The 21st Century Red Scare

Over the past two years, it seems as if America is experiencing the 21st century version of the “Red Scare”. However, the culprit isn’t communism any longer; it is now socialism. The GOP has always been very crafty in its propaganda tactics, when there seems to be a shift away from its political, social, and moral paradigm. Often, if the issues are looked at with constructive thinking, you will find that they are actually to divert you away from their hypocrisy.

In the blog “Remember Freedom”, the author, Elizabeth makes a very strong case that America is spiraling into the socialistic abyss. I beg to differ; The American system of capitalism is safe. The resolve of the American people will never allow one man to change its economic system without a fight. The constitution’s establishment of a checks and balance system would prevent such a thing from happening. Former President Harry Truman attempted to take over the steel industry, some would say was a “step” toward socialism, but the United States Supreme Court would not allow it.

If we look at the American Heritage Dictionary’s definition of socialism; the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government, that often plans and controls the economy. Further research will lead us to find out the socialists actually advocate a society in which wealth and power are distributed evenly based on the amount of work expended in production. Therefore the true workers have the opportunity to get equal value with the executives who are now receiving million dollar bonuses for making bad business decisions. This was one of the Blogs points, “At Plymouth everyone was supposed to work for the common good and so each would get an equal share of food. Some soon discovered, however, that they would still receive food even if they didn't work, or worked the minimum. Thus, those few hard workers had to carry the weight of the irresponsible freeloaders.” I would interject that the settlers at Plymouth were not testing socialism, but trying to survive. I would also like to point out that the Soviet Union was actually a communist nation not a socialist one. Communism basically sees no need for free enterprise, where socialism accepts it.

President Obama was faced with the decision of bailing out General Motors or letting it go bankrupt. If GM would have been allowed to fail, millions of people would have lost their jobs; thus America would not only face a bad recession but quite possibly another great depression. When a business fails, you must look for the head of the organization to take responsibility. Not doubting that Mr. Wagoner is a very good person, however he has taken the backbone of the American economy into arrested development. Mr. Wagoner has been the CEO of GM since 2000; since then, stocks have plummeted from $60 to less than $2 in March of 2009, and General Motors has suffered more than $85 million in loses. While Toyota, Honda, and Ford worked on gas-electric hybrids, Mr. Wagoner focused on SUV’s. The Obama Administration made the choice to avoid a depression by bailing out General Motors; however it would have been irresponsible to leave it in the hands of the very same leadership that led it to the present.

Elizabeth was correct, socialism isn’t American and Americans would never allow it to be either. Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar at the Brookings Institution, said Obama's action lacked any historical parallel because the circumstances of the financial crisis were unique and he could succeed because he seemed to have a good "internal gyroscope" on reading the mood of the public. "So far people are with him," Hess said. "There will be a lot of people who say: At last somebody is doing something."

Social Capitalism

Maintaining good blood circulation in your body is one of the central tenets of good health. Blood is the means by which nutrients and oxygen travel throughout the body. Proper blood circulation is imperative for our major organs to function correctly; as they carry out their roles of maintaining our health. If they don’t receive the proper amount of blood flow, they can become diseased; which not only threatens our health but our lives as well.

Just as good blood circulation is important to the body, wealth circulation is important to American communities. We are witnessing the results of poor wealth circulation in many cities around the country. If we travel this technologically advanced nation we would see blight in Detroit, gang violence in Los Angeles, and stagnation that many housing projects of other inner-cities across America cause. The high crime rates that permeate these areas as a result of “Reganomics” – Give large corporations and the extremely wealthy tax breaks and the money will trickle down to the have-nots.

We have an administration that ran on the platform of change. Well, I say lets tests the perimeters of change. If economists are suggesting we are in extreme times, let’s take extreme measures. Now, I’m sure that there are those who the minute they read wealth circulation, we ready to crucify me on the cross of socialism; by no means am I suggesting changing our economic system, just a little fine tuning.

It is every individual’s right to prosper, to conduct business under the banner of free enterprise, to own property, and to make as much money as they possibly can – but what about sharing. The very young man that is able to attend college because of the proper circulation of wealth could very well be the same young man that burglarizes your home because of the lack of it. As part of the second New Deal President Roosevelt instituted the Wealth Tax Act, which taxed the wealthy during the Great Depression. In 2009 it can be called the Social Responsibility Tax. It would only tax those who have excess wealth 2.5% at the end of each year. For someone who has $25,000 in excess wealth, that is only $625 to possibly help someone who really needs it.

That is what America should be all about, insuring that each man, woman, and child has the essentials to help them make sense out of life. The Social Responsibility Tax would insure that all Americans will have the opportunity to have food, clothing, shelter, health, and education. It’s not socialism; it’s just a new brand of capitalism. Let’s try it America.