Editor,
I agree with Jason Darensburg that Americans should seek out other countries to live in, I know I am. The primary reason is because of the complete infection of progressivism that has paralyzed this country. The progressives have essentially took what once was a great and prosperous land, wiped their rear-ends with it, and now will simply walk away and leave us with the pieces.
Don’t ever expect any responsibility from them for what they have done, expect them to merely point the finger at those that resisted their poor choices, those that espoused the danger in taking this path. For example, blame capitalists, even though we abandoned most of the capitalist philosophy long ago.
You see, it’s easy to lie about the problem in a mixed economy.
Socialists will point to other mixed economies of Europe and claim the socialist policies were the components to success. However, with careful inspection; one will always find that this is indeed not the case. Just for a generality to suffice the point, take a look at the Economic Freedom Index.
For one, the countries with the most economic freedom will thrive, the ones with less, not so much. The comparison between Hong Kong and greater China is a stark and clear contrast. For two, the U.S. has dropped on this index substantially. So it is clear that statism is what is indeed infecting us, not liberty.
Progressives also make these ridiculous false claims of some economic pie. You’ve heard it before: that because “they” have more, that means you have less. It’s the old statist instigation of class warfare, instigating envy and masking the true goal; to break the legs of achievement. They won’t recognize that wealth is created, and they couldn’t tell you the absolute value of that pie. Why? Because it is constantly being grown by the capitalists, the value changes, when people get rich, it’s not just one way, whoever is buying is also increasing their standard of living.
The honest rich, which there are an overwhelming more of than dishonest ones, do not need philanthropy to justify their nobility. The money that they acquired is due to someone wanting something that they offered, and the buyer was willing to voluntarily offer a fraction of their work, or earnings, to get it. The businessman gave up something that he created, something that isn’t as valuable to him as it is to his customer, for a voluntary price.
The profit motive has successfully improved the lives of both people and is a win-win situation. It’s all democratic and voluntary and in an age of easy information, if you don’t like how a business operates, don’t buy, and encourage others not to, dishonesty will always pay the consequences of failure.
Indeed, it is progressive policies of redistribution of wealth that has crippled any ability to think. Everyone wants hand-outs, and anyone would take them. Subsidies aren’t the poor’s friend, and they haven’t really been a good “safety net” since the beginning of the “War on Poverty”. As a matter of fact, since the “War on Poverty” began, Americans have gotten poorer and poverty has spread like wildfire.
Why? Because subsidies sedate their productive juices, it keeps them voting for the drug since it’s easy. They do not need to face the reality of needing to make decisions for themselves. In most cases, it has become easier to be on food stamps than it is to work at a low-wage job. Then, to feel better, they are assisted by the progressives in blaming others for their non-productivity.
The last false illusion that statists mischaracterize is the idea that Wall Street cronies, and the banksters that accompany them, are a product of capitalism. In fact, it is the injection of quasi-fascist policies of a government stimulus, of printing money, the backwards conception of risk and failure by banks guided by the “Too Big to Fail” philosophy, and many more such behaviors that have comforted speculation and lined the pockets of the elite that are tied to government intervention. Risk and failure are indeed primary components to capitalism, and these have been absent throughout the 2008 crises and recession. During the past 20 years, for every single act of deregulation, there have been four more acts of increased regulation.
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Yet the statists call for more.
So, what to do? I have a solution. Encourage the progressives to go. Our next step would be to salvage what we can from what they have done. We could slowly help the disadvantaged to get off of the federal sedatives that they are being fed, and help them to think again. Teach them to be competent, help them be proud and participating citizens. Of course, it won’t be easy, but it can be done, and it comes with hardship that many do not want to face.
Unleash the productive juices of capitalism and let the crony capitalists fail. Have to have a moral revolution where we celebrate achievement, and shun the Marxian envy of it. We have to allow a free and open market banking system, allow it to evolve, not continue with one that serves Washington D.C.
Let’s begin to fix the debt, not pass it on.
Damian Erasmus
UNM alumnus
