Capitalism v Communism

In having some discussions with people over the last few days it has blossomed in my mind the idea that many of those who so vehemently lambast capitalism have no understanding what capitalism actually is. As a result they attack and attack using examples and historical incidents as justification for ending capitalism when those examples are no such justification. So I feel like I have to write this article to clarify that point, to help those who are floundering with those conversations gain some understanding of what my belief is in capitalism. Further it will help those who attack it understand why I refuse to accept the idea that some form of communism/socialism/fascism because it is not only immoral, but is also far worse for any people who aspire to live free.

The Death of Personal Responsibility Revisited

The other day on the open mic thread I posted an article that was a pure emotional appeal from the Huffington Post. The story focused on an unemployed woman who sadly had to tell her child that Santa was cutting back a little bit this year. The article was a blatant play on emotion in order to make a case for the extension of yet more unemployment benefits in our increasingly government dependent society. I was roundly criticized by some folks for the “guesses” that I threw out there for the subject of the article. I can understand that criticism. However, I made it clear these were my guesses, not facts. While I may be wrong on this particular woman’s story (and I may be 100% right, for the record), I think I put forth a fairly common set of circumstances as a reasonable possibility. I will discuss those circumstances more here. Sadly, some of you completely missed the point of what I was saying about the emotional ploys used. Believe what you want about that particular woman, the point was that the left leaning media was doing exactly what they always do, relying on emotion and pity to make a case for political action.

Why We are Failing Miserably to Fix America

I had been planning to do this article last week, but simply didn’t find the time to do it the way that I wanted to do it, so it got pushed to tonight. I have found myself increasingly frustrated as I watch the goings on in Washington DC. It isn’t simply because the Dems are in charge and I don’t like what they are doing, although that certainly does play into my frustrations. The GOP is every bit as bad at getting us back to where we need to be. I found that the frustration I was feeling was because what I feel is breaking the back of the American economy is the progressive movement’s continued moves to increase the size and scope of government. The bottom line, no matter what it is that you believe politically, is that we simply cannot afford to do all the things that we are attempting to do. Health care, welfare, extended unemployment benefits, more regulations on top of the regulations that were already not being enforced, two wars that we should no longer be in, stimulus, and pork, pork, and more pork. Our federal government has gotten to the point where they are spending money like Britney Spears. And there doesn’t seem to be a psychotic father to step in and take over control of the finances.

Charity and Sacrifice in a Free Society

With no time to write this evening I offer instead an article I read a while ago on the American Thinker website. We often talk of how the poor suffer in this country. And we obviously differ in our approaches as to how to deal with this situation. Those on the left tend to believe that it is government’s duty to prop up the weakest among us. Those on the right tend to believe in Charity. Black Flag believes government shouldn’t exist and that charity would suffice to solve the problem should the government no longer be in the way. While I don’t share BF’s desire to see zero government, I do share his belief that charity can take care of the issues that plague our poor. There is no need to for a government handout program, which is what welfare has become. I share the article and invite discussion around it because I believe that the article succinctly lays out the consequence of the altruism that today’s politicians bring to bear on the American public.

Not the Country I Grew Up In….

I was again going through the news tonight, reading different stuff from all kinds of stuff, mostly further researching for the upcoming series on health care. I ran across this video of Chris Matthews on MSNBC. It seems that his segment focused on the idea that the people who are against the health care reform offered by Obama are doing so because they are racists. You all know how much I hate that term being thrown around these days. He was interviewing a woman from the Atlanta Journal Constitution (a true biased rag of a paper). And she made a comment that just completely threw me for a loop. First because her conclusion is so faulty and unsubstantiated, and second because I think that the left may possibly be completely misunderstanding the position of the average American today.

March Towards Socialism Series Finale…

Ah… so we have marched through history gaining a better understanding of where the moves towards socialism/fascism began and grew. Now we move on to the last couple of years, with the end of the Bush Presidency and the beginning of the Obama administration. I must again say that I know there are a lot of things that I am not touching on here. I can’t write a full history of the US. I just write what comes to my mind. I think about things and go and research them. So in this final section we will touch on a few really big mistakes of George W. Bush, but primarily focus on the Obama administration and what they have done and plan to do, and why this is bad for our country.

The March Towards Socialism Part 5

Really? I have found the ability to write enough on this subject to warrant 5 parts? As a matter of fact I have. And you know why? Because this march was not started recently. It has been a long and slow march. But we are in the home stretch of this series, which hopefully is not the home stretch for the country as well. Tonight we will handle the run-up to President Obama. He will certainly warrant his own post as that is the evil of socialism/fascism that we can confront. The rest of these folks aren’t in power any longer, so we can’t do much but look at what they did to help the cause along. It is not that I want to live in the past. It is only that I wanted, with this series, to provide some idea of the scope of how long this build-up has been going on, so that you will understand how we got here and how difficult it will be to change course. I hope that there are those among you noticing that a certain thing is missing from this march to socialism series…

No He Can’t

I had this forwarded to me in an email recently. I read it and wondered to myself immediately if it was real. I have a mind to be skeptical of whatever it is that I read and I immediately assumed that this was probably written by a white Republican trying to make a point. So I researched a bit and found that everyone from Lew Rockwell to other WordPress sites have reprinted it. Once I found it to be verified, I decided that I was going to share it with my readers because this lady says it so succinctly and certainly better than I could have done if I had sat down and written a letter like this.