Dennis Miller Debates a Wannabe Socialist

Yesterday Dennis Miller had an extended discussion with a fellow on the topic of socialism in America. I took the time to create a 2-part video out of it because I do believe it directly touches upon the heart of what is the real debate going on in America these days, namely what direction should the U.S. be heading?

An alternate title would be: Ayn Rand vs. Karl Marx

Part 1:




Part 2:

Melanie Phillips Explains The Recent BNP Success

The Spectator's Melanie Phillips provides a devastating analysis of the recent election in the UK. She points out that the Radical Leftist domestic policies of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have directly lead to the victories of the Far Right party, the BNP. Never forget that politics is like a pendulum. Most people would like things to remain relatively in the middle but when it starts moving too far in one direction then there's a natural reaction of the public to pull it back in equal, and sometimes even greater, measure.

Here's a little of what she wrote:
Labour MPs are shocked that it is their own voters who have turned to the BNP. They are shocked because it is a mantra of the left that it stands in heroic and historic opposition to fascism. This is untrue. Both fascism and communism have their roots in counter-Enlightenment, obscurantist thinking which replaced reason by emotion, Judeo-Christian ethics by paganism, and the rejection of the primacy of the individual in favour of collectively imposed authority.

Barack Obama and the Democrats in the U.S. should heed a careful warning from what's transpiring in the UK.

A Wake-Up Call For the Left

The New GM: Socialist Motors

I'm very disturbed by the news today that the Obama Administration will now effectively be running GM. This is a very bad sign in the long history of American capitalism.

Amongst the strangest of the news of this government takeover is that the person managing it all will be a 31 year-old law student named Brian Deese. His experience in the automobile industry to date is . . . absolutely zero. In fact, I don't actually believe that he has ever worked in the private sector whatsoever. So why is Mr. Deese involved in this at all?

Henry Payne provides some interesting background information on what led up to this day. Hugh Hewitt and his listeners discussed the issue as well.

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Thinking ahead a few moves . . . Barack Obama is clearly staking his future on this plan. I strongly suspect that very few conservatives (which polls indicate constitute 60% of Americans) are going to buy a government made car. So that leaves the remaining 40% of Americans. There will be a HUGE push to get this latter group to buy GM cars.

After all, GM is now the perfect company for the Left:

• Government controlled
• Employing highly paid union workers
• No more "greedy capitalists" at the helm to mess things up

The question is, do you think that the Leftists and Limousine liberals will walk their talk? Will they put their money where their collective mouths are? Will they give up their Priuses and Honda Civics and Smart Cars and Lexuses and BMWs and instead buy GM cars? Obama's future depends upon it.

Mark Steyn: Live Free or Die

If you'd like to get a glimpse of why Mark Steyn is one of my favourite writers and, in my opinion, one of the most important voices when it comes to current affairs and our future, then please read this (or this PDF). Read it carefully but do read it!

Here's a snippet:

In most of the developed world, the state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood—health care, child care, care of the elderly—to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct. Europe's addiction to big government, unaffordable entitlements, cradle-to-grave welfare, and a dependence on mass immigration needed to sustain it has become an existential threat to some of the oldest nation-states in the world. And now the last holdout, the United States, is embarking on the same grim path.

A Pair of Articles by Mark Steyn

Well worth reading:

Obama's First Hundred Days

Margaret Thatcher's Reign, Thirty Years Later

Only 53% of Americans Polled Say Capitalism is Better than Socialism

Rasmussen reports:

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

3 words come to mind: Ignorance is Bliss!

JFK Revisited

I had some time to catch up on reading this morning. I mostly focused on two of my favourites, Mark Steyn and Amy Alkon.

This posting by Alkon particularly caught my attention. Here's the comment I left:

As I told an elderly friend from Chicago yesterday ... Canada tried a similar socialist experiment in the 1970's under Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It was an abysmal failure and we are still paying back for the enormous borrowing he did.

Americans have failed to heed the wisdom that could be learned from every other country that has borrowed way more than it can afford. So now you all are embarking on your own socialist experiment. In the process, the Incentive of those who want to work hard, who need to work hard will be diminished, if not destroyed. You'll have fewer & fewer people working hard and more & more people looking for a hand out.

An historian with a sense of humor could provide this twist on JFK's famous line:

JFK: "And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country."

Obama: "And so, my American comrades: ask not what you can do for your country - demand what your country can do for you!"

Mark Levin Raises the Alarm Bell on Barack Obama

Backlash Against Obama

Did you notice the media shill in the studio continue to defend Obama's Socialist Initiative?!

Obama and Liberal Fascism

I subscribe to the videos of two interesting gentlemen from Texas. They've just published half a dozen new videos. Here's the fourth in the series:

Discussion with a Russian

IMHO Mark Steyn is one of the most intelligent observers of our society today. And he does so from a global perspective. One of his favourite phrases is what he calls the "Drip-Drip-Drip" erosion of our culture. Simply put, when the majority believe that they need to feel guilty about most everything and that their heritage is more bad than good, then society is ruined.

In Canada we're not there yet but the fabric of our society is definitely torn. The UK is much further along in this regard. Some believe that the self-destruction of their society is a foregone conclusion.

So indeed, sometimes I do deliberately draw a line in the snow and say sorry but that's one step too far.

This evening I was out in Vancouver videoing some Christmas scenes. It's a rare occasion that we get snow in the city and even more rare right around Christmas. I encountered barely a soul all night but one woman did come along and on cross-country skis no less. We got to talking. She's from Russia. Towards the end of our conversation I asked her if she celebrated Christmas. She paused for a bit and then said, "Well, I'm from a socialist country and Christmas was not really allowed there. So it's not part of my tradition."

Ask yourself if you would like to live in a country where "Christmas was not really allowed". Then look at Canada today and see which direction our future is pointed in. If you're happy with that then cheer it on. As for me, I'll be one of the signposts along the way, warning you of where we're heading.

It is indeed your absolute right to ignore the warnings. But if you wake up one day and realize that the Drip-Drip-Drip erosion of our culture has taken us to a place not very appealing, be sure to stare in the mirror for a long time that day.

The AFL-CIO's Bill Samuel

Watch a devout union leader poorly argue how America should be converted into a socialist country:

This madness has to stop!

Socialists vs. Anarchists

Q: What's the difference between a socialist and an anarchist?

A: A society controlled by either will eventually (and usually rapidly) fall into a state of permanent disrepair. But to the bitter end a socialist will tell you that they're doing everything "for the people" whereas an anarchist will be honest and admit that they're doing it for their own selfish reasons!


P.S. Together they make up that portion of society we call "The Radical Left".

True Freedom

I don't usually repost comments but one was just left that is so eloquent and brilliant that not reposting it would be an injustice! It concerns this posting.

"Free people can never be equal. Equal people can never be free." I don't know who said that or if it is simply a time-proven proverb. But truer words were never spoken or written.

In order to GIVE something to one, there must be an authority powerful enough to take it from others. When there exists such a power, then neither the receiver nor the giver is free.

The greatest equalizer of all is freedom. Freedom is a state of existence in which each man and woman is unencumbered by any power or authority, save God's, and is free to succeed or fail based upon his/her own efforts and talents.

We don't have any such freedom in this country because we have foolishly commissioned government to take from the producers and give to the non-producers, I suppose to boost the fragile "self-esteem" of the non-producers. Doing that, however, dampens the morale of the producers, the very people who should be encouraged and cheered on.

When a test is given - - one for employment for example - - and one group of test-takers is credited with a ten-point advantage (based solely upon their grouping), then the better qualified applicants (the ones who should be getting the jobs) must score 10 points higher than the lesser qualified applicants just to maintain parity. Achieving a respectable score of 85 loses out to a dismal, barely-passing 76, and the lesser-qualified - - often unqualified - - gets the job and the employer and his customers lose, right along with the people who should have been employed in the first place.

Call it what you will, but that is socialism, Communism, Marxism and it doesn't work for the PEOPLE, it only works for the elite who seek to dominate and control the people and profit from their toil.

Common people are such fools.

Written by Fred Marshall

In Support of Ethical Capitalism

The biggest disappointment I've experienced as an adult is the realization that too many public debates end up being hijacked by the two most extreme points of view. Abortion is probably the most glaring example of this. Rarely can an intelligent public discussion occur on this subject because the loudest voices tend to label those who disagree with them as extremists with the opposite point of view. This charge is most often not true but it serves to silence the debate.

Such is the case now with the discussion of how best America (and the West in general) should proceed forward in the aftermath of the failed financial sector. With so many people being personally hurt there are frequent calls to discard capitalism altogether and move to something else. This would be a tragic mistake.

Shortly after reading the long article I've previously discussed, I watched this video:


The gentleman on the right touched upon a key aspect of what has gone wrong in the financial sector: Lack of Ethics.

The extreme opposite of Marxism/Socialism is not Capitalism, but Capitalism WITHOUT ETHICS. The solution is not to move away from Capitalism but simply to severely penalize those who choose to operate without ethics. Many of us in the general public are shocked that anyone has been able to legally act so unethically in the first place but such is the case. Greed has corrupted a great many. Now it's time for them to pay the price ... that is if they haven't bought off too many of those who will be judging them.

Historical Perspective on Barack Obama's Views

Historian, John Batchelor, has a fascinating new article on socialist perspectives through the years. Worth a read!

Is Amerika Following the Path of the Soviet Union?

Here's a fascinating and possibly very prescient interview of Yuri Bezmenov from 1985. Listen to the end. It's important.


Yuri Bezmenov
Uploaded by onmyway02

Inside the Mind of the Radical Left

Yesterday evening I heard the following conversation on BBC London Radio:

[Male] Caller: The problem with capitalist countries like Britain is that there's not enough social justice.

Host: What do you mean?

Caller: Well, for example, the minimum wage of £5.75 should be increased to £10.00.

Host: That's an easy thing to say but all that will do is force companies to raise their prices.

Caller: Oh no, I wouldn't let them do that. A big company earning $100 Million will have to stop being so selfish and just settle for $75 Million.

Host: How on earth could you stop them from earning more?

Caller: I would impose a cap on the profits of big companies or put a cap in the ass of the leaders of those companies.

Host: Are you joking?

Caller: Not at all.

Host: Do you realize that you're sounding a lot like Stalin and Hitler?

Caller: Funny you say that. When I was a child my mother used to say I was "A Little Hitler" because of the way I ordered the other little kids around.

An Antidote to the Obama Kool-Aid

Instructions:

1. Read this once.
2. If you still think Obama would be a swell President then repeat #1.