"The truly fundamental question that is at the heart of the disaster toward which we are racing is being debated only in America: is it possible for a free market economy to support a democratic socialist society? On this side of the Atlantic, the model of a national welfare system with comprehensive entitlements, which is paid for by the wealth created through capitalist endeavour, has been accepted (even by parties of the centre-Right) as the essence of post-war political enlightenment.
This was the heaven on earth for which liberal democracy had been striving: a system of wealth redistribution that was merciful but not Marxist, and a guarantee of lifelong economic and social security for everyone that did not involve totalitarian government. This was the ideal the European Union was designed to entrench. It was the dream of Blairism, which adopted it as a replacement for the state socialism of Old Labour. And it is the aspiration of President Obama and his liberal Democrats, who want the United States to become a European-style social democracy.
But the US has a very different historical experience from European countries, with their accretions of national remorse and class guilt: it has a far stronger and more resilient belief in the moral value of liberty and the dangers of state power. This is a political as much as an economic crisis, but not for the reasons that Mr Obama believes. The ruckus that nearly paralysed the US economy last week, and led to the loss of its AAA rating from Standard & Poor’s, arose from a confrontation over the most basic principles of American life.
We have arrived at the endgame of what was an untenable doctrine: to pay for the kind of entitlements that populations have been led to expect by their politicians, the wealth-creating sector has to be taxed to a degree that makes it almost impossible for it to create the wealth that is needed to pay for the entitlements that populations have been led to expect, etc, etc. A general correction of the imbalance between wealth production and wealth redistribution is now a matter of basic necessity, not ideological preference.
The hardest obstacle to overcome will be the idea that anyone who challenges the prevailing consensus of the past 50 years is irrational and irresponsible. That is what is being said about the Tea Partiers. In fact, what is irrational and irresponsible is the assumption that we can go on as we are."
And, its true.
We can not support a socialist move to nationalize the country and destroy capitalism. Its simply won't work.
the two theories are in direct opposition and will always lead to endless conflict.
The answer is to vote out all rinos and socialists and create a entirely new government as we are doing.
I read that article this morning on the Telegraph site and both re-tweeted it on Twitter and posted it on another forum.
I found it interesting to read from the perspective of someone on the outside looking in, who sees with much more clarity the situation and the character of Americans.
This is a real test of the American character. All of us are going to have to give up the easy way of government support, even those of us on Social Security (of which I am one). There is no reason why everything in the country cannot be scaled back 10%, from military contracts to government salaries to Social Security and welfare payments. Elderly who are solely dependent on those checks should be helped by charities and churches, maybe local governments.
It is, more than anything, a national security issue.
And we also need to drill and mine and get our energy system under control.
The article you reference is well worth the read. Thanks.