Here’s a quote that was included in yesterday’s Patriot Post that I thought was very poignant, considering the so-called ‘stimulus’ package that’s being foisted on us by Congress.
[P]eople do not ask for socialism because they know that socialism will improve their conditions, and they do not reject capitalism because they know that it is a system prejudicial to their interests. They are socialists because they believe that socialism will improve their conditions, and they hate capitalism because they believe that it harms them. They are socialists because they are blinded by envy and ignorance.
Economist Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)
I fully recognize that the United States has been slouching toward socialism for a long, long time, and the last few years with George W. Bush at the helm hasn’t slowed that trend. But with Barack Obama and the current crop of Democrats leading both houses of Congress, I fear that things will accelerate in the next four years.
Historically, I think the growing socialistic nanny state in the US has continued to grow because it can readily feed off of the private sector. But if we as a country continue down that road with more and more money from businesses and the ‘wealthy’ being redistributed, something is going to break. And it’s not going to be pretty.