A frog in a pot of hot water
Published Wed, Oct 22 2008 12:03 AM
Yep, that's me. And you.
In the Seattle Times yesterday, there was this lovely article. It seems that a “tax analyst” has come to the conclusion that Barack Obama's tax plan isn't “socialism”, it's just a bit of “traditional progressive taxation.” Apparently it can't be socialism because “We've had a progressive tax system for some time, and both Republicans and Democrats have bought into it.”
Yes, we've had a progressive tax system for some time.
Socialism involves state ownership of the means of economic production and state-directed sharing of the wealth. America's democratic capitalist system is neither socialist nor pure free market; rather, it mixes the two, and it has at least since the progressive income tax was introduced 95 years ago. Under it, the wealthy pay higher income tax rates than those who are less fortunate do. It's a form of sharing the wealth.
So, just because one of the principle ten measures that Marx and Engels identified as the ways to promote socialism in the Communist Manifesto has been a part of the American system of taxation for 95 years, it's not a socialist policy. Just because both Democrats and Republicans have bought into it it's not a socialist policy. Never mind that “Socialism involves … state-directed sharing of the wealth.” Never mind that “[the progressive income tax is] a form of sharing the wealth.” Why it can't be socialism.
That's a load of horse excrement. It's still a socialist policy, even if it doesn't meet the complete definition of Socialism. In any case, “state ownership of the means of economic production” is one of the defining features of communism, and the more extreme forms of socialism, but not all forms of socialism.
As for state ownership of the means of economic production — we're well on our way to that anyway. We've taken our financial system for a ride, regulating the Hell out of it. Profit and the profit motive are viewed with skepticism. “Windfall” profits, a euphemism for profits higher than some Congressman or regulator considers reasonable — based on gross amounts rather than a percentage of revenue in many cases are to be taxed and seized.
I think it's worth re-examining those ten measures that Marx and Engels said would generally be applicable to all advanced nations in the socialist communist revolution run by the proletariat to “wrest, by degree, all capital from the bourgeoisie, to centralise all instruments of production in the hands of the State, i.e., of the proletariat organised as the ruling class;” those “measures, therefore, which appear economically insufficient and untenable, but which, in the course of the movement, outstrip themselves, necessitate further inroads upon the old social order, and are unavoidable as a means of entirely revolutionising the mode of production.”
1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.
We're not quite there yet, but property rights are passing out of favor. In King County, we have the “Critical Areas Ordinances”, measures passed by mostly urban dwelling members of the county council which imposes draconian restrictions on land use in unincorporated, largely non-urban areas of the county. Fortunately key provisions of these ordinances were overturned by the Court of Appeals. Unfortunately, King County is appealing that decision to the State Supreme Court.
It's a short step from prohibiting you to take full advantage of the property you own to simply taking it from you. The federal Constitution prohibits that but don't count on that protection. The Supreme Court of the United States isn't exactly a friend of the fifth amendment's restriction on the taking of private property.
2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
I think our 95 year old system of taxation provides plenty of evidence on that front.
3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Is the water getting warm yet? Obama would bring back the “death tax”, or as it's more properly known the estate tax. We may not be seeing the abolition of all rights of inheritance just yet, but when an inheritance is taxed at fifty percent it seems to me that we're well on our way.
4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.
Nope, I don't think that we're seeing this one in action yet. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it. I wouldn't want to give anyone any ideas.
5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.
Can you say Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? These aren't exactly private enterprises, they're government sponsored entities. Do you recall this summer's financial “bail out” packages? How about the recent government purchases of ownership shares in private financial institutions?
Do you really think it's that large a step?
6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.
Have you heard of the “fairness doctrine”? Is that steam?
What about Amtrak? Another government sponsored entity? How about the TSA and their restrictions at airports and the infamous “no fly” lists? What about Sound Transit and other government run agencies responsible for mass transit?
7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.
Do you recall this spring when Maxine Waters threatened to nationalize the oil industry? What other industries does the government want to nationalize or shut down altogether?
As for the cultivation of waste lands and so forth, the government doesn't seem to see the need for that, since we're still producing food surpluses. But thanks to the EPA and a rather novel approach to the interpretation of the Constitution's “Commerce Clause”, Congress already regulates how farmers can use their land, how much of what type of crops they can grow. Congress can mandate quotas, and that seems to me to be close enough for this particular measure.
8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.
I just don't see this one happening, yet. Not until all of the available wealth has been “spread around”, to paraphrase a clean, articulate Presidential candidate. Then, when everyone is equally poor, it might become necessary. Anyway, Marx and Engels did say “These measures will, of course, be different in different countries.”
9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.
So, let's convert our food crops into alternative fuels for automobiles and industry why don't we? Let's eliminate the suburbs and “urban sprawl”.
OK, this one's a bit of a stretch. But then, much of our food supply is a manufacturing industry anymore. Cereal grains and other agricultural products are taken by the trainload to factories to produce breakfast cereals, pasta, cakes, cupcakes, beer, peanut butter and any number of other mass produced foodstuffs (which some even consider to be an evil in themselves). Agricultural products are also taken to chemical plants where they are broken down and converted to plastics for packaging, car parts and other manufactured products. Maybe it's not so much of a stretch after all, except that it was the free market that accomplished it rather than government.
Nationalize those industries, restrict and channel their output as some groups (C.S.P.I. for example) want to see done, and this measure can be read as taken.
10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children’s factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, &c, &c.
Marx and Engels saved their best for last. Government schools — the perfect place to indoctrinate the masses of the future. And that indoctrination is exactly what goes on there.
Our schools teach our children that self esteem matters more than academic achievement. Rather than teach mathematics and science with rigor we teach them to build a consensus — two plus two is four only if we all agree that it does, not because logic and rigor demonstrate that it is so. Our schools teach a distorted view of American History, downplaying the principles of our Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, downplaying the role of the Revolution in bringing Liberty to the world. Instead, they place an emphasis on the evils of some of the adherents of Western Civilization, of our depredations upon Native Americans and our national sin of Slavery.
The founders and the Constitution are the product of “bigoted white men.” The never proven allegations of Thomas Jefferson's affair with Sally Hemmings are of more import than the abhorrence with which men like John Adams viewed slavery. In the Seattle Public School district, children are taught that rather than a day to give thanks for the bounty that we enjoy, Thanksgiving should be a day of mourning. The Seattle Public School District still defines “cultural racism” as
“These aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible.”
In other words, what they held as policy before remains their policy, even though they removed the old web site pages with their racist definition of racism. They still teach that only white people can be racist.
Of course, public education isn't exactly free. We pay for it with our property taxes. We also pay for it with that “heavy progressive or graduated” federal income tax. The federal Department of Education is nowhere authorized in the United States Constitution, and yet here we see another item on the Marxist agenda implemented at the federal level, this one during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter.
That's right. Your federal tax dollars are going to indoctrinate your children into the idea that only white people can be racists, that Native Americans lived in harmony with nature before the intervention of the white man (despite the archaeological record that indicates the extinction of large animals as mankind moved south across the North and South American continents), by a school that leaves them poorly prepared to compete in the information and industrial age with their counterparts from other nations. They are left with such a poor understanding of logic, mathematics, science and civics that they are willing fodder for the centralization of governmental control over our lives, our pocketbooks, and even our pride of culture.
Is it any wonder that a “tax analyst” is unable to recognize socialist policies? Is it any wonder that the public has been lulled into thinking that we still live and work in a capitalist society with a free market? Socialism has been taking hold of our country since 1913, and even before. Slowly and gradually the water in this pot full of frogs has gotten hotter and hotter. We need to jump out now, before we're cooked. We need to start recognizing socialism and Marxism when we see it, and reject it before it's too late.
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Angel responded with:
 | all propoganda for BIG government and we know it Perri..great post ! |
ablur responded with:
 | Excellent analytical approach. Clear danger for open minds to see and recognize.
I continue to watch our educational system teach less and less. It costs us more and more and the results continue to plummet. We wouldn't accept this with any other item we purchase but we continue to take this beating every year.
Socialism and the uneducated masses are coming together. |