This is a comment I found on the 912 Military site. It was written by "Andrew" who gives an excellent opinion on Socialism. It is to the point and intelligent. I encourage all of you to read this detailed comment.

Socialism

Some would tell you that socialism is promoted in the Bible; I would argue that it is not. There is a vast difference between Socialism and charity. Those that can giving to those that need is far different than a group of self appointed academics taking from those that have worked hard for what they have and then giving it to those that choose to do nothing and look for handouts.

As a freshman in college I thought communism was a fairly decent idea, but the more I studied it the more realized how much it demoralized a society. Most idealists and academics who truly believe that socialism and communism are good forms of government look at history and think to themselves they would do a better job of running a socialist government than the Chinese or Soviets did. The academics who espouse these virtues have never really worked in the real world. They sit in their universities making $200,000 a year telling Americas youth about the evils of Capitalism. What bothers this writer is how someone living in a free capitalist society, will espouse the virtues of socialist societies that they have never really experienced first hand. In all honesty these academics may have been to socialist nations, but only for short visits, and then they never really saw how the subjects lived. Anyone visiting a country like China, North Korea or Cuba is given a tour of the best parts of that society; they never get to see it from the perspective of an average Chinese, North Korean or Cuban.

Discounting the unlimited power a government has over the people in a socialist society, and focusing on the economic problems all socialist and communist nation’s experience, it should be obvious to anyone how adverse this type of government is for the well being of a nation. In the name of making things “fair” for everyone, socialists are reducing the quality of life for their subjects. This writer is not rich, but I know that it is the rich owners of companies who have taken major risks (and deserve their rewards) that have produced most of America’s wealth. Those same owners have employed millions of Americans, giving those citizens good lifestyles and opportunities to succeed. Socialist countries suck the marrow out of these owners and their companies.

In the eighties China looked at the western world and realized they were far behind financially. They saw how much more successful Hong Kong and Taiwan was as capitalist countries. The Chinese loosened restrictions on private enterprise in the larger cities and their wealth has increased exponentially. This writer visited China and was surprised of the growth and freedoms in the larger cities. China is using capitalism to expand its wealth while the government remains communist. At some point the government will have to change or the government will have to pull in the reigns.









The United States headlong charge into socialism is being lead by those academics that have never experienced life under a socialist regime, and it is being cheered on by lazy and disgruntled Americans who are trying to get their piece of the pie handed to them without actually putting in any effort. As the nation becomes more controlled by socialists and “fairness” becomes the norm, we will see our quality of life drastically reduce. Ownership in business will not be a status symbol but rather a stigma. Intelligent, capable pragmatic people will not take on the risks of starting a business, but rather find a way to work up the latter in a government agency. The middle class will slowly disappear and we will become a nation of haves and have-nots. The haves will be the chosen whom the “leaders” post into positions according to their political beliefs and their connections, not to their abilities. We have already witnessed the failures of some of the appointees of the present administration. Things are defiantly going to get worse before they get better for the U.S.

People who believe in self reliance, capitalism and freedom (those on the right) have fallen asleep at the wheel. We were all so comfortable with the status quo that we did not see this coming. We let teachers and professors tell our kids how bad America was and how we were arrogant capitalists. That we walked on the backs of the rest of the world. While in reality the U.S. was giving more overall aid than the EU and other industrialized nations combined. Americans in general are more charitable than citizens of other nations. What we receive in return is not thanks but derision. Poorer nations that we give aid to do not thank us, they complain about the restrictions we place on that aid. Nations like France and Spain snub us, China just waiting for the best time to hit us with a Treasury bill sell off that will destroy our economy. All the while, we are throwing aside the virtues and economic systems that made our country strong. Lenin said “
Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted” Well, once we watched the Soviet Union crumble under its own weight we let our guard down and American socialists started their climb in academia and government. Lenin’s “seed” grew and now has very deep roots in the U.S. and around the world. Pearl Buck, an American writer once said “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.” This is precisely what is happening in America today. We did not fully discredit socialism and communism, so as it now rears its ugly head in America, we are at a loss for what to do. Those of us on the right knew back in the early 1990’s that the unjust system would never succeed, but those on the left thought that if they had the chance they could make it work. The question’s now are, how do we stop this, and how do we make sure it never happens again?