|
|
|
America's New Culture War: Free Enterprise vs. Government Control
|
Economy; Posted on: 2010-05-24 19:34:58 [ Printer friendly / Instant flyer ]
|
Something terrible is happening in Washington DC.
This is not the culture war of the 1990s. It is not a fight over guns,
gays or abortion. Those old battles have been eclipsed by a new struggle
between two competing visions of the country's future. In one, America
will continue to be an exceptional nation organized around the
principles of free enterprise -- limited government, a reliance on
entrepreneurship and rewards determined by market forces. In the other,
America will move toward European-style statism grounded in expanding
bureaucracies, a managed economy and large-scale income redistribution.
These visions are not reconcilable. We must choose.
It is not at all clear which side will prevail. The forces of big
government are entrenched and enjoy the full arsenal of the
administration's money and influence. Our leaders in Washington, aided
by the unprecedented economic crisis of recent years and the panic it
induced, have seized the moment to introduce breathtaking expansions of
state power in huge swaths of the economy, from the health-care takeover
to the financial regulatory bill that the Senate approved Thursday. If
these forces continue to prevail, America will cease to be a free
enterprise nation.(1)
[snip]
In fact, no matter how the issue is posed, not more than 30 percent of
Americans say they believe we would fare better without free markets at
the core of our system. When it comes to support for free enterprise, we
are essentially a 70-30 nation.
So here's a puzzle: If we love free enterprise so much, why are the 30
percent who want to change that culture in charge?
It's not simply because of the election of Obama. As much as Republicans
may dislike hearing it, statism had effectively taken hold in
Washington long before that.
More...
(1) Capitalism is a most monstrous system, one that suboridantes and extracts wealth from the vast majority for the sake of the tiny few. It is not "individualism", as its supporters claim, but a strictly regimented, class-based collectivism. It is not a "free market", for its foundation is a thick ground of state intervention. The only "freedom of choice" it affords its victims is the choice between labor and starvation, and the only "upward mobility" it allows for is an ever expanding toy shelf of consumer goodies. It is an economic sociopath. (We can do better than that. Much better.)
|
|
News Source: washington post
|
|
