The missing link

Something I find disturbing is that so many people -- most notably those who support the current US regime -- disconnect the actions this administration is taking from their inevitable consequences. They're missing that link: that actions have consequences; that we will all pay for all of this, and not only in dollars.

That is, they believe the US is not becoming a socialist nation because Obama scoffs when anyone calls him a socialist. Rather, he just wants to run all the industry and control about 60% of every citizen's personal income and spending. But it's for their own good. It's not that nasty-nasty unworkable, totalitarian "socialism."

Hey! Wake up! Obama's program is socialism. By any definition. No matter what else you call it.

Or there's the other thing.... "Well, it's not his fault. He inherited this mess."

So, he inherited it. He's also taken certain specific steps to make it worse by massively expanding the role of the government in the private sector -- against the advice of some and in opposition to the lessons of history.

Here's something to think about: You cannot be both an independent person and a government dependent at the same time. That's a contradiction in terms. It can't happen, despite the fact that so many liberals seem to think the US government can construct a "safety net" that is there when we need it but invisible otherwise.

I believe I mentioned in an earlier blog, about a college class I had that was run by two feminists. They advocated that women "overthrow" the oppression of their husbands and substitute it with government support. Like government support doesn't come with any strings or a whole new set of rules to follow. The professors were well-educated and sophisticated people, but so totally blind....

On a personal level, Obama and his fellow travelers may not want to run everyone's life, but they can't provide us all with health care, ensure we drive environmentally-correct cars, work in "green" industries, and all achieve college degrees without taking us by the hand and walking us through all that. Whether we want it or not. They determine what our values will be and then compel us to uphold them one way or another. Whether or not we agree.

There's no wiggle-room in there for "living by your own lights," which was the very basis for establishing the USA 233 years ago.

The alternative to following government directives is.... What do you think?

What do you think government is? It's a method of making decisions for the society as a whole. Any decision the government makes for you has the force of law. And I do mean "force." If you don't agree to uphold the law, you suffer the consequences. Mao Tse-Tung said all government power grows out of the barrel of a gun. He was right. The guns come out when people fail to uphold the law voluntarily.

Government can be a positive force, can keep us from robbing and killing each other, can enforce property rights so that what we each earn we keep; it can create an orderly and peaceful social environment to encourage human growth and achievement.

But by its very nature, government also can be very destructive of individual liberty, private property, and everything else. George Washington once said "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master."

He was right, too.

Here's something else to consider:

http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/107459-0

Yeah, this an opinion column from the Russian newspaper Pravda. This author very clearly sees where we're headed, even if we refuse to. And apparently he's been there and done that. Maybe he knows a little something about it that American liberals are not yet willing to admit?

Maybe people should start paying attention before we're so far gone, there's no way out of it.