Dakota Beacon

It is astounding… unbelievable… but so true... that people who vote Democrat view Socialism as government philanthropy. Philanthropy... the desire to promote the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to good causes. This is why I suggest to all conservatives that most Democrats are not “bad people”… they simply want to help those in need.

Grassroots movements in America are seeking to establish socialism through democratic activism. Some of these movements even claim that a Christian is obligated to support socialist economies or else he or she does not truly follow Christ's command to “love your neighbor as yourself”. No wonder that so many Americans are attracted to this ideology!

“Helping those in need” today includes some of the following:

• college debt forgiveness
• free college tuition
• government provided free health care
• government guarantees of food and shelter
• government guaranteed “universal basic income”, UBI

“Universal basic income” is a government-guaranteed payment that each citizen receives, whether they work or not. It is also called a citizen’s income, guaranteed minimum income, or basic income. Some proponents of UBI would pay only those below the poverty line (annually, $10,830 for singles, $22,050 for a family of four). The wealthy, corporations, or a combination of both would provide the necessary tax revenue.

But before deciding if one is a socialist, it is important to first understand “real socialism.”

The Plymouth Colony

William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth Colony (surveyed and named by Captain John Smith) in today's Massachusetts, said the pilgrims thought “the taking away of property, and bringing in community into a commonwealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.” It took several painful years for the pilgrims to learn they were not so wise. By the spring of 1621, the Plymouth colonists were in danger of starving to death.

Despite what you may have been told in grade school, it wasn't harsh weather or ignorance about farming that led to these dire circumstances. Instead, it was the pilgrims' policy of sharing communal plots of land that nearly led to their ruin. People initially were not allowed to own their own land or grow their own food.

From Bradford's journal, we know that:

• the strongest young men complained about spending their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense (or compensation)
• wives viewed forced work for other husbands and families as a “kind of slavery”
• even the older residents who couldn't work (and thus had more to eat than they otherwise would have) thought it some indignity and disrespect unto them
• people were mad because no matter how hard they worked, their situation in life would not improve
• they resented neighbors who barely worked but still received the same rations as they did

These bitter colonists may have thought “I'm done with back-breaking work in the fields. Instead, I'll do just the bare minimum like everybody else.”

Bradford responded to the crisis by assigning each family its own parcel of land and letting them keep the food they produced. He recalled “This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious,  so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.” The Plymouth Colony's experiment with socialism was over.

Socialism's Grand Promise

The historically implemented mechanisms of socialism are:

• government ownership of the economy
• the abolishment of private property

A May 2019 poll revealed that one third of people associate socialism with health care, housing, jobs, and ending poverty. One fifth had no clue what socialism is. Only one in five could name the two mechanisms listed above by which socialism is supposed to achieve its grand promises.

Under socialism, society would produce goods by the command of government-owned industries. As political scientist Frances Fox Piven notes: “The academic debates about socialism's “meaning” are huge and arcane (understood by few) and rife with disagreements, but what all definitions have in common is the elimination of the market or its strict containment.” Such regimes are called “command economies, planned economies, or centrally planned economies.

Under socialism, administrators, bureaucrats (accountants, economists and statisticians) would direct factories, farms, and businesses (or what are commonly grouped under the term “means of production”) to produce enough of the right kind of goods and services that people desire, or at the very least, need.

Summary

So “college debt forgiveness”, “free college tuition”, and any other “special interest free stuff” are not socialism. They are merely promises of unaffordable programs for which politicians seek votes from those who do not understand that America is almost 30 Trillion in debt already and must cut current spending on special interest constituencies, not increase such spending. And increasing taxes would place us at a huge competitive disadvantage with our trading partners at a time when we, only a couple years ago, shed that disadvantage and since have began to reap the rewards in terms of the lowest unemployment in over half a century for all of our people.

But “government provided free health care” is real socialism. The March 2010 “Affordable Care Act” was an attempt, by socialists within the Democrat Party, to “get their foot in the door” by partially nationalizing one sixth of our economy, the healthcare sector. There is no doubt that its proponents knew that if it failed in any way (as surely it would) they could say they did not go far enough and, as long as they retained the Presidency, they could replace it with single payer government controlled health care, a life long dream of socialists. Government guaranteed food, shelter, and “universal basic income” would come next… but only with government confiscation of food production, private housing, and individual wealth, including property.

No matter how unsuccessful government provided health care, food, shelter, and universal basic income would be, it would lead to further government takeover of other “means of production” until the government owned everything… the dream of socialists worldwide.

Workers of the World Unite!

So when you hear this battle cry of Socialism, know that we are tragically close to becoming the next Venezuela. Just as many Americans are at this very moment considering leaving many Democrat-ruled American inner cities, Americans of means will likewise leave our country if it chooses to join the USSR, Venezuela, and other socialist failed states by abandoning capitalism and our constitution, the economic system and associated document that have proven over the last two and a half centuries to be the most beneficial to the greatest number of people in history.

If you are a Democrat...

If you are, and have always been, a Democrat… you need to reform your party to return to “representing the little guy”, quit making “victims” out of productive citizens, and remove the Socialists and Communists within. Just as the TEA Party patriots have and continue to reform the Republican Party by replacing the selfish with the selfless. Both parties have a long way to go… so get involved… your city, state, and country is at stake.

And please… help those in need with your own time and money, not that of other taxpayers. Give other taxpayers the dignity of giving of their own money to the needy without the government demanding it from them. The wealthy provide jobs AND most become philanthropists in their later years, helping billions of people throughout the world. Don't be envious and jealous of successful Americans.

LOVE = WORK + COURAGE