We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their leaders in giving Americans small doses of socialism until they suddenly awake to find they have communism.-Soviet Leader Nikita Krushchev, 1959
When I find quotes like this, it makes me wonder why I bother blogging at all. I mean, what more do I really need to say? Doesn't this say it all? Isn't infinitely more prescient than I could ever hope to be with my diminutive predictions?
The other thing that blows my mind is the fact that one of the two most powerful men in the world could say this and, despite the fact that he stands for everything we stood against (note the past tense), it has still come to pass.
Wake up. Wake up, America.
8 comments:
I don't see your point quite honestly. The same things were doubtless said about FDR. Almost 80 years later, we still aren't commies. I grant you, I don't like a lot of the things that are being done, but not for socialist reasons, more for economic reasons.
Obama has a lot of critics in the Liberal realm from what I understand.
Yes, the same things WERE said about FDR and they were completely true!
That was when the wheels first were unscrewed. They came off entirely when Johnson brought in his "Great Society. Great society my @$$.
Now, Obama has introduced government ownership of private corporations coupled with outright "redistribution of wealth" (i.e. thieving) and the majority of people are praising him for his bravery in taking such bold action.
After FDR's time, we saw a lot LESS socialism, and a lot MORE democracy, after people started squirming out from under the governmental behemoth he shat out. And now, 80 years later? What is FDR's legacy?
He's the President that allowed the Great Depression to get as bad as it did, and last as long as it did. Had it not been for his hamhanded fumbling, economists point to the US having been out of the Depression some five years earlier. He sure was charismatic, though, wasn't he? And it's hard to not feel good about doing things like preserving land with parks and making power for people and blag blah ad nauseum.
CC, do you have children? There are few things in this world that are quite as satisfying as seeing your child smile up at you, beaming at you with all of that hope and love and light. When they say, "I want a candy," and you give it to them for the 50th time in a day, they still smile, and the smile still feels good. But what you're doing for the child, feel-good or not, is BAD for them, and by extension, bad for you.
The Government is a child. It's EVERY American's child. It doesn't matter how much it makes us "feel good," it matters how well it performs, how disciplined it is, and how well it does what we tell it to. As a nation, we've been lax parents, and our child has gotten unruly. It's beating up other kids in the neighborhood, it's stealing money from our wallets, and it's having parties with uninvited guests while they're not supposed to be having anyone over at the house. Our Government is being a BAD child, and it's high time that we ground it. Maybe even spank it.
Because that is love. Doing what it takes to see to the well being of your child, even when it's hard or scary for you to do so, is love. Tough love, maybe, but it's what's needed.
Yes, I do have a child, and I also had great grand parents and great great grandparents who struggled to survive because there was no Social Security to help them out. Their option was work or die. I'm hoping that I raise a child that will be willing to help the elderly and the lame. If my child doesn't have compassion and isn't willing to share, then I have also raise him badly.
I have heard both claims about FDR. That if he had been allowed to do what he wanted, and spend more, we would have been out of the depression sooner, and now you say the opposite. Well, no one will ever know for sure. It is what it is. But I know for sure that all the works projects that were done then are now falling apart, and people are clamoring to get the money to fix them. Like sea walls that protected harbors, like bridges that were built, and so much more we take for granted today. My child paid for 'make work' projects to keep people fed. Well, I think he's a dam smart kid then, because the work was good, and it lasted, and people were fed.
No government is perfect. Far from it, since the founding fathers. But I have a father who grew up in the depression, so I know how much FDR was admired. And that same father who has cancer is able to get care and money even when he cant work, all because of that same evil man FDR. You're going to have a hell of a hard time convincing me he did the wrong thing.
Let's revisit this in a few years when you want social security, but you can't get any because it's used up.
Let's think about this again in a few years when your child is huddled next to a lamp or fireplace to keep warm because there are strict limits on fuel use, because we've wasted our way past the oil peak.
The problem with so many of these measures is that they're forcing us to stratify to the lowest common level. In their vision, it doesn't matter how smart or successful or driven I am, because I get the same share as the lazy, unskilled, uneducated lout down the hall. Why bother trying when your hard work does nothing to better you? Why try harder for people who won't try harder for themselves? There are just too many mouths to feed, and too many people begging for a handout.
While I'm no fan of misery, I am a fan of reality. The reality is that we have a system that rewards reproduction, prevents death, and extends lives. We have a system that is built on the premise of unlimited growth on the back of limited resources. We can discuss the very real math and very clear trends on this topic if you like, but the conclusion is pretty clear:
The sooner that we start letting people starve and/or die, the better off it'll be for the rest of the population. The longer we wait to let it happen, the closer we'll be to the entire population being negatively impacted. If we keep pushing welfare and other social programs to the very end, we'll eventually see a point where everyone gets an equal share of the pie. The problem is that everyone gets too small of a slice to be fed.
Our government's compassion for troubled individuals--particularly those who don't even have a right to be here and accepting that compassion--is imperiling our entire population.
Maybe I'm a cold hearted wretch, but there's a reality out there that's being ignored, and if we don't deal with it, it's going to deal with us.
If you've the fortitude, take a look at Professor Bartlett's discussion on the exponential function. This is an amazing video, and takes about an hour to watch it all. Pay special attention to the discussion of the bacterium in the petri dishes.
We're kind of hosed.
It would help if I included the link to Professor Bartlett's video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY&feature=PlayList&p=6A1FD147A45EF50D&index=0&playnext=1
I see your points, I quite agree with a lot of them, but I still will not shoot your child because he's lame. I'll let you do that.
What would you propose that we do, then? The system's broken. The government has overreached the limitations imposed upon it by the Bill of Rights. Bit by bit, through the skillful use to sugar-lipped language, we're being seduced out of the protections afforded by the Constitution.
Out government of, for, and by the people has been altered to include corporations as entities just like you or me, and is now throwing weight behind politics. We are NOT being represented by our representatives.
Instead the people whose jobs are to represent you and I are plucking resources from you and I, only to give them to those who've not worked for them.
What do we do? Simply acknowledging that there is a problem isn't enough, for to acknowledge such treason and do nothing about it is to become complicit.
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