Bernie Sanders and many of the Democrats are clearly Socialist at their core and express a disdain for Capitalism, but enjoy the benefits thereof.  Many of the millennials are buying that rhetoric as are a significant number of those in academia.  The gradual erosion of our system of economics and system of government is alarming and raises red flags that every Freedom Loving American should be concerned about.  Are we at the tipping point in America?  Are we nearing the collapse of our system of economics and politics?  We are nearer to that condition than many believe or are willing to acknowledge.

I have seen polls that indicate that many of the millennials prefer the idea of socialism to free-market capitalism.  It is not just those educated in liberal universities or those uneducated and engaged in the pursuit of entitlements that lean toward socialism, it is widespread.  Dr. Walter Williams has advanced the theory that this is due to the persistent and consistent indoctrination from kindergarten through college.  Tragically, most of the teachers promoting socialism are terribly uninformed or misinformed as to what free market capitalism really is.  They seem to be oblivious to the historic failures of socialism everywhere it has been tried and the success of free-market capitalism where allowed to function fully and freely.

In nations where there is the peaceful and voluntary exchange, people prosper and it is vastly superior morally to any other economic system known to man.  Private Property was considered sacred to our Founding Fathers and the Framers of our American Constitution.  Each of us owns himself or herself in a very real sense.  As a Christian, I believe that God owns the world and all that is in it including his creation – MAN, but he has given us the inalienable right to self-determination or OWNERSHIP of ourselves.  Any crime against our person is immoral as well as illegal and that would include Congress confiscating the rightful earnings of one American to give to another.  That is why James Madison said, “I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”   Thomas Jefferson argued, “To take from one, because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much, in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired of it.”  Upwards of three-quarters (75%) of the federal budget can rightly be described as Congress taking the rightful earnings of one American to give to another.  Thereby enslaving the one being taken from and forcing them to serve the one to whom the money is given.  That is immoral, unconstitutional, and should be illegal.  That is the beginnings of Socialism and a violation of Free Market Capitalism.

The danger posed for Free Market Capitalism is not in its failure but success.  It has been through Free Market Capitalism that we have made significant advancements in dealing with or eliminating such things as disease, pestilence, hunger, and gross poverty.  We claim to want to eliminate those things and yet the envy, covetousness, and greed of individuals who look at those who have succeeded poses a danger for Free Market Capitalism.  I like the analogy used by Dr. Walter Williams in his discourse on Capitalism. He suggested that we compare capitalism and socialism by using a series of questions.

In which areas of our lives do we find the greatest satisfaction, and in which do we find the greatest dissatisfaction?  Think about that for a minute.  How many times do you hear people complain about computer stores, clothing stores, supermarkets, or hardware stores?  Oh, they complain but not to the extent or express the degree of animosity toward these as they do toward boards of education, oil companies, motor vehicle departments, etc.  What are the real differences?  The motivation for the services provided by computer stores, clothing stores, supermarkets, or hardware stores is profit.  If you don’t like the way they do business you fire them and take your business elsewhere.  But with public education, motor vehicle departments, police, and sanitation services they are not motivated by profit and if you become dissatisfied with their service it is incredibly costly if not impossible for you to fire them.

In Socialist nations, the inherent brutality is impossible to overlook.  In the one-party socialist states such as the former USSR, Germany under the National Socialist German Worker’s Party and the People’s Republic of China there were at least 118 million citizens murdered.  There is no comparable brutality in any country that has Free Market Capitalism as its economic system where there is the free and voluntary exchange of goods and services.  Dr. Thomas Sowell has rightly said, “Socialism sounds great.  It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great.  It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster.”

In Socialism or Communism, everything belongs to the state and the state decides what you should keep of what you have earned or produced.  It, theoretically, makes the playing field level but destroys motivation.  If you were in a college classroom and the professor decided to adopt a grading system based on socialism you would love it if you were unmotivated and underperforming but hate it if you were an achiever and produced good grades.  In that system, everyone would receive a “C” to make it equal and even for everyone.  The result of that would be no one would study and work because there is no motivation to do so.  In economics, if the government takes what you earn and equally distributes it to those who do not work, what would be the result?  Everyone would stop working and wait for a handout.  The result of that would be forced labor where the government mandated that you work and then Big Brother would redistribute your wealth.  That is one of the fallacies of Socialism.  In Free Market Capitalism, if one is willing to work, and risk, they can succeed.  All will not but the opportunity is there and it is your inalienable right to expect to keep what you have earned or produced.  No person or government has the right to take from one to give to another.  True benevolence and charity would be for a person to choose to willingly give to another not have their possessions confiscated and redistributed.

Bernie Sanders and in many ways the rest of the Democrats want to move us to that system of economics and relegate our Republic to a system of socialism.  If that is not what you want for America then it is incumbent upon you to go to the polls in November and VOTE.  However, it is not enough to vote you must vote in such a manner as to defeat the Leftist and ensure that America can continue to allow every citizen the right to “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”  Never allow anyone to steal your Rights or your Liberty. 

God bless America and God bless each of you!