“Socialism is the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.” —Perth, Scotland, 28 May 1948, in Churchill, Europe Unite: Speeches 1947 & 1948 (London: Cassell, 1950), 347.
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings. The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.” —House of Commons, 22 October 1945.
Above are two respective quotes of Sir Winston Churchill regarding that collectivist economic model of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels we call socialism. Just last week, Fox Business news focused their discussions and held a townhall meeting about capitalism and socialism. I would have preferred their using the term free market or free enterprise, but hey, it’s all semantics. However, the progressive, socialist left has done a brilliant job denigrating the term capitalism. What they are directing their angst against is crony capitalism, the use of government policies to favor certain special interests in respective industries. It is not very often we hear individuals explaining how it was President Jimmy Carter’s 1977 Community Reinvestment Act that set the conditions for the 2008 mortgage related financial crisis. What we do hear all too often is that the big banks were bailed out. I will be the first to say that using taxpayer resources to bail out a private sector organization is a violation of free market economics. However, we must also agree that the government leveraging its power, will, and might to create false “rights” is an equally bad policy.
So, last week as I listened to the proponents of socialism and read that our younger generations seem to prefer this economic system, I pondered: how best do we describe socialism? And during my Sunday morning five mile run, it hit me, socialism is the philosophy of the control freaks.
Think about it. Everything about the socialist rhetoric is about controlling some aspect of your life. It is about disavowing you as an individual and making you part of a collective will. If there is anything abjectly anti-American, it is socialism, being that our constitutional republic focuses on the individual’s sovereignty – not the intrusive nature of the institution of government. Yet, the latter is exactly what these progressive socialists are offering, but boy howdy, does it sound good.
Consider this, just last week: NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio became the 23rd Democratic Party candidate for president. In his announcement video he stated , “There’s plenty of money in this world, there’s plenty of money in this country, it’s just in the wrong hands.” Wrong hands? One must ask, who is Mayor DeBlasio to make such a disconcerting statement? Simple, he is representative of the socialist control freaks who believe that, based upon their ideological agenda, they have the right to control our wealth, our resources. That is the first tenet of a socialist economic model – wealth redistribution. It was French economist, Frederic Bastiat, who in his essay “The Law” referred to DeBlasio’s insidious idea as “legal plunder.” It is government sanctioned theft which is based on the leftist greed and misplaced sense of philanthropy.
We are constantly bombarded with the notion that healthcare is a right. Why of course it is to a socialist, because it is all about controlling your body, your ability to make decisions about the most personal issue, your healthcare. Free healthcare, “Medicare for all,” sounds so very enticing, but it in the end, “We the People” are ceding over our personal decision, our freedom, to the institution of government to control and decide how care is distributed. I guess there are those who do not believe such. Then again, take the UKs National Healthcare System (NHS). This socialized medical system works so well that Mick Jagger decided, because he can afford to, to have his heart surgery done in NYC – smart man. The delays in providing timely healthcare in England are well known. And here in America, we have this Obamacare created bureaucracy called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), unelected bureaucrats, not responsible to our Congress, who make healthcare pricing decisions. In other words, who gets what procedure and who does not, as well as reimbursement rates for medical professionals. Yea, they get to control healthcare in America.
They decide the meaning of life, who gets to live. The current debate about killing unborn, and born, babies reflect that notion. As well, they control who, and when you die.
The leftist socialists in America want to control what you eat and drink. Uh, y’all know about the soda taxes right? And it is always masked behind that oh so emotional notion of caring for you. Nope, it is all about controlling your life and lifestyle because, well, you are too ignorant, too dumb to do so yourself. Remember, the socialists must tell you what to eat and drink because that will reduce healthcare expenditures. Hmm, imagine if I were king for a day and mandated by edict that all Americans had to wake up and run 3 miles a day … or else? Oh yea, that basically happened under the Obama administration – buy health insurance, or be taxed. That folks is what control freaks in our government do. It is called behavior modification by way of taxation – an individual mandate.
The left wants to control what you drive too. You know, after all, we are causing the man-made climate change. I do not want an electric vehicle. I like my Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, my Toyota Tacoma, and my Victory Cross Country 8-Ball motorcycle. Heck, the socialists in America, as in California, are even telling us, controlling, what type of house folks can have. And we all know that our little version of Evita Peron, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wants any building not in compliance with her ideals to be refitted. I am still trying to figure out that train to Hawaii, since she will be controlling our means of transportation also.
Let’s be honest here: why do our young people embrace the philosophy of control freaks? I thought that young people did not want to be told what to do. There is a very distinct difference from classical liberals, constitutional conservatives, and these progressive socialists. Classical liberals believe in individual rights, freedoms, liberties, you know those words from our Declaration of Independence.
This new American socialism is rooted in ideological rights – a right to own a home, healthcare, murder unborn babies, climate change, same-sex marriage, the right to other people’s resources. The socialist control freaks do not embrace our constitutional rights. As a matter of fact, they see the right to keep and bear arms, our Second Amendment right, as an obstacle – see Venezuela.
I will close with this quote, attributed to Vladimir Lenin, “the goal of socialism is communism.” Socialism is an economic model that leads to a societal model that does one thing, controls the populace and turns its citizens into subjects.
What type of person would want that? Only the control freaks.
Allen West is a retired Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army. Mr. West is a Senior Fellow at the Media Research Center to support its mission to expose and neutralize liberal media bias. Mr. West also writes daily commentary on his personal website theoldschoolpatriot.com.
