| November 11, 2008 at 06:49:21 Headlined on 11/11/08: by Gene Messick Page 1 of 2 page(s) |
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With GwB and Hank Paulson socializing private banking in America, perhaps it's time to revisit the definition. During the Presidential Campaign and after Obama was elected, the words "socialist!" and even "communist!" have been flying into Inboxes all across our Nation, often preceded by a string of expletives.
Ones that are most astounding are from folks who work for local governmental agencies. Clearly, they have a warped notion about what Socialism is. Somehow, they have a screwball disconnect with reality.
Public highways are one of the finest examples of Socialism in America. So are public schools, public parks and public libraries. Not to mention Social Security and Medicare. And police departments and town garbage collections and public health care and so on and so on. Even benefits provided for Congress Members are a form of Socialism.
If money is taken from private enterprise, and used for the public good, that fits my definition of Socialism. Obviously, it also fits the definition of Ronnie Reagan, NeoCONs, and most all Republicans since Reagan. Why would Reagan argue for privatizing all government functions (except the Military) if they were not clear and present definitions of Socialism?
The first thing GwB announced upon stealing the White House again in 2004, was that the primary aim of his next 4 years was to de-socialize Social Security by privatizing it. He planned to reward those who bought his Office for him by turning Social Security over to Wall $treet Bankers to run for a profit.
Imagine, just for a moment, what America would look like today if GwB HAD privatized Social Security. Picture the national disaster we'd be in now if Social Security had been moved to Wall $treet. With the subsequent Meltdown of Wall $treet, Social Security would have all but vanished from America, swaddled in derivatives, buried under a pile of rubble that would rival the World Trade Center collapse on 9/11. There are reasons why Socialism keeps America running.
Government does not tax ANY of it socialized services. Government taxes only private enterprise. And that is why Capitalists spend unbelievable amounts of money trying to subvert our Government. They want to kill Socialism in America, except the Military, by privatizing everything else.
Former Interior Secretary James Watt had a plan drawn up showing which of our National Parks he would sell off first. The ultimate plan was to eventually turn all of that wasted public land over to private management, if not outright ownership, so that private enterprise could butcher it up and build profitable condos, all with amazing views to enhance their profits. This is no joke. It really, really was on the NeoCON drawing board. Still is.
Moving too slowly to suit them, taking too many decades to accomplish, the collapse of Wall $treet and the World Economy due to their unregulated greed, provided a perfect opportunity to bankrupt our government with endless Bailouts of private financial institutions. "Too big to fail," is their slogan, meaning they must be saved, no matter how incompetent they are, no matter what the cost to American taxpayers. Like all NeoCON slogans, it's sole purpose is to divert attention away from what they are really up to.
Like all Confidence Scams, what they tell you is absolutely NOT what they're doing.
You think it bothers them that Obama won? Get real! Passing their engineered collapse on to him is a pure bonus. If he must spend trillions upon trillions to cover for their mistakes, all the better. It will speed them faster and closer to that glorious day when EVERYTHING in America is used to generate a profit.
But Socialism is an integral part of the fabric which sustains America and Americans. Many millions of Americans earn their taxable income directly from Socialism.
The reason the New Deal's social experiments were tried, and succeeded, is the same reason they must come back again. The GREED of unfettered Capitalism once nearly destroyed America, and may yet succeed. All the assurances -- that we have safeguards in place to prevent another Depression -- is a lot of wishful thinking. Obviously, they have not worked flawlessly and automatically thus far.
Part of the reason was the intentional dismantling of safety nets brought on by Ronnie Reagan's deregulation pipe dreams. His trickle-down notion -- that enough crumbs will fall off rich people's plates to sustain our Nation -- was a lot of hooey. But it was packaged to sound good, if any American pulled his head out of his TV long enough to glance at it.
And Ronnie's ideological descendant, GwB, has been pumping money as fast as he can out of American taxpayers and into the already bulging pockets of his rich cronies. Rich people don't make the idle rich richer. It's the working middle class, and struggling small business owners, who make rich people rich.
GwB, Chaney & Co have been creating a constant need for Military Spending on a gargantuan scale (pretending it has anything at all to do with establishing democracy anywhere in the World) to force all of us to keep our noses to the grindstone. Costs spiral ever upward, and no one has time to breathe, much less to think.
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For 17 years Gene Messick studied and taught Design at NC State University and Cornell. Co-founding the Visual Design Program at NCSU, he established the Photography Program at Cornell. For 30 years, he's been doing glasswork, focusing now on kiln-fired fused glass at RegenerationGlass. Melting glass is a technical endeavor. When our Economy went into Meltdown, Gene built his first Website to forewarn folks of dire consequences in their future. Years ago, when FirstUnion took over a bank in Florida where his Mother's brother had left her a small trust account, WorstUnion lost it. Gene acquired 1 share of stock, which converted to Wachovia, soon to become Wells Fargo. His last dividend check from Wachovia, just before the takeover, was for $.10, now a collector's item. He's been advised that his Wachovia stock will convert to 0.19 shares of Wells Fargo. Gene divides his time, living in semi-retirement on Social Security benefits, between glass and shining light into dark corners. Lightworks was the name of his former glass studio in North Carolina.
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