THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume XIV, Issue # 152, September 17, 2012
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
CAN LIBERALS "WISH" SOCIALIST UTOPIA INTO EXISTENCE?
By Christopher G. Adamo
CALIFORNIA, EUROPE, & THE EMPTY PROMISES OF SOCIALISM & COLLECTIVISM: THE MONSTROUS PUBLIC DEBT CRISIS CALIFORNIA IS NOW
EXPERIENCING, DUE TO THE RADICAL, ILL-CONCEIVED FISCAL POLICIES THAT LEADING LIBERAL DEMOCRATS IN CALIFORNIA HAVE PUSHED THE STATE INTO
PURSUING -- WHY CALIFORNIA STANDS LITTLE CHANCE OF RECOGNIZING & CORRECTING ITS MISTAKES & PREVENTING ANY FURTHER DEPRESSION OF ITS AILING
ECONOMY -- THE UNRAVELING OF THE EUROPEAN LEFT'S EFFORT TO CREATE A SOCIALIST PARADISE IN EUROPE -- THE LESSON AMERICANS SHOULD LEARN
FROM EUROPE'S ECONOMIC & FISCAL DISASTER
FULL STORY:
California is in the midst of a monstrous debt crisis, the inescapable result of its leading Democrats having gambled on an annual deficit less than $9.2 billion (an
immense sum in itself), but now facing a shortfall of nearly twice that amount. For the good of the country, anyone who is actually surprised at this development
should be barred from voting in any election until they can pass a third-grade remedial math exam.
The inevitability of the California crisis has long been glaringly obvious to all but the most ideologically blinded Leftists. Unfortunately, the government of the
Golden State is overwhelmingly dominated by just such individuals. As a result, the implementation of any viable fix has become an impossibility. California will
undoubtedly continue down its current disastrous course to eventual financial implosion.
Meanwhile, those who could and should exert the necessary political force to avert the catastrophe will most certainly refuse to take the necessary action. Doing
so would require drastic cuts in social spending, accompanied by significant reductions in taxes in order to jump start the state’s flagging economy. And the
political Left has historically rejected such a course, preferring instead to point fingers of blame at “the rich,” while exhibiting total contempt for those who will
suffer most in the impending calamity, by pretending that the ruse can continue in perpetuity.
What is needed, according to Democratic Party Leftist policy makers, is more of the Liberal disease in order to cure its symptoms. To nobody’s great surprise,
Jerry Brown, California’s Democratic Governor, is in lockstep with this insanely flawed ideology. Though he speaks of “spending cuts” in his latest plan to
rescue California from its ocean of red ink, federal mandates and an intransigent block of Leftists in the state legislature renders this an impossibility. On the
other hand, California’s Liberal government will most certainly muster the political resolve to raise income and sales taxes to the highest levels in the nation.
Of course, this will only further depress the currently ailing economy, already overburdened by excessively high taxes and thoroughgoing regulation. Any
“vicious cycle” is, by definition, difficult to escape. Yet, when a state’s population becomes thoroughly convinced over time that it can simply demand
“benefits” from government coffers, and consistently elects politicians who ascribe to the same twisted premise, financial calamity becomes its destiny.
In the interim, an even greater injustice will ensue. Embodying the worst aspects of “taxation without representation,” the Liberal/Leftist/Democrat cabal back in
Washington will force the rest of America to foot the bill, at least until that source of funding implodes. And sadly, as long as this travesty continues, California
stands little chance of realizing its mistakes or correcting them, since, in the minds of its citizen “takers,” any continued flow of money proves that the
government need only hear the rising volume of protests and complaints in order to magically retrieve those dollars from some undefined but ostensibly limitless
“stash.”
Across the Atlantic, the disaster of Europe’s own effort to create a Socialist paradise is coming unraveled at a considerably faster rate than even the California
boondoggle. Enraged at the prospect of “austerity,” the thoroughly dependent populations of France and Greece have voted to move sharply Left, demanding
that somebody continue providing those government handouts, with no concern at all for who will be footing the bill. If any politician is foolish enough to
attempt to inject an element of reason into the chaos, as did French President Nicolas Sarkozy in recent months, he will simply be shown the door, and replaced
with a more compliant economic redistributionist.
As of last Sunday, Sarkozy’s desperate effort to forestall total financial meltdown in France, and consequently in Europe, was sternly rebuffed by French voters.
They are now happily under the headship of Francois Hollande, an avowed Socialist who intends to make everything right in France with his unique and creative
agenda of “raising taxes on the rich.” Somewhere, through force and subterfuge, those Euros will miraculously continue to stream into government coffers, the
only deterrent being those “greedy” individuals who think they ought to keep what they have earned.
Elsewhere in the wonderland of the European Union, Greece remains as it has been for months, in a disturbingly similar “financial crisis” brought on by the
combination of low productivity and enormously excessive social spending. No more capable of recognizing this cause and effect relationship than are the
people of France (and California for that matter), Greece is pondering an exit from the EU, as a means of precluding its own austerity as stipulated by the leaders
in Brussels.
In recent months, the streets of Athens and other major cities have been the scenes of riots by a citizenry that stubbornly refuses to consider any possibility of a
day of reckoning. The money should simply continue to flow from yet another mythical “stash” (in this case, referring to somewhere in Germany where actual
work and productivity continues). And, if its guardians are too stingy to endlessly spread the wealth, then all the Greeks need to do is break the financial ties,
crank up their own printing presses, and start dispensing a newly established currency of their own. Life will be beautiful.
Little thought has apparently been given to the dire and inescapable consequences of a nation whose legal tender is worthless, since it is backed by no wealth or
property, and, still worse, represents no competitive production of goods or services on the world market.
Seeking to gain politically from the European debacle, or at least forestall any comparisons to his own disastrous economic policy, Barack Obama asserted that
Europe needs to “balance” any attempts at austerity with a “growth agenda.” This was an odd statement, considering that he has, in so many ways, steered
America directly towards the disastrous course on which Europe has embarked. In contrast, Real America stands to gain a great deal, if it can learn from the grim
outcome of these misguided quests to partake of the empty promises of Socialism and Collectivism.
The November, 2012, elections are coming. The portion of the nation that produces sufficient food, pays its bills, and still seeks to pass on these blessings to its
posterity can turn back the malicious tide of bloated government, and the crippling dependency of the citizenry that fuels it. On the other hand, if the “takers”
prevail, and America follows the world down this dark path, the day will come when they can throw whatever tantrums they want, but nobody will be there to
pay the bill.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
American Politics, Political Competition, & the Control of
Public Policy: Elections, Political Parties, Political Factions,
Ideologies, & Special Interest Groups
American Government & the U.S. Presidency:
Presidential Politics & National Leadership
The American Political System:
Politics & Government in the U.S.A.
Political Economy -- Philosophies, Systems, & Public Policies:
Government, the Economy, & Economic Prosperity
Fiscal Policy: Taxation, Government Spending, & the Public Debt
The American Political & Cultural Left:
Liberals, Statists, Socialists, Marxists, & Other Leftists:
The Democratic Party, Academia, & the Mainstream Media
Liberalism Versus Conservatism in American Politics
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY & POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES:
COMPETING SYSTEMS OF POLITICAL THOUGHT
Conservatism
Traditional Conservatism: Questions & Answers
Conservatism: Attitudes, Types, & Present Status
Constitutional Conservatism: American & British
Liberalism
Classical Liberalism: Intellectual Foundations
Classical Liberalism: Conservative Liberalism
Manchester Liberalism & Social Darwinism
Modern Social "Liberalism": Statist "Liberalism"
Radical & Totalitarian Ideologies
Radicalism, Utopianism, & Totalitarianism
Christopher G. Adamo is a resident of southeastern Wyoming and has been involved in state and local politics for many years. He writes for several prominent
Conservative websites, along with AMAC Advantage, the quarterly publication of the Association of Mature American Citizens. His contact information and
article archives can be found at www.chrisadamo.com, and he can be followed on Twitter @CGAdamo.
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THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity