Freedom Versus Socialism

Freedom Versus Socialism

Have you ever been surprised when a subject you were familiar with and understood reasonably well all of a sudden was crystallized into a new awareness and understanding by some words someone spoke on a different subject? It has happened to me a number of times and it just happened again and I thought I would share the experience with you. The subject is the political philosophy of Socialism and the exceptional American Constitutional government that ensues freedom of the individual to enjoy life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Regardless of your political persuasion and political philosophies, even if you don’t have any, the USA has been slowly moving from a nation of full individual freedoms to a socialistic governance that has a central governmental political authority directing more and more of our individual lives, for the betterment of all, of course. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, Supplemental Security Income, ad infinitum, are a few examples of socialism’s slow and steady march to dominance within our society.

Even if you buy into the hokum about helping people who can’t help themselves, the truth is that Socialism is a form of Government that forces people to behave in ways that are not necessarily in ones best self-interest, but rather, to behave in ways to benefit all as determined by a central political authority. I think we all reasonably understand the concept and the distinction between individual liberty and socialism. But now, carefully read the words of Wamditanka (Big Eagle) of the Santee Sioux, circa 1860s:

“The whites were always trying to make the Indians give up their life and live like white men- go to farming, work hard and do as they did- and the Indians did not know how to do that, and did not want to anyway… If the Indians had tried to make the whites live like them, the whites would have resisted, and it was the same way with many Indians.”

We all know full well how the free Indians were treated and destroyed by the white man, for the good of all, of course. The elegant lament of Big Eagle did not stop the white man from changing the Indian any more than the lament of free Americans can stop the socialists from transforming the society of America, for the good of all, of course. After all, elegant though the lament may be, it is powerless to stop a determined force that somehow knows what is best for all.