Posted by
Boomer911 on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 4:00:00 PM
Back in 1927, an American socialist named Norman Thomas, who ran for President on the Socialist Party ticket six (6) different times, stated, "The American people would never vote for socialism but under the name "liberalism" the American people will adopt every fragment of the socialist program." And with this one statement, we see the link from todays Democratic party to the early leftist movements in this country. Its a pretty fascinating comment to say the least. Stop and think for a second how many friends or acquaintances you have or how many people you hear and see on television and radio, proudly proclaiming their liberalism and then read the above quote again. Liberalism, or being "progressive", is worn like a badge of honor today. But one has to wonder how many of them know the history of their ideology? Do they have any idea that the views they hold and the direction they are taking this country would make Marx or Stalin happy to know the "revolution" still moves forward even today? Nikita Kruschev, a premier of the former Soviet Union, once said "We cannot expect the Americans to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving Americans small doses of Socialism, until they suddenly awake to find they have Communism." And with this quote, we see the ultimate goal of the left....Communism. Ask yourself again, how many of those people who proudly proclaim themselves as liberals realize what they are endorsing? My guess would be very few. We have to ask ourselves how we have come to the brink of adopting socialism and all its precepts into our political system without so much as batting an eye? Why can't they see the downfalls of such a system and lessons so horribly learned from history? Perhaps 19th century historian Alexis de Tocqueville said it best when he stated, "Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude."
In order to understand where we are going as a nation, we need to understand from where it is we came. I cannot stress the importance of understanding our founding documents and the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Without knowing what our system of government was designed to do and the roles of each of the branches of government, how can we know when this government has become to powerful and exceeded its constitutional authority? We need to understand capitalism, the free market, and basic economic principles, to understand what drives our nations prosperity, allowing its citizens the chance at the "pursuit of happiness" mentioned in our Declaration of Independence. Having said all of that, I cannot make this blog a lesson in history as it would take up too much of my time without allowing me to discuss issues. However, there will be times I will cite history and ask the reader to do their own research to further understand the issue. Plus, it is a great check on the facts and ideas I will put forth and I encourage all questions.