How did the United States, a country founded on the principle of individual freedom and having achieved great wealth and world influence, find itself in its present financial and societal predicament? Until the bulk of the American citizenry understands the why, there is no hope of reversing the nation's headlong plunge into the abyss.
The history of mankind is replete with the rise and fall of major civilizations. The downfall of these societies inevitably stemmed from a prolonged period without adversity, during which time internal strife developed out of political intrigue and avarice on the part of the ruling classes. In due course these empires were easily conquered or dominated by others.
This history was well known to the founders of the United States. The overall concept of government being answerable to an informed and involved citizenry was their effort to avoid such an outcome. Unfortunately, today's destructive political/economic philosophies such as Marxism and socialism, manipulated by the self-absorbed to achieve political power and an uninvolved and ill-educated citizenry, were factors the founding fathers could not have foreseen.
The end-product of Marxist thought is eerily similar to the reality of monarchies and oligarchies-- the domination of a state by a select class or individual. Today's progressives or socialists are no different than those throughout the history of the human race who believed they were pre-ordained to rule the masses. As modern democratic societies will not accept the concept of an authoritarian dictator or monarch, a powerful central government, with its trappings of legitimacy, serves as a substitute.
In order for this strategy to succeed, the public must be manipulated into accepting the premise that only government -- and not the individual -- can provide economic and personal security. This cannot be accomplished in a country such as the United States in an era of adversity but rather one of peace and prosperity.
The last period of true national hardship was the 1930s and the Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt, despite his best effort, was only able to achieve the embryonic beginnings of an all-encompassing federal government. Regardless of the nation's dire circumstance, the people were not conditioned to willingly accept the broad strokes of change that FDR proposed.
However, in the intervening seventy-three years, as the United States became the most powerful economic and military force the world has ever seen, there has been an inexorable and near irreversible march to government domination of the citizenry. Parallel to this track has been the rise of the American Left.
The absence of true national adversity over these years allowed the adherents of Marxist and socialist philosophies to recruit among the college age and middle class by citing the so-called inequities of American society and the need to re-create the country. They further fanned the egos of these useful idiots by convincing them of their supposed superiority to the unwashed masses.
However, even with some success in recruitment, a strategy was needed to enable a faction that ultimately represented less than 20% of the citizenry to achieve their end game with a people overwhelmingly against the concept of a powerful central government, and within the framework of a written Constitution.
Using the backdrop of overwhelming prosperity, the Left seized upon the concept of "fairness" to promote their agenda and engender guilt among the populace. This "fairness" tactic was further reinforced by the incessant promotion that the United States, as a civilization, was responsible for all manner of evils throughout its history. In order to implement this strategy, it was necessary to gradually infiltrate and dominate the education, media and entertainment complex as a means of societal indoctrination.
The underlying tenet pushed by the left was: there is so much wealth within the country that there was nothing it could not provide. Further, to make up for past sins guaranteeing equal outcomes was the least that could be done. The simplistic argument became: If the United States can accomplish (fill in the blank) then surely it can afford to (fill in the blank).
As a result, much of the citizenry quietly accepted the argument and simply dropped out of active participation in government. They assumed the nation was in reasonably good hands with the two political parties whose motives or agenda were never questioned. Most did not realize that by the mid 1980's, the Left had a stranglehold on the Democratic Party, and far too many in the Republican Party were unable or unwilling to fully warn the populace of the future consequences of an all-powerful central government. They were content to slow down the march to socialism -- and that only when they were in power.
This march was not at gunpoint, but rather by the destruction of the economy and self-determination through massive spending programs which were unsustainable but became woven into the fabric of society.
In the 2008 and unfortunately again in the 2012 election cycle, the Left, with its ideal stealth candidate for President, actualized the culmination of their grand strategy. The nation now has the most radical government in its history. The victors are unabashedly brazen in their triumph. While still assuming that the general public is asleep, they do not hesitate to openly advocate and implement policies not wanted by the electorate. Among them: so-called green energy, health care restructuring, amnesty for illegal aliens, gun control, gay marriage and expanded welfare and social spending. The Left does so, not as a benefit for the country or its people, but to enhance and make permanent government power, regardless of the long term consequences to the nation.
However, to understand the true motivation of the American Left, one need only observe how they fawn over the rulers of countries controlled by Marxist governments -- such as the recently deceased Hugo Chavez. The diminishing standard of living, the loss of liberty, and the bleak future for the peoples of these nations are ignored while the power accumulated by the head of state is celebrated. It is that acquisition of power which motivates the self-identified "Progressives," not the welfare of the general public, as they so loudly proclaim.
Another false assertion is that the Left in the United States is simply trying to copy European socialism. However the grand experiment of Euro-socialism in many countries in Europe, now proven to be an egregious failure, stemmed from the unimaginable devastation of World War II. The motivation of the European political class was to promote the general welfare of the population, not for self-aggrandizement. The failure of their brand of socialism was due to a determination to never repeat the circumstances which brought about two World Wars in the twentieth century.
In the United States, there has never been a similar devastating factor to justify a socialist state and a powerful central government. What is happening now is purely driven by arrogance and manipulation. As such, there is the potential to reverse the process if the American people begin to understand what has happened and why. But only if they are informed and led by a fully revamped, conservative Republican Party that has purged itself of its current establishment.
By Steve McCann
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