C’mon…are we really socialist?

Not that Obama has violently overthrown the bourgeoisie with his rag-tag band of suicidal Democrat proletariat workers, it’s not uncommon to hear that we are now in a “socialist country”. I would submit that this is not the case.

First of all, a socialism and/or communism generally have a policy of seizure and redistribution that applies to people who have already been born. In our case, most of of the money we’ll be spending (over the long haul due to interest) will be paid by future generations (either directly or via inflation). This is not socialism. It’s a pretty brilliant new conflict theory, but not socialism.

Second, socialism generally has a plan. Our government is clearly making this stuff up as it goes along…although like soc/communism there are people getting mega-rich in the process.

So while I don’t think we’re anything close to a socialist nation, I do think we are definitely entering an era of a “Command/Control” style economy.

All cats are animals, but not all animals are cats. Similarly, socialist economies are generally command/control economies, but not all command/control economies are socialist. So it’s a fallacy to to think that just because our government is increasingly legislating the minutiae of our economy, that this style must be socialism.

But they are legislating the minutiae of our economy. And it won’t be long before everything is defined in the lawbooks.

Want an example? Check out the laws on credit/debit cards. That’s right, the same political entity that told King George to go jump, who wrote the Bill of Rights, expanded our country and enshrined our freedom in Constitution and Law…is now writing a law that will make it possible for merchants to require minimums for credit card purchases.

This is a law. Think about that….not a regulation. A law. And it’s digging down into the nitty gritty details of how even the most basic transaction can occur.

Everywhere you look, energy, healthcare, telecom, the automotive industry, banking….everything, is slowly being installed into an economic framework wholly defined by laws. Very soon (if not already) we will be working in an economy that is set up and functionally defined by politically designed laws that are very difficult to change, much less eliminate.

If this had happened earlier, by law we’d still be riding horses.

Back in middle school (during the cold war) we actually learned about how these command/control style governments were bad and how free market capitalism was going to kick their tail. Apparently not all middle schools were teaching this.

When you combine the looming energy crisis, the eventual debt disaster of the Federal Gubmint, and the collapsing market efficiency of our command/control economy, it’s pretty clear we’re headed for a really dark period of American history. Hey, it happens. Let’s just hope there is some sort of eventual rational response that doesn’t end up in a huge, terrible war.