Devotees of socialism must be delighted with its revival in what is ObamaSoc.
The half century that followed the end of World War II demonstrated the failure of socialism in Eastern Europe. Much of Europe (and Japan) had been battered by bombs and economically devastated. Nations once as prosperous as Czechoslovakia and Poland had been turned into economic basket cases. A divided Germany provided the best contrast and Japan prospered.
The policy of containment begun by Truman bore better fruit than the folly of Versailles and the airheaded idealism of Wilson. What was really a Third World War was relatively bloodless and it was the USSR rather than the West that collapsed from within.
The evil of Hitlerism was the result of the triumph of the will of one demented and hate-driven man. Most of his future victims had the collective resources to resist but lacked the will to do so. A few chose to fight but the formal close of hostilities saw a new phase of conflict. Domestic opinion seemed to be divided into two opposing camps. One would appease the Soviet menace and allow it to succeed. The other would take it on directly. The third path of Containment seemed to please neither extreme but it did triumph.
Now we face an amorphous threat that is met by another lack of will. We can summon up our collective will but cannot sustain it after an outrage. We must have our version of bread and circus.
Politics as usual has seen both parties degenerate. A Democrat Party that once could boast of a Truman (often reviled in his day) has become the plaything of a hyper-wealthy money changer named George Soros. A moribund Republican Party that found some electoral respite in the cult-of-personality Eisenhower victory was rescued irrelevance from an Elitist Establishment by the Goldwater insurgency. The fratricidal undercutting of the 1964 nominee by so called ‘moderates’ led to what was called a ‘debacle’. Yet a movement was created that had its triumph in 1980.
The Clinton era was the scene of the Gingrich Revolt that put Republican in control of Congress. Yet too many Republicans learned the bad habits of those they replaced and saw pork and patronage, the stuff of politics as usual, as the way to maintain tenure.
George Bush was reviled as a lightweight but appeared to be intellectually superior to both of his opponents. The events of 9/11 seemed to allow him to shine as a latter-day Henry V. Yet his fatal
political flaw was an inherent decency that often made him want to do the compassionate thing. Ill-considered expenditures created a growth in government that would not easily be reversed.
His father had handed the Democrats the tools of victory when he raised taxes and killed jobs. The son was smarter in that respect but not smart enough.
Our government is run by people who seem to know nothing but politics, the art of getting elected. We are seeing our industrial base deteriorate and no remedies are sought other than the folly of protectionism. Our economy seems to be based on paper rather than substance, and the bonds seem to be proliferating faster than greenbacks. Bonds will come due.
The self-serving machinations of some insiders in the world of finance has created a crises situation that has enriched a few at the cost of the many. The few have clout in both parties and have been the benefit of taxpayer dollars. Yet the downturn has produced the sort of panic that is always exploited by demagogues. A fearful nation managed to elect a person who epitomizes both political careerism and radicalism. Our future is being mortgaged to create a vast bureaucracy.
Yet what is the goal of those who seem to be calling the shots? It appears to be a regimented and ‘dumbed down’ nation, where the illusion of security will be purchased at a great price in freedom.
This will not be a security from physical threats. Appeasement and virtual disarmament will make us more vulnerable in this area. The alleged goal will be economic security.
We will need to give up our traditional liberties in many ways. We should live in small and clustered units and rely upon mass transit to travel from our government jobs to our homes. There will be little
variety in food after bureaucrat dieticians dictate what is best for us. But no one will starve. Health (for most) will be sustained (up to a point) and no one will be so selfish as to live too long.
There will be lavish entertainment that will provide diversions during idle hours.
Bread and circus will prove to be the ultimate answers.
The barbarians at the gate may have other opinions. An even darker future may await us.
Perhaps in another thousand years there may be an awakening and a rediscovery of the treasure that was once known as Western Civilization and the Enlightenment.
Where is the will to resist? To say ‘no’ to the failed ‘politics as usual’?
Art: “Devotees of socialism must be delighted with its revival in what is ObamaSoc.”
Art, when will you write about “socialism” to corporate America, otherwise known as corporate welfare?
I am talking about crop subsidies, no-bid military contracts, bailouts of financial institutions, and subsidies to corporations like Boeing, Xerox, IBM, Motorola, Dow Chemical, General Electric, ….
For the subsidies alone, we are talking $92 billion in f/y 2006!
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=8230
My point: “ObamaSoc” is a continuation of policies from the Right and the Left that is decades old, therefore Obama should not be singled out. My hope is that the Obama version will work out to be as beneficial to the middle as the previous policies have been to the upper 1%!
I keep hoping that we are too darn independent in this country to put up with someone like Obama who is trying his best to destroy it. I hope I’m right.
“My hope is that the Obama version will work out to be as beneficial to the middle as the previous policies have been to the upper 1%!”
I’ve heard that before. It’s always the next generation of socialist policy that will succeed. We can do it better.
There will always be a 1% at the top as well as a 1% at the bottom. Only free markets and liberty have given us and the world a chance to better the 98% in between. There are millionaires in Cuba. They run the government. The rest of the population averages $908 per year. There lies perfect socialism.
In the US even the poor have TV’s, cars etc. and what’s more they have the liberty to end their poverty without the government keeping them down. There is not one “rich” man in this country that can make you buy anything from him. But the government can and does force you to do whatever it wants. Like subsidize crops, car makers etc. Regan once said that the governments idea of economics is: “If it moves tax it. If it keeps on moving regulate it. And if it stops moving subsidize it.”
Everything today (due to both shit ass parties) seems to be either at the regulation or susidation stage. How do we fix it?
I don’t know. But I do know cutting down the tall trees doesn’t grow the short ones. But it does make them all even.
“I keep hoping that we are too darn independent in this country to put up with someone like Obama who is trying his best to destroy it. I hope I’m right.”
Sorry to tell ya, Chickadee, but after 50 years of public schools indoctrinating kids with multiculturalism I doubt that. They don’t teach American Exceptionalism any more. They teach that the US, founded on Christian principles, creating a free republican form of government is just as equal as some savage in New Guinea. After all, who are we to judge?
you have outdone yourself with this nonsense, my hat is off to you
JohnC“They don’t teach American Exceptionalism any more.”
John, American Exceptionalism has been diluted with some very bad behavior in recent years, so I really don’t know what you mean by the term, nor what you mean about what is not taught.
I am saying that we have no credibility if we go around beating on our chests if we continue to be willing to attack sovereign nations and kill their civilians, or if we continue to be willing to carry out our finances with such risk and debt that we bring the global economy to its knees.
To give our kids an honest educational assessment of our own country, History and Civics, we must be realistic in teaching our failures as well as our successes.
Otherwise our kids will grow up only to be shocked when they understand our American reality.
Actually, this has been happening for some time now, which is why many of our young adults feel detached from their country, wondering what the future holds.
This is a serious problem!
The stronger ones make their future anyway with hope and hard work, but the weaker ones, …?
John, you might not have noticed, but twenty years ago, people overseas were holding up the American system as something to emulate. These days, people use it as a warning.
Have you noticed that, despite discussions about this or that part of European systems other might learn from, you never see any serious discussion in Europe or the rest of the West about moving towards emulating the US anymore?
Yeah, left wing loons who never had anything good to say about America, now or 20 years ago. Back in the 80′s, these same kooks were raving about Reagan, Bush, Iran/Contra (anyone remember that musty old scandal), blood for oil (the first Gulf War) and yada yada yada ad nauseum. Their view of “Enlightened” government was probably Castro’s Cuba or Sandinista Nicaragua, not the US.
Who cares what they think, or thought?
Yeah, left wing loons who never had anything good to say about America, now or 20 years ago
Gordon Brown is a left wing loon?
By the way, Art, you were praising Blackwater a couple of years ago, in your usual fashion.
Would you care to comment on recent news?
You mean when the Reagan/Bush admin was actively supplying arms to terrorists who murdered nuns, priests, women & children? Sure, everyone remembers – it’s why nobody believed for even a second that GWB was actually interested in pursuing terrorists
except Art D, for whom a radiant light shines at all times from the benevolent visage of Bush II, The Wise King
I thought that Europe is moving to the right politically. Maybe after living with Socialism, and seeing it fail, they are now emulating us.
What about the “weaker ones”?
I think you just made my point. The Left has always badmouthed the US, it’s hardly a recent thing, contrary to Pho’s assertions.
And, as for those “terrorists”, who exactly are you talking about? The “Iran” part of Iran/Contra was certainly, in retrospect, a bad idea, but Reagan’s motives were to get hostages released, and he naively believed he could negotiate with so called “Moderates” in the Iranian regime.
As for the Contras, well, supporting them DID lead, finally, to free and fair elections in Nicaragua, something the Sandinistas and their Soviet and Cuban pals probably weren’t about to allow on their own.
I prefer Tony Blair myself.
The weaker one’s struggle, especially when times are rough, like now!
I prefer Tony Blair myself.
He’s busy testifying to a government investigation. About being lied into wars.
Unlike some countries, the UK occasionally shows flashes of accountability.