Socialism, however, once in control, stifles Capitalism and brings whole nations to their knees, when it becomes clear that the ever-expanding matrix of laws that redistribute wealth cripples the means by which that wealth is created. It also crushes the desire to work hard. America is now a nation with a Capitalist economy and a Socialist system of government. That process began in earnest during the years President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office and has continued apace ever since.

Socialism is the economic system of Europe and the United Kingdom. In China, its Communist leadership has abandoned its failed State Socialist system to embrace Capitalism, permitting it to operate, so long as the Chinese Communist Party remains in power. All around the world, Capitalism has proved its power to increase prosperity, and all around the world Socialism struggles to gain control of that prosperity.

In October, 2003, the XXII Congress of the Socialist International met in San Paulo, Chile, “to promote a new world order based on a new multilateralism for peace, security, sustainable development, social justice, democracy, respect for human rights, and gender equality.” Who is against peace? Democracy? But who understands that the advocates and promoters of “sustainable development,” a concept ginned up by hardcore environmentalists, conspire to thwart economic growth?

Few seem to understand that environmentalism, hiding behind the mask of noble sounding goals, is in fact Socialism with its goal of destroying property rights, the very pillar of Capitalism! Without property rights, there can be no Capitalism. Without the right to save, spend, and invest one’s earnings, the individual ceases to be a Capitalist and becomes merely the means by which Socialism is advanced in the name of “social justice”, “protecting the environment”, and “human rights.”

Who among us would oppose such noble goals? I am often accused of not understanding, nor supporting the need for clean air, clean water, and other environmental goals. What I oppose is the use of these goals to achieve what is, in fact, a vast matrix of laws and regulations that destroy property rights by requiring homes, farms, and other structures be sold to the government in order to create “a viewshed”, i.e., an area “returned” to its natural state or to declare property to be a “wetland” because the occasional migrating bird may show up.

I oppose the use of “endangered species” laws to deprive property owners of the right to improve a site or the use of these laws to deny the development of structures such as hospitals and schools or the building of new corporate campuses, factories, and retail outlets that generate jobs and expand the economic base of a community.

I oppose the unnecessary mandated cost of having to “recycle” waste that is often more expensive than merely creating additional landfills. This is the case of laws that require people to separate glass and plastic, and to bundle newspapers.

At the San Paulo Socialist Congress, the primary message was the advocacy of “global governance,” when the failure of the United Nations to achieve any peace anywhere in the world is there for anyone and everyone paying attention to see. This is the same UN that wants the power to tax all financial transactions, have its own private military, and establish a judicial system that would supercede our own federal and state judicial systems. Moreover, the UN’s roster of member nations is filled with those that are either outright despotisms, as in the Middle East, or which are Communist dictatorships, as is the case of Red China, North Korea, and Cuba.

The Socialist Congress declared, “The global divide between poverty and wealth has reached intolerable proportions” and decried “the mounting pressure on natural resources” that makes “the current model of globalization unsustainable.” This ignores the fact that the Western model of Capitalism works and those nations that do not embrace constitutional democracy and Capitalism suffer for that failure. Only the expansion of constitutional democracy and Capitalism can insure that Third World nations can catch up, but many are rife with tribalism, superstition, abysmal mass ignorance, despotism, and other impediments that prevent the creation of jobs, entrepreneurialism, and wealth.

The Socialist Congress called for “global ecological balance,” whatever that means! There is no way to achieve ecological balance in areas of the world where vast deserts exist. There is no way to create wealth in areas where timber cannot be harvested. There is no way to create wealth where access to natural resources, such as coal, oil and natural, gas is denied. Wealth that is seized by tyrannical autocrats like Saddam Hussein and tyrannical oligarchies, such as those in Communist-ruled coutries, leaves the peoples governed in this fashion impoverished and denied justice.

What the Socialist Congress offers is a program of ever-expanding government control of the lives of everyone on the Earth, ignoring the fact that government at any level unfailingly does a poor job of producing and distributing economic goods and services, a very poor job when compared to the free market forces that respond to the real needs of people, and do so affordably because they must be competitive. The world does not need “global government,” and Americans clearly need far less government intervention into economic affairs, and clearly do not need government involvement in every aspect of our lives.

There is no greater tyranny than that imposed “for your own good.” That is the antithesis of freedom. That is the essence of Socialism. Our government, “conceived in liberty”, cannot survive the tender mercies of Socialism. The recent Socialist Congress, totally unreported by our mainstream media, demonstrates that this destructive, regressive economic system remains the ultimate threat.

Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, Communications Director of the American Policy Center, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly column, "Warning Signs," posted on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center (www.anxietycenter.com). A compilation of his past col- umns, entitled Warning Signs, is published by Merril Press. In addition to Warning Signs, Caruba is the author of A Pocket Guide to Militant Islam and The United Na- tions vs. the United States, both of which are available from the National Anxiety Center, 9 Brookside Road, Maplewood, New Jersey, 07040.

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Copyright 2003 Alan Caruba

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Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
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