Rightwords... Prudent Conservatism

Where Does It Stop?

Today, we have a Republic that has stood the test of time. But a number of citizens are not satisfied with our government, and are supporting the ideas of what they call Democratic Socialism. It does not seem to matter that within our form of Republicanism, we are currently devoting each year about 70% of our Gross National Product to welfare ("Entitlements"), or as it should be known---charity.

No, in the end they want the entire means of production, pricing, all property, wages or other income, the media, and all of the financial institutions to be controlled by the government, and the profits devoted to the citizens. This is what Socialism demands, sooner or later. The Military-Industrial Complex would also be owned and controlled by the government, as, of course, so would the military itself, adding the corporations and thousands of smaller companies that support military products to the long list of private industry companies they would own and control.

Among the many questions this form of socialism raises, perhaps the most telling is: who would run the government? To answer this, first we must find out exactly how the nation would transition from a Republic to a form of Socialism of any kind. We do have a tripartite organization of a Judiciary, Legislature and Administration (which is headed by an  elected President). Any change to the Law of the Land (stated in abbreviated form), is supposed to be passed by the National Legislature and approved by three-fourths of the State Legislatures.

Since passage of such an extraordinary act as conversion to a form of atheistic Socialism in 3/4th of all Legislatures in the US is inconceivable to most rational people, it is quite obvious that instituting even the mildest form of Socialism would in fact have to be accomplished by a forceful revolution--one that would tear this nation apart.

Leadership, then, would fall to the elite revolutionaries, hence some form of atheistic totalitarianism would quickly evolve, as we have observed elsewhere. The next Stalin or Mao will inevitably arise to take full charge.

On the other hand, our current Legislature might find a way to pass bills and have them signed into law that would implement such institutions as free education (either university or vocational), free healthcare for life, and more subsidized housing, subsidized utilities, as well as forms of make-work employment. This could only happen under an authoritative Socialist Democratic-controlled Congress and a Socialist for a President.

Realistically, especially with these new institutions added to the burden, the nation would be put in dire straits financially, since we are today so far in debt to other nations that we will very soon be able to pay from revenue only the entitlements currently in place, plus the interest on the debts we have. Further, we have unfunded liabilities of about $114 Trillion. Debts we would incur to afford these additions would most likely bankrupt the nation. The States are collectively far worse off, with a total indebtedness of some $200 Trillion.

From these considerations, it is easy to conclude that going in the direction of Democratic Socialism is truly the utmost folly.

But it doesn't stop there. The next step in this ruthless revolt is to repudiate the National Debt of $15 Trillion insofar as in-country debts are concerned, leaving only the $6 Trillion in international debt to pay off. Since this rogue government is taking over ownership of all means of production and finance, the debt is then owned as well, so they can write paid to it. The devastation to owners large and small  when their Treasury Notes are voided will be complete and final. This puts paid to the faith and trust of the US government throughout the world.

And then...and then the economy as a whole will react.  All sense of entrepreneurship will have been canceled out, perhaps in favor of production quotas, as the Socialist government attempts to resurrect the economy and grow the GNP. What the new government doesn't account for is that there are almost no New Socialist Men available to selflessly work hard for a small wage in the hope of future gains that never occur. The labor force will react by slow-rolling just about every job, since their stake in the outcome is nothing but more work.

 Mastering the vast array of products and services and coordinating their goals, even with a huge array of computers to help, will be overwhelming, and, of course, the software to aid management at this level hasn't been written, much less tested and proven in trials. Economic planning by hand will take over instead of the former capitalist system and its millions of small decisions and choices that add up to managing the economy, and the inefficiencies will soon overtake the benefits, such as they are. This initial period of chaos will probably last for some years, ten or more at least, until many of the wrinkles have been smoothed out, and the computers do a better job: that is, if they ever do. The GNP will suffer tremendous losses.

The seeds of counter-revolution would undoubtedly grow and flower into active opposition to this social catastrophe, which would force the government to open up some form of gulag system to eliminate the leadership of the opposition by apprehending them and stashing them away in some place like Alaska, emulating the late Soviet Union's tactics. For policing the nation, the FBI would become our version of the secret police. The labor force's slow rollers would also find incentive to avoid the gulag by working just hard enough. Wholesale slaughter of opposing groups could well be resorted to finally in order to preserve the government, again, emulating the Soviets and Maoists.

So, in the end we would have an elitist and socialist government, evolving towards a Communist dictatorship, a subservient military, a fractured economy, a gulag,  and the rest of us peons to get by the best we can.

# posted by Mannning @ 3:17 PM