green, July 10, 1948."We shall not allow the advance of society and economic well-being of the nation to be regulated and curtailed by the pace of the weakest bretheren among us. Proper incentives must be offered and full freedom given to the strong to use their strength in the commonweal. Initiative, enterprise, thrift, domestic foresight, contrivance, good housekeeping and natural ability must reap their just reward. On any other plan the population of this island will sink by disastrous and agonizing stages to a far lower standard of life and two-thirds of its present numbers." - Winston Churchill, speech, Blenheim Palace, August 4, 1947.
"The difference between what is seen and what is not seen was often noticed by the old economists. What is not seen is the infinite variety of individual transactions and decisions which, in a civilized society, within the framework of just and well-known laws, insure the advantage not only of the individual concerned, but of the community, and provide that general body of well-being constituting the wealth of nations. All this is blotted out by an over-riding State control, however imposing some of its manifestations may be. It is the vital creative impulse that that I deeply fear the doctrines and policy of the socialist Government have destroyed, or are rapidly destroying, in our national life. Nothing that they can plan and order and rush around enforcing will take its place. They have broken the mainspring, and until we get a new one the watch will not go." - Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons, October 28, 1947.
"It is in the interest of the wage-earner to have many other alternatives open to him than service under one all-powerful employer called the State. He will be in a better position to bargain collectively and production will be more abundant; there will be more for all and more freedom for all when the wage earner is able, in the large majority of cases, to choose and change his work, and deal with a private employer who, like himself, is subject to the ordinary pressures of life and, like himself, is dependent upon his personal thrift, ingenuity and good-housekeeping." - Winston Churchill, speech, Blackpool, October 5, 1946
"Liberalism (classical liberalism) has its own history and its own tradition. Socialism has its own formulas and aims. Socialism seeks to pull down wealth; Liberalism seeks to raise up poverty. Socialism would destroy private interests; Liberalism would preserve private interests in the only way in which they can be safely and justly preserved, namely, by reconciling them with public right. Socialism would kill enterprise; Liberalism would rescue enterprise from the trammels of privilege and preference. Socialism assails the pre-eminence of the individual; Liberalism seeks, and shall seek more in the future, to build up a minimum standard for the mass. Socialism exalts the rule; Liberalism exalts the man. Socialism attacks capital; Liberalism attacks monopoly." - Winston Churchill, Kinnaird Hall, Dundee, May 14, 1908.
"The British nation now has to make one of the most momentous choices in its history. That choice is between two ways of life: between individual liberty and State domination: between concentration of ownership in the hands of the State and the extension of a property-owning democracy; between a policy of increasing restraint and a policy of liberating energy and ingenuity: between a policy of levelling down and a policy of finding opportunities for all to rise upwards from a basic standard." - Winston Churchill, speech in Woodford, England, January 28, 1950.
"It is curious that, while in the days of my youth I was much reproached with inconsistency and being changeable, I am now scolded for adhering to the same views I had early in life and even of repeating passages from speeches which I made long before most of you were born. Of course the world moves on and we dwell in a constantly changing climate of opinion. But the broad principles and truths of wise and sane political actions do not necessarily alter with the changing moods of a democratic electorate. Not everything changes. Two and two still make four, and I could give you many other instances which go to prove that all wisdom is not new wisdom." - Winston Churchill, speech, Bele vue, Manchester, December 6, 1947.
"It is not Parliament that should rule; it is the people who should rule through Parliament." - Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons. November 11, 1947.
"We have to combat the wolf of socialism, and we shall be able to do it far more effectively as a pack of hounds than as a flock of sheep." - Winston Churchill, speech, 1937.
:Athough it is now put forward in the main by people who have a good grounding in the Liberalism and Radicalism of the early part of this century, there can be no doubt that Socialism is inseparably interwoven with Totalitarianism and the abject worship of the State. It is not alone that property, in all its forms, is struck at, but that liberty, in all its forms, is challenged by the fundamental conceptions of Socialism." - Winston Churchill, B.B.C radio address, June 4, 1945.
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent vice of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries." - Winston Churchill, House of Commons, October 22, 1945.
"Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy." - Winston Churchill, Perth, May 28, 1948.
"I do not wonder that British youth is in revolt against the morbid doctrine that nothing matters but the equal sharing of miseries: that what used to be called the submerged tenth can only be rescued by bringing the other nine-tenths down to their level; against the folly that it is better that everyone should have half rations rather than that any by their exertions, or ability, should earn a second helping." - Winston Churchill, London, June 22, 1948.
"Socialism is based on the idea of an all-powerful State which owns everything, which plans everything, which distributes everything, and thus through its politicians and officials decides the daily life of the individual citizen." - Winston Churchill, London, January 21, 1950.
"The British and Americans do not war with races or governments as such. Tyranny, external or internal, is our foe whatever trappings and disguises it wears, whatever language it speaks, or perverts." - Winston Churchill, Speech, Dorchester Hotel, London, July 4, 1953.
"You may try to destroy wealth, and find that all you have done is to increase poverty." - Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons. March 12, 1947.
"Nor should it be supposed as you would imagine, to read some of the Left-wing newspaper, that all Americans are multi-millionaires of Wall Street. If they were all multi-millionaires that would be no reason for condemning a system which has produced such material results.: - Winston Churchill, speech, Royal Albert Hall, London. April 21, 1948.
"Rich men, although valuable to the revenue, are not vital to a healthy state of society, but a society in which rich men are got rid of, from motives of jealousy, is not a healthy state." - Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons, April 24, 1950.
Something for nothing will always look good to a large group of people, hence Sanders, Clinton, and the Democrat party.
It’s doing the same here although at a slower rate.
The fatal conceit of socialists is the belief that human conscious planning of the economic system can is better than and can replace the spontaneous unconscious self organization of the free market. Both rationalistic deduction from axiomatic principles and the empiricism of historical economic data have proven this belief false.
There’s been far too many examples to write this off as they thought they were going to create a utopia.
What they got was and is a de-facto war by proxy and sanctions and oils prices driven to the point of no profitability for anybody. Venezuela does have good oil deposits, but they have the heaviest of heavy crude. Costs more to pump and refine.
"The difference between what is seen and what is not seen was often noticed by the old economists. What is not seen is the infinite variety of individual transactions and decisions which, in a civilized society, within the framework of just and well-known laws, insure the advantage not only of the individual concerned, but of the community, and provide that general body of well-being constituting the wealth of nations. All this is blotted out by an over-riding State control, however imposing some of its manifestations may be. It is the vital creative impulse that that I deeply fear the doctrines and policy of the socialist Government have destroyed, or are rapidly destroying, in our national life. Nothing that they can plan and order and rush around enforcing will take its place. They have broken the mainspring, and until we get a new one the watch will not go." - Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons, October 28, 1947.
Not to mention the leader of the opposition party was just assassinated.
Some people seem destined to be poor. Maybe it’s genetic.
Correct. They looted the health care system. 401K’s are next. And it’s Hillary’s turn at the trough.
Agree, but IMHO it goes farther than this. It's not just that socialists have this ‘fatal conceit’, it's that socialism attracts the conceited. Fundamentally, having money and ‘stuff’ is a very big motivator in the world, but it isn't the biggest of the motivators. The two biggest are love and ego. Often these two lead down different paths. Love, for instance, can lead one to give up their life for those they love. Ego that is unchecked by spirituality, ethics, and love, is too often the cause of suffering and the loss of life.
Socialism offers a world construct that is very appealing to those who want/need to be ‘saviors’ and want to be historic. Being historic is theoretically a way of achieving immortality, and for those driven by ego this is the big prize. In Communist and Socialist societies, there are the unwashed masses, and the ‘leaders’. This is as much defined by hierarchy as any nation governed by royalty. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss - except the new boss claims to be the antithesis of the old boss. Being the leader in this type of political structure puts you much further up the totem pole than any elected position in a democracy/republic.
I'm sure Hillary, Kerry, and the rest of this ilk have not thought this through, especially since to do so would challenge their internal self-o-meter. It is, nonetheless, true, and if one looks at the comments people like Hillary and Kerry have made over the years, when their mask slips, it is clear that they see themselves as something apart from and better than the rest of us. Hugo Chavez likely saw himself as a great savior, and probably never confronted the reality of what his actions were doing to the people of his country.
If ideologically consistent, the socialist ‘leaders’ would be living in modest housing, and the citizens they say they want to ‘help’ would be in their palatial government ‘leader’ estates. That obviously is not what happens. Every once in awhile you will find a socialist ‘leader’ who actually lives by their own rules. Most often this is not the case (one need look no further than Queen Hillary herself for confirmation of this).
Ah socialism, seems to me the only difference between Hillary and Bernie is............? I guess I’m just not seeing it. If elected, either will take us to the same place.
The only difference between them is that Bernie tells the truth about being a socialist. Hillary takes the Alinsky approach of lieing about her intent.
ditto.
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