Water Shortage and Distribution - Research Paper Example

?Donna Purcell Order #532751 06 May Socialism: Is it in the Process of Taking Root in America? Or has it already become a Realism? “After all, the most enslaved slave of all is the one who falsely believes he is free.” An American enslaved by government cannot comprehend the benefits that would be nonexistent if he had become free to spend his money in his own way. Rather we rely on politicians, bureaucrats, and the politically privileged to spend it for us. American seems to be steady embracing the concept of socialism. However, Eastern Europe and the Soviets are considering putting their government owned enterprises into the private sector. We in the Americas applaud other countries for opening up their countries to the capitalistic view of free marketing and business. Ironically, we are moving more toward socialism every day. The best example of all is our airports. Government owns most of the airports in America, not individuals or private business. Government owned airports are a classic paradigm of socialist planning. It encompasses a central political board, and not a private property system with free market pricing. The result is the same as in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union; long lines in and out of the America’s airports. We here in American were under the consensus that the long lines were due mainly to security checks. Government and politicians here would have us believe that our response to socialism is: “Tax us more so that we can have more of our money put into our publicly-owned airports.” Yet it would appear most Americans would scream privatization; but still hand it off to government. The second perception of socialism was expressed by Karl Marx: “From each according to ability, to each according to need.” How do you conceive that statement? Viewing the statement in a broad sense, means taking from those with the ability to produce and giving to those with the greatest need. The Marxist view is “that the political process should be used to take from those who have money to give to those whom the politicians and bureaucrats believe need it more.” This entire concept is being totally rejected by the people in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union as Political Stealing. The Marxist statement gives free reign to government, politicians and bureaucrats to decide who is in need of benefits, and from whom it will be taken. All the while Americans continue to favor privatization but continue to let government control the outcome. He who holds the purse strings holds the power has always been true. Another socialist perception seen in the US is publicly financed sports arenas. It’s a classic example of socialism, or government being used to steal from the poor to give to the rich. It all comes about through taxing, usually the poor, and giving to those who need – who are rich stadium and team owners. Far is it for the wealthy to gather their own investors. They would rather use the political system to steal the money for them through taxation. Example: A local bond issue to build a mega sports stadium in a city of around $180,000 citizens, pushed by team owners and local government. The bond issue is placed on the local voting ballot. It’s voted down twice, but the team owners and local government keep pushing it until it finally passes. Americans are embracing these types of perceptions and are unaware of it. Why is there a lean toward such views? Mainly because Americans have been taught, when American governments own enterprises and distribute the wealth as they see fit, this is free enterprise. But when the Soviet Union and China engage in the same principle, it is seen as socialism. Most Americans are totally unaware of what is happening right under their noses. They don’t realize that the very basis of liberty that this country was built on was abandoned several decades ago. Americans have also been taught that if American businessmen support a government enterprise, then it has to be free enterprise. But we see the modern businessmen of today all too ready to run to government for his welfare. This is seen in the government takeovers of AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. These modern self-sufficient businessmen want nothing to do with self-reliance, private ownership, unhampered markets, and private capital investments. This concept did not appear overnight. Its fear of not being able to sustain ones’ self in a very competitive market. It’s an insurance policy in the form of socialism. Businessmen want partnerships with politicians, to ensure that the unsuspecting citizens will cover his capital losses, whether they want it or not. Socialism has already become a reality here in America. If used by another name, would it smell just as sweet? It’s the sweet smell of government being the safety net to our business ventures and investments. Except the government is not the safety net, the people who support the government are the safety net. The term liberty lies dormant in most Americans today. We have become complacent to the things that are happening around us. We work, spend time with our families and our daily lives without a care. We had rather sweep it under the rug than deal directly with it, or even admit that it exists. Government has a way of doing things without the American people becoming aware it is happening. There is an estimated $39.2 trillion or 99.79 percent of American corporations and business assets that are not held by the United States government. And there have been 82.3 billion or .21% of American corporate and business assets that were recently nationalized by the US government. It is being done so slyly; you can hardly see it. There are noted experts that say its true, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby; The Republican National Committee says we are pretty close too. Stephen Moore states, “Uncle Sam is in a canoe, without paddles, swirling around in foamy waters, headed toward Niagra Falls."” We spend 20% of our total economic output on running the government. The numbers are projected to rise to 25% in 2025, and 34% by 2040. These numbers do not even include what state and local governments spend. If we reach 46% of all output being spent to maintain the government, it’s a move toward socialism. If GDP is 50% of a man’s output, then all Americans are half slaves and half free. The economic outlook for the gross disregard for how we spend the nations’ money is bleak. We will start to look like the Old Europe, France, Germany, and Italy. These nations have high welfare states, government ownership of industry, confiscator tax systems, and stifling regulations. The government will not be growing, not creating jobs. The unemployment rate in these countries is twice what we have in the US. And the latest budget forecasts have hardly raised an eye brown with our political class. “Where is the growth of government going to come from.” A quote from Take Back America, written by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann states, “We stand at the crossroads of ideals and policies: freedom versus socialism; sovereignty versus international subservience; economic liberty versus debt slavery; quality medical care versus government –sponsored euthanasia; and private property versus confiscator taxation.” Socialism understands that to the socialist, the state is merle a tool of oppression to serve for the minority. When one part of society lives by exploiting, robbing and cheating another part of society, it cannot be done without force or coercion. Therefore, socialism, founded on exploitation and robbery, emerges out of the contradiction of the robbers and the working people. The exploiters use the government to keep themselves in power. The role of the state is to suppress, and curb the resistance of the working people toward what they face daily. The government is basically a machine for the domination of one class by another. Socialism is a negative for most Americans. Capitalism is regarded positively by a thin majority of Americans. Most young people and Democrats regard socialism and capitalism about equal. Among young people, women, and people with lower incomes and less education, there is a positive reaction toward capitalism. People ages 65 and older have a very negative reaction to socialism. This sector of people is among the baby boomers of World War II, who have capitalized and lived a good stable life under capitalism. However, more than twice as many blacks as whites react positively to socialism. Socialism gives lower income and minorities a chance to better themselves through dependence on the government. Under the Obama administration plans to restructure the American economy are much similar to the mergers, takeovers, buy-outs, and acquisitions we have seen in the years past. It has created the massive spending bills; mandatory socialized healthcare with fine and possible imprisonment, restrictive energy policies, and global taxation and industry takeovers. Particularly alarming is the rise in excessive government spending. From 1947 to 2008, government spending was held at 15 to 20 percent of the GDP. In the two years Obama has been in office we have seen the government spending double at 40 percent. We are well on our way to becoming a socialistic society with big government in the United States. There is a proposal affecting the FCC, Federal Communications Commission, now in the works that will be designed to create a bureaucratic structure to control content delivery. If such a proposal were enacted, there would be a direct government control over the flow of information from providers to consumers. This directly raises suspicions about privacy and the first amendment infringements. Out-of-control spending, growing entitlement programs, plans for further increased taxation, centralized control of the economy, and intolerance for the accepted doctrines, is the present government administration determined to remake America as a socialist nation? Are we slowing moving away from the free enterprise system that has guaranteed our freedoms in the past? America has always had a bolstered leadership in the world brought on by competition that sustained our free government. If we fail to heed the apparent warning signs, could this become the death of our free and constitutional republic? Will free enterprise and the American Way reign in our government, cities, towns and communities again? Will this slow movement toward socialism completely demolish the American Dream or will the American people stand up and fight for the truths that our forefathers fought so hard to instill in our hearts. Entire Websites: Homberger, Jacob G. 04 1990, “Socialism in America.” The Future of Freedom Foundation Web 05 2011. http://fff.org/freedom/ Clarke, Conor, 03 June 2009 “What Socialism Looks Like.” Web. 06 May 2011. http://theatlantic.com/politics/. Moore, Stephen, “Is U.S. in Slow Motion to Socialism?” 06 May 2005. Human Events Web. 06 May 2011. http://humanevents.com/. Morris, Dick; McGann, Eileen. 13 April 2010, “Take Back America.” Web. 06 May 2011. Glowstick, Comrade. “A Brief Online of Fascism vs Socialism.” Web 05 May 2011. http://wordpress.com/. The Political Rhetoric Test. 04 May 2010; “Socialism, Not So Negative, Capitalism, Not So Positive” Web. 05 May 2011. http://pewreasearch.org/. Is President Obama Taking Us Toward Socialism? 23 February 2009. Web. 05 May 2011. http://foxnews.com/. King, Ruth, “Is the US Headed Towards Socialism? Janet Levy.” 15 January 2010. Web. 05 May 2011. http://ruthfullyyours.com/. Person Libery News Desk. Many think U.S. headed toward socialism. 16 January 2009. Web 05 May 2011. http://personalliberty.com/. Read More