The Psychotic Scrivener

French poet Charles Baudelaire published a short story in 1864 titled, “The Generous Gambler”. In this story Baudelaire wrote: “My dear brothers, never forget, when you hear the progress of enlightenment vaunted, that the devil’s best trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist!”

This is a disturbing quote. It makes me think about what is happening to our country and our freedom right now. The government, The President, and his administration are convincing Americans they are on our side and their agenda is to help and protect us. While many American citizens are hanging on to these words and trusting in them, the reality is, I believe, they have a different agenda. I can just envision the devil in his glory and beside himself with excitement. His “men” (POTUS and Congress) are enjoying a great big game of chess and are closing in. Do you really want to be the side that loses? Socialism = Checkmate. Game over.

Socialism, according to the dictionary, is a theory or system of social organization that advocates the vesting of the ownership and control of the means of production and distribution, of capital, land, etc., in the community as a whole. It’s the stage following capitalism in the transition of a society to communism, characterized by the imperfect implementation of collectivist principles.

Socialism demands that all workers pull together for the common good, insuring everyone is compensated no matter how much or how little work is applied to their job. In other words, under a socialist system, everyone works for wealth that is, in turn, distributed to everyone. America should not travel down the road to socialism. Do some research on what socialism did to other countries throughout history. The similarities to what is going on in our country now are downright scary.

The bottom line… socialism is NOT the answer. It doesn’t work on a large scale. One person will become very powerful, in total command, and this will push the nation into a dictatorship. This has happened in several countries. For example: Cuba, Russia, some South American countries, and several Eastern European countries too.

Believe me, I welcome social and economic change for the better. Our country desperately needs this to happen, but to what extent? And what kind of principles should we change or let go of? I vote for less involvement in our private lives and businesses by the government. Now don’t get me wrong, I do agree that the government does need to provide aid where it is needed, making sure there are environmental controls, setting guidelines for safety, things like this. But if you ask me, it has its sticky little fingers and “Big Brother” eyes invading too much of the things where its nose doesn’t belong. Government is crippling our country, making many people too dependent on it to survive on their own. In time this will destroy America, along with our freedom and our rights.

I came across an interesting story on socialism posted by Dan Mitchell about an economics professor. His class felt that socialism worked, so the professor suggested they try a little experiment. For the 1st test, everyone’s grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so nobody would get an A and nobody would fail.

After the test, grades were averaged and everyone got a B. Those who studied really hard were troubled and the students who didn’t study that much were pleased. When the next test came, the students who didn’t study a lot had studied even less and the ones that studied hard decided they wanted to take a break, so they only studied a little.

The average grade on the 2nd test was a D. So there weren’t many happy campers. Worse yet, the average grade of the 3rd test was an F! The scores never increased with the next several tests and the students were complaining, blaming and name-calling. There were bad feelings all around and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.

All of the students failed the class. The professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when there is great reward, there is more effort to succeed. But when the reward is taken away, no one will try or want to succeed. It’s as simple as that.

The moral of this:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they don’t have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.

Margaret Thatcher makes it short and sweet:
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”

Other countries already know this, so why doesn’t the majority of Americans? Open your ears and eyes, people! We’re in a possible sudden death position in the game and Americans need to make a critical move… RIGHT NOW!