Dear Friends,
It seems to me, as we progress more and more to socialism by means of the welfare state, we are sinking into a state of total war, everyman versus everyone else, where all vie against all. This is the opposite of the claimed goal of socialism but is the inevitable result of that pernicious notion. Even in a state of nature where, as Hobbs said, “life is brutish and short,” there is a strong incentive to rally together against the forces that threaten us, but in a state of total government that incentive is reversed, and is changed to a disincentive. While to the committed socialist this concept, that socialism pulls us apart, is an anathema, it is empirically provable. As we move from liberty to a total state this truism becomes more and more apparent. So, unless we want to live in a perpetual state of war, every man enemy to everyone else, we must change the direction we are traveling.
The welfare state is merely a means to progress us to a socialist state, where the distribution of the goods of society are made by political favor, instead of merit. As we progress to a total state and political favor becomes the primary means of deciding who gets what, the incentive ceases to be to work hard to get ahead, but to game the system. This is because the products of our labor will be taken, and redistributed to the politically favored, so a rational maximizer will logically eschew work and instead seek political favor, resulting in an ever shrinking economy. This should be obvious to anyone with their eyes open. The incentive under the total state is to gain political favor, as it is the only means to get ahead, and make no mistake, the more draconian the communist state the less equal people become, and the more we are torn apart.
Even a cursory look at historic examples of socialism show that equality is nonexistent under a socialist government. Those who don’t have political favor are lucky if they even get subsistence while those with political favor live like kings. Every example of a communist/socialist state show this to be true. Those in the party are not held to any standard at all. Socialism always results in a cleptocracy where those in the party steal from everyone else. Communist China is a perfect example. They have forsworn the communist means of production for the capitalist, which has resulted in huge wealth for party members by outright stealing, taking bribes, and other corrupt practices. They are almost never held to the law or morality, because the nature of socialism and socialist policies make those with political favor above the law. This shows the societal divisions that socialism begets.
It is clear that as we progress through the welfare state to socialism, our leaders are held to the Constitution and law, less and less. Their political favor gets them a get out of jail free card as well as riches far in access of what they have earned. That is why politicians become so wealthy while in office. They don’t produce, they steal the production of their constituents and give a pittance back, claiming they are liberal and charitable, when the exact opposite is true. If a thief stuck a gun in your face and took all your money, then gave you back a twenty and said, “get yourself a nice meal.” Would you call that crook liberal or charitable? If the thief was above the law, which would you rather be.. the crook or the victim?
Harry Truman said, “Anyone who gets rich in politics is a God damned crook.” Take the example of Senator Bernie Sanders. The man has never worked a day in his life. He was on welfare until he became the mayor of Burlington. Since then his brand of socialism has made him a millionaire many times over. Everything he has got was by political favor. When he was elected to the House, the Banking scandal broke. Sanders claimed the corrupt names should be withheld from the people, but as it turned out… Bernie had bounced checks the moment he got into office! You or I would be prosecuted for check fraud. Meanwhile he has made it harder and harder to make a living by honesty and hard work. This example shows, political favor allows those who have it to skirt the law, and is at least as good a means to wealth as being an entrepreneur, especially for the lazy.
The example of North Korea shows us how far we will be torn apart by socialism. In that hell hole parents are at war even with their own children. There are reports of parents eating their own children because hunger is so rampant. The gulags in North Korea are known as the most terrible places on the planet, where children will turn in their parents, for a slice of stale bread. During Stalin’s famine in the Ukraine, the teachers told the students to report their parents if they were hording food. An innocent little boy raised his hand and said his parents had a few potatoes in the floor boards. The police went to the home and indeed found several potatoes in the floor. The parents were arrested and executed as examples. The boy was called a hero and a statue was erected in his honor in Kiev. The boy starved to death the following year.
As I have said many times in these articles, when observation comes into conflict with theory, theory must give weigh. History in unambiguous about the fact that socialism creates a state of total war between people. We are pitted against each other in a race for political favor, else we run the risk of starving to death, or worse. The brutish and short life in a state of nature makes us band together, to get our needs met, while capitalism rewards collaboration, hard work and equality, creating conditions conducive to brotherly love, and the inhumane nature of a socialist government rends us apart in a never ending race to get our needs met in an ever shrinking economy, under a system where the party is oligarchy, and everyone else is a slave. I count this as one of the most evil things about the diabolical system called socialism.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
