Liberty or Security -- It's Your Choice

I've grown weary listening to the apologists for the progressive movement, and to the advocates for moderation and compromise, and to the well-intentioned, but misguided, bleeding hearts who say that although government is over-reaching, still, we must have a safety net, so the over-reach can be forgiven in order to accomplish such compassionate goals.

 

The ideology pushed by the progressive movement is statism, a modern brand of socialism, presentationally prepared for American consumption. But no matter how you present a duck and call it a dove, or woodpecker, or a fat-beaked chicken, it still quacks and walks, and is, a duck.

 

Anti-capitalism is the game and the free market is the target. Do I believe that a group of progressive conspirators sit around plotting the over-throw of the country? Well, if you don't consider the progressives in Congress, working hand in hand with the progressives in the administration to legislate complete control of the economy, a group of conspirators, then, no -- I don't think there is a secret group of conspirators plotting the overthrow of America, but I do believe that progressives are working within the political realm to shackle capitalism and institute a statist government much stronger than anything we've experienced so far.

 

Healthcare reform, cap and trade, bailouts, expanded financial regulations, environmental proposals, all of these are attempts to change the structure of our government so that the free market is thoroughly managed by social engineers through central planning. 

 

This has been building for a long time, and there's nothing new about a statist American government, but now we're reaching a critical stage, a place we've never been before. The debt is mind-blowing, so large that no one can imagine the amount in terms which are familiar. Images of stacking it up to the moon, or such, are no longer effective, since no one sees chaos in the streets or anarchy caused by a collapsed government. Many people know it's unwise to owe this much money, but hardly anyone has a personal connection with national debt, since they don't get a bill for their part each month. Hell, somebody'll pay it, right?

 

But the debt, while nothing to ignore, is a symptomatic problem which results from the fundamental problem of statism funded by the government's ability to confiscate wealth from the American people. This confiscation of wealth, coupled with increasing pressures to regulate every movement of practically every industry, is slowly killing capitalism, if you can say capitalism even exists anymore. I personally believe that capitalism no longer exists and the mixed economy we've labored under is now a State marketism which can't be correctly called capitalism. This doesn't stop the progressive proponents of statism from blaming "capitalism" for the all unintended consequences generated from their meddling. Capitalism is the symbolic whipping boy which rationalizes progressive efforts.

 

Global environmental efforts are designed to ensure capitalism is not resurrected. If a global cartel can control industry through enforcable international agreements to curb production, we'll settle in a controlled and managed global econony which levels out all incomes. Nationalization ( or, perhaps, internationalization, globalization) of industry will be next, because entrepreneurs have no place in an globally managed economy. A global standard of living will normalize incomes slightly above a subsistence level for most of the world's population, with most necessities provided by government. This is the necessary outcome of unchallenged statism which is universalized under global rules and regulations. The ruling elite will have their power, wealth and privilege - then, below will be a supporting class of enforcers and sycophants -- while everyone else will be required to produce to meet demands.

 

This won't happen if people resist it and turn back progressive achievements. One reason why it's so important for American citizens to resist healthcare reform, tax and trade, global warming agreements, etc, is not to ignore the problems to which they are addressed, but to find free market solutions and resurrect the capitalist system under a limited government. As information flows freely, government mystique disappears and people see the incompetence and power-hunger for what it is, along with the corporate enmeshment and media bias that supports the progressive schemes. The current movement is a base attempt for power organizations to consolidate control and weaken the uncontrollable effects of a free market, and the unpredictable creations of entrepreneurs and producers.

 

The progressive political class goes by the formula of politics over economy, but economic laws aren't amenable to political social engineering and central planning. Economics laws don't bend to the political will, and we are suffering the consequences of this reality. Progressives believe if a cartel of nations all apply the same willpower to create a manageable world where enlightened ideas of fairness and equality and stewardship can bring about egalitarianism and politically correct communities, then the uncertainies of capitalism will be alleviated so that steady progress will replace risk. Security is established for the price of freedom, but it's a bargain for those who aren't equipped for risk and uncertainty.

 

Rules and regulations for "society" may violate the individual rights of some individuals, but community and security are higher values in the progressive world, and once a reasonable consensus is formed, the "greater good" is established as the new form of fairness. Once people realize this is the progressive agenda, sides will form with those who fit the collectivist mold on one side and individualists on the other. We are witnessing this ongoing formation presently as sides are chosen and divisions are deepened. Moderates operate in the middle attempting to find a peaceful compromise, but we've gone too far for compromise. It's time to choose liberty or security. Some say liberty is an illusion, while others say security is an illusion -- can we have both? In reality we can be as secure as possible while maintaining liberty as the highest value, or we can be as free as possible while maintaining security as the highest value -- this seems to be choice. The problem with the second choice is that the more security we seek, the less freedom we have.