DONALD CONKEY: Socialism never the answer – Cherokee Tribune Ledger News
Some time ago, the Cherokee Tribune published Roger Hines weekly column, a column the Tribune titled Shared Poverty. Hines condensed into 750 words one of the best essays on socialism ever written.
In addition, it provided for the average American the best description of how capitalism came to America as the best engine of prosperity and wealth the world has ever known. Capitalism, not socialism, provides every human being an equal opportunity to gain and preserve both their freedom and wealth.
Hines also took to task Americas higher education system and how it has rejected capitalism in favor of socialism, thus fanning the flames that always led to corruption and the eventual self-destruction of those nations that reject capitalism in favor of socialism.
Socialism is a softer word for communism. Hines mentioned that Adam Smiths The Wealth of Nations was published in 1776, just three months before Thomas Jefferson created Americas Declaration of Independence. Was that a coincidence or was it a divine message to the Founders who were in the process of creating Americas economic engine?
Another coincidence: Edward Gibbons published his Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire in 1787 the same year the Founders created Americas Tree of Liberty, Americas unique Constitution.
I dont believe either of these great books were coincidences. Both were published with divine guidance, the first to establish America on one of Gods great natural laws the law of economic competition, the right of individuals to create for themselves, with minimum government interference, through study and hard work, the life best suited for them.
Americas role: to be the example of freedom to the worlds enslaved and downtrodden. I firmly believe that Smiths Wealth of Nations and Gibbons Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire were both inspired by Jeffersons Creator, with Gibbons book written as a warning to America of what would happen if America followed in the footsteps of the ancient Romans.
As I read Hines column, Detroit came to mind. Detroit was in the early 1900s the worlds premier example of how capitalism had brought prosperity to the masses. But in the 1950s, Detroit chose a socialistic government and in July 2013 Detroit filed for bankruptcy, $18 billion in debt with only $1 billion in assets.
Detroit is the perfect example of how socialism destroys from within. I once worked in those factories that turned out automobiles by the millions and war materials during both world wars. Detroit, as a capitalist city, played a major role in helping defeat the Axis powers during both wars and in preserving freedom and liberty for the worlds enslaved.
The only thing Hines did not mention in his column was that socialism is not only an equal divider of poverty, but that it also kills. He mentioned how Russia, the epitome of socialism/communism during the last century, failed to feed its people but he forgot to mention that socialism also kills.
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Stalin, to gain total control of Russia killed the intellectuals and capitalists; over 30 million were killed with additional millions sent to Siberia to die in concentration camps.
Nor did Hines mention China, but beginning in the 1950s Mao began his brutal and destructive war again Chinas capitalistic state. Over the next few decades Mao murdered 50 million Chinese. I dont think socialism is what Americans want.
When I worked on the assembly lines in Detroits auto shops, for a dollar an hour, it was my introduction to the world of work. Detroit was a magnet for the unemployed throughout the Midwest and Eastern Canada. My familys farm was 120 miles north of Detroit and I and dozens of neighbor boys would find work in the Detroit plants, providing us with dollars not available locally.
In addition, millions were spent by startup companies in building support shops throughout the Michigan area where local farmers could find work to support their farming operations, as did I in 1954 after returning from serving in the Korean War.
As the family historian, I researched my family from throughout Ontario and then traced their migrations to Michigan where they found jobs in Detroits auto plants. That Detroit is now gone with all its glitter and wealth. Only Detroits skeleton remains; destroyed by its leaders ignoring the laws of Nature and of Natures God. Socialism truly is Poverty Equally Divided!
Roger Hines classic column should be required reading for every graduating student in America, then tested on the principles of the economic freedoms he spelled out so clearly in his column.
Donald Conkey is a retired agricultural economist in Woodstock.
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DONALD CONKEY: Socialism never the answer - Cherokee Tribune Ledger News
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