Being part of a minority means that liberals always think that I will agree with their misguided way of thinking. When they talk about all of the great things that their side of the house has done, I explain to them that they are really enabling new slavery. That shocks and confuses them.
You see, I believe that when you provide all the basic needs for a person, regardless of how fancy or simple it might be, you are taking their dignity away by hooking them on the dole. Once a person is hooked on the dole, they will do just about anything to stay there. ”If the government is paying for my food, drink, housing, and basic health needs, why should I work and risk losing that?” is a frequent question. Well, we have been doing just that in the inner cities since the 60s, and crime, drug use, pregancies and abortion, and gangs have all increased exponentially. The basics of the struggle have dissapeared, and with that the drive for people to do better, to get educated, to live a clean life, and to remain part of the faith.
The daily struggle that people go thru is what builds the drive to do better and to create wealth. Without that basic struggle for the basics, then the struggle becomes about the secondaries: staying out of drugs and staying alive. Without the true concept of private ownership (which cannot be achieved by providing, only by buying), there is no incentive for people to exit that life style.
Socialism and Socialistic programs enslave people. It starts with the very poor and it grows until it captures entire societies.
Wellfare is socialism. Nationalization (or bailouts if you want to call it that) is socialism. Socialized health care (which is what we are discussing now) is socialism. Much of the Obama agenda is socialism.
What’s worse is that we tried socialism, we recognized that it did not work, and we reformed wellfare back in the mid 90s to give people their dignity back. And it worked. A Democratic President with a Republican congress patched the problem, and that led to huge growth in the economy. Now we are going completely the other way.
Here is a great article from Star Parker about that same subject. Just say No to the Obama agenda.
Back on Uncle Sam’s plantation Star Parker – Syndicated Columnist
Six years ago I wrote a book called Uncle Sam’s Plantation . I wrote the book to tell my own story of what I saw living inside the welfare state and my own transformation out of it.
I said in that book that indeed there are two Americas — a poor America on socialism and a wealthy America on capitalism..
I talked about government programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS), Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with Children (EANF), Section 8 Housing, and Food Stamps.
A vast sea of perhaps well-intentioned government programs, all initially set into motion in the 1960s, that were going to lift the nation’s poor out of poverty.
A benevolent Uncle Sam welcomed mostly poor black Americans onto the government plantation. Those who accepted the invitation switched mindsets from “How do I take care of myself?” to “What do I have to do to stay on the plantation?”
Instead of solving economic problems, government welfare socialism created monstrous moral and spiritual problems — the kind of problems that are inevitable when individuals turn responsibility for their lives over to others.
The legacy of American socialism is our blighted inner cities, dysfunctional inner city schools, and broken black families.
Through God’s grace, I found my way out. It was then that I understood what freedom meant and how great this country is.
I had the privilege of working on welfare reform in 1996, passed by a Republican Congress and signed by 50 percent.
I thought we were on the road to moving socialism out of our poor black communities and replacing it with wealth-producing American capitalism.
But, incredibly, we are going in the opposite direction.
Instead of poor America on socialism becoming more like rich America on capitalism, rich America on capitalism is becoming like poor America on socialism.
Uncle Sam has welcomed our banks onto the plantation and they have said, “Thank you, Suh.”
Now, instead of thinking about what creative things need to be done to serve customers, they are thinking about what they have to tell Messiah in order to get their cash.
There is some kind of irony that this is all happening under our first black president on the 200th anniversary of the birthday of Abraham Lincoln.
Worse, socialism seems to be the element of our new young president. And maybe even more troubling, our corporate executives seem happy to move onto the plantation.
In an op-ed on the opinion page of the Washington Post, Mr. Obama is clear that the goal of his trillion dollar spending plan is much more than short term economic stimulus.
“This plan is more than a prescription for short-term spending — it’s a strategy for America ’s long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, healthcare, and education.”
Perhaps more incredibly, Obama seems to think that government taking over an economy is a new idea. Or that massive growth in government can take place “with unprecedented transparency and accountability.”
Yes, sir, we heard it from Jimmy Carter when he created the Department of Energy, the Synfuels Corporation, and the Department of Education.
Or how about the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 — The War on Poverty — which President Johnson said “…does not merely expand old programs or improve what is already being done. It charts a new course. It strikes at the causes, not just the consequences of poverty.”
Trillions of dollars later, black poverty is the same. But black families are not, with triple the incidence of single-parent homes and out-of-wedlock births.
It’s not complicated. Americans can accept Barack Obama’s invitation to move onto the plantation.. Or they can choose personal responsibility and freedom.
Does anyone really need to think about what the choice should be?
“The trouble with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
I keep on banging the drum on behalf the people of Honduras because what is about to happen to them is not only unjust, but a complete abuse of human nature. The will of the people and the rule of law of the country, based on their constituion, and the balance of power in their governmental branches will be trampled when the Hugo Chavez backed deposed President will be forced back in power, destroying their democracy and institutional balance.
And our great Obama administration, of course, is again supporting the WRONG side on this struggle.
The article below is a not-word-for-word translation of a great blog on http://lahondurasposible.blogspot.com. The author, Margarita Montes, does a great job explaining why the situation happened.
REMEMBER THOMAS JEFFERSON’S WORDS: “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.”
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The removal of President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales by the armed forces in the early morning yesterday, Sunday 28 June, breaks the contemporary Latin American political history paradigm. For the first time since the cold war (from 1989 until now), an army has disposed of a president who was constitutionally and democratically elected, to restore a state of rights in that country, and not to destroy the state of rights, like it was done by the military in previous times.
This cannot be catagorized as a “coupe d’etat”, since it does not fulfil two basic tenets of that political phenomenon: The taking of power BY the military, and the breaking of the state of rights. The action taken by the armed forces of Honduras was based on a JUDICIAL ORDER and its purpose wsa to restablish the rule of law, wich was consistantly violated by the president of the executive branch, when he ignored the orders of the Judicial and Legislative branches, destroying the balance of power (checks and balances). Immediately after the intervention by the armed forces, the political constitution was preserved as the order of succession was respected (as established by the magna carta), which names a new constitutional president.
And from the point of view of political history, Honduras made yesterday a precedent that without any doubt will be studied in universities, by politicians and diplomats throughout the world. For the first time EVER in Latin America, the people of a country rebelled, without bloodshed or violence, against its constituionally and democratically elected president, for violating the laws and institutional rules of the country.
That is precisely why the world press, international organizations, and governments around the world have not yet understood the context and the essence of this case and are still condemning what happened in Honduras, as they are still analysing the situation based on the concepts of the old paradigm of coupes during the Cold War. The international community, both public and private, have not yet had the time, or the information, to understand that yesterday, in Honduras, a new model was born that is completely sui generis (new species)
The lesson that Honduras gave yesterday to the world is very clear: Even though a President is elected democratically and legitimately, that President does not have the right to ignore the constitution and the laws of the Republic. The people are no longer willing to tolerate this type of abuse of power by the constitutional presidents, which are sometimes consider untouchable, by the same right that got them elected by the people. The message of Honduras is simple: the popular vote does not include a license to a criminal, and all of the effort to govern must be done within the framework of the laws of the state.
Probably, not even the Honduran people realize the magnitude of what they did yesterday. As the days, months, and years pass, they will assimilate and comprehend the magnitude of what they created, with a very clear message for them and for others in what awaits constitutional dictators and their tropical apprentices. Whoever has ears needs to listen.
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Most people who understand the dynamics of politics in Latin America know that the OAS has been a powerful force for peace in the region. Lately, the organization has been led by a guy from Chile named Jose Miguel Inzulza. The organization has had left leaning folks at its helm before, but no one like this worthless guy.
Mr. Inzulza comes from a very heavily pro-communist background. He was part of Salvador Allendes government that was overthrown because of its nationalization of industry. He then was exiled to Mexico, where he was close to the most leftist parts of the PRI, the socialist party that was in charge of Mexico until 2000.
Now, to the present. Hugo Chavez has one by one destroyed every single democratic institution in the country. The only thing that Inzuza complained about: That he shut down an opposition TV station. That’s it.
When Nicaragua destroyed its democratic institutions to get Ortega “elected” with less than 40% of the vote, he said nothing. Nada.
When President Colum of Guatemala ordered several people assasinated, including a prominent lawyer (and family friend) that implicated Colom in the murder of other folks to enable Narco-Traffic, Inzuza said very little, outside of HELPING the criminal Colum.
When Chavez threatened to invade Colombia, Inzuza did not blame Chavez, just offered to mediate.
Now that the democratic institutions of Honduras have acted to oust the dictator-want-to-be Zelaya, he is siding with Zelaya instead of the country’s supreme court and congress. Could you imagine if a US president was impeached and fired, and the democratic institutions that did that had to ask the military to execute the order because that President did not follow the rule of the law? Could you imagine that if that happened that the institutions that are there to support democracy, such as the OAS, would come against you?
To make it worse, this Mr. Inzulza is seeking reelection and it looks like our wimp-of-a-president will support his bid.
So where is this all going, you ask? Well, remember the 70s? Remember how many nations went communist, socialist, or theocracys? The Carter years are going to look like nothing compared to where we are going to end up after this Obama administration that does not oppose the likes of Mr Inzulza, Chavez, Ortega, Zelaya, Colum, and their axis of idiots.
This week, the Honduran military took steps to defend the constitution of the country and to follow the orders of the supreme court of that country. Socialists and Communist leaders, including our own Obama and his Clintonites condemed the action at a military coup. It could not be further from the truth.
Here is the truth: President Zelaya, trying to follow the tyranical footsteps of his good friend Hugo Chavez, was trying to change the constitution of his country ILLEGALY and not in accordance to the steps outlined by the country’s supreme court. When the supreme court asked the military to prevent an illegal vote that he was trying to force, the military’s chief asked Zelaya not to go forward, as he would be forced to follow the orders of the court. So Zelaya promptly (and ILLEGALY) fired him. This is what a dictator does. The army then took the steps to protect the ballots as requested by the supreme court and Zelaya asked his goons to attack the army post where they were being protected. The supreme court of the country then had no choice to ask the military to remove him from power and promptly replace him by a President chosen by the Congress (not the military). That happened immediately. AND, the congress replaced Zelaya with another politician from HIS OWN PARTY. That, ladies and gentleman, is the rule of law in a Democracy working as prescribed.
PLEASE SEE THE STORY BELOW AND LET THE WORLD KNOW THAT THIS WAS NOT A COUP AND THAT HONDURAS IS JUST PROTECTING IT’S CONSTITUTION AND DEMOCRACY. LOBBY YOUR REPRESENTATIVES TO HELP THESE POOR FOLKS THAT ARE BEING ATTACKED BY CHAVEZ, ORTEGA, CASTRO, OBAMA, CLINTON, AND THE OTHER LEFTIST EVIL-DOERS. THEY NEED YOUR HELP.
Chavez even went as far as notifying its military that they might invade Cuba. Obama is completely and stupidly silent on this.
I am 100% pro democracy and completely anti-coups. What happened here was a coup in reverse, where the president of the country was trying to force a democratic country into a communist/socialist dictatorship of the Chavez mold. Please support these folks as there are no voices of liberty left in our part of the world.
Please read the following story published in the Wall Street Journal:
Hugo Chávez’s coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation’s constitution.
It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking.
But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya’s abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground.
That Mr. Zelaya acted as if he were above the law, there is no doubt. While Honduran law allows for a constitutional rewrite, the power to open that door does not lie with the president. A constituent assembly can only be called through a national referendum approved by its Congress.
But Mr. Zelaya declared the vote on his own and had Mr. Chávez ship him the necessary ballots from Venezuela. The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do.
The top military commander, Gen. Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, told the president that he would have to comply. Mr. Zelaya promptly fired him. The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Mr. Zelaya refused.
Calculating that some critical mass of Hondurans would take his side, the president decided he would run the referendum himself. So on Thursday he led a mob that broke into the military installation where the ballots from Venezuela were being stored and then had his supporters distribute them in defiance of the Supreme Court’s order.
The attorney general had already made clear that the referendum was illegal, and he further announced that he would prosecute anyone involved in carrying it out. Yesterday, Mr. Zelaya was arrested by the military and is now in exile in Costa Rica.
It remains to be seen what Mr. Zelaya’s next move will be. It’s not surprising that chavistas throughout the region are claiming that he was victim of a military coup. They want to hide the fact that the military was acting on a court order to defend the rule of law and the constitution, and that the Congress asserted itself for that purpose, too.
Mrs. Clinton has piled on as well. Yesterday she accused Honduras of violating “the precepts of the Interamerican Democratic Charter” and said it “should be condemned by all.” Fidel Castro did just that. Mr. Chávez pledged to overthrow the new government.
Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.
Many Hondurans are going to be celebrating Mr. Zelaya’s foreign excursion. Street protests against his heavy-handed tactics had already begun last week. On Friday a large number of military reservists took their turn. “We won’t go backwards,” one sign said. “We want to live in peace, freedom and development.”
Besides opposition from the Congress, the Supreme Court, the electoral tribunal and the attorney general, the president had also become persona non grata with the Catholic Church and numerous evangelical church leaders. On Thursday evening his own party in Congress sponsored a resolution to investigate whether he is mentally unfit to remain in office.
For Hondurans who still remember military dictatorship, Mr. Zelaya also has another strike against him: He keeps rotten company. Earlier this month he hosted an OAS general assembly and led the effort, along side OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, to bring Cuba back into the supposedly democratic organization.
The OAS response is no surprise. Former Argentine Ambassador to the U.N. Emilio Cárdenas told me on Saturday that he was concerned that “the OAS under Insulza has not taken seriously the so-called ‘democratic charter.’ It seems to believe that only military ‘coups’ can challenge democracy. The truth is that democracy can be challenged from within, as the experiences of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and now Honduras, prove.” A less-kind interpretation of Mr. Insulza’s judgment is that he doesn’t mind the Chávez-style coup.
The struggle against chavismo has never been about left-right politics. It is about defending the independence of institutions that keep presidents from becoming dictators. This crisis clearly delineates the problem. In failing to come to the aid of checks and balances, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Insulza expose their true colors.