Monday, June 23, 2008

Siren of Socialism

No matter where one looks, the free market is under assault. Sadly, many Americans believe more government is the answer. Health Care, banking and of course the oil industry are under constant attack by politicians whose own policies have caused many of the problems in the first place.

Even some conservatives are going along with this Marxist Maelstrom even forgetting one of Ronald Reagan’s greatest maxims. Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem. Not only is the Republican Party at a crossroads, but the entire conservative movement also seems to be in a quandary. This election is a choice between full-blown Marxism a.k.a. Obamania and McCain’s Marxism-lite.

Yeah, people profess belief in limited government, but since it’s grown so large, many are now receiving some form of benefit from this insidious institution. Many suffer from DEMHO (Don’t End My Hand Outs). So, in order to not have their pet programs cut, they won’t advocate cutting anyone else’s.

Unless, it happens to be bad food. Apparently, there’s a culinary disparity at the nation’s capitol particularly the US Senate. What’s wrong with the world’s most exclusive dining hall? Simply put, the government runs it. Desperate, senators are considering doing the nasty P-word: privatization.

Senator Feinstein (D-CA), senate bigwig and liberal extraordinaire, said she had no choice. She admitted, “It’s catering. Candidly, I don't think the taxpayers should be subsidizing something that doesn’t need to be. There are parts of government that can be run like a business and should be run like businesses.”

It has to be bad when even Feinstein wants privatization.

Senators needn’t go far to find a successful example. The House privatized its cafeterias in the 1980s, and since 2003 they’ve profited about $1.2 million. So, while the Senate side languishes in socialistic squalor, the House has better food, more choice and the evil corporation providing service even returns money.

It should be a no-brainer that privatization works. (Imagine what it could do for Social Security.) This Capitol contrast couldn’t be a better example. Still, politicians like Obama and Hillary want to nationalize health care and eventually everything else as well.

Instead, Obama and/or Hillary should fix the Senate’s food fiasco before tackling an industry that’s 11% of the US economy. Accepting no private enterprise, which would be just a free market cope out, they could demonstrate that they can make socialized food if not cheaper at least tasty.

However, while the Senate’s food woes get widely reported, most people are unaware that the government attempted once to operate a brothel. Because of back taxes, the IRS in 1990 seized America’s only legal house of ill repute, Nevada’s infamous Mustang Ranch, and actually failed to keep it afloat. The government padlocked it and put it up for sale. Too bad Bill Clinton wasn’t president yet. He could have literally used his head to make it a successful endeavor.

If someone can’t even profit with prostitution, then he obviously doesn’t have a brain for business. When government ran this brothel, every 30-minute encounter was probably 30 seconds of sex received only after 29 and half minutes of paperwork!

Then, there’s socialist darling Fidel Castro who’s ruled Cuba for over 50 years and has amassed (stole) a fortune of nearly $1 billion. What would have been the difference had Cuba been a monarchy instead?

While most Cubans live in poverty, getting one chicken per month, Hollywood actors jetted in frequently to shmooze and smoke cigars with Fearless Fidel. Now that King Castro is having health problems, his brother has gotten the reigns of power. Does anyone remember an election happening there? Seems Cubans keep socialism all in the family.

Socialists have an inner power circle that gets most of the wealth. Chances are if a supporter is unaware of this fact, he’s not in it, and he’s what they call a “useful idiot.” In reality, the only difference between socialism and a monarchy is that socialism has a better marketing strategy. They supposedly feel the people’s pain.

The socialist creed is “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” This siren slogan has duped many to believe that socialism will produce an economic nirvana where happy people have happy jobs and are just happy at what all they have and can buy. In actuality, nowhere has this myth ever been achieved.

But, the Russians had 70 years to make it work. What socialism created was an economy with an unprecedented savings rate. It was just too difficult for Russians to rid themselves of their rubles. Standing hours in line to buy toilet paper can do that. As a result, Russians created a phrase that epitomizes socialism in reality, “We pretend to work, and the government pretends to pay us.”