You have undoubtedly heard the phrase “the pot calling the kettle black.” We use this little expression to put a person back in their place when she or he speaks hypocritically; in days gone by, our forefathers cooked over a fire which blackened cookware with soot. So while a pot might accuse the kettle of being black with soot, it too was caked in the same blackness from years over the same fire.

I would like to suggest another use of the phrase. The pot, knowing it is totally caked in soot, is an expert on what black is and is better able to recognize similar blackness in others. So when the pot accuses the kettle of being black, it is essentially saying, “I see we have a lot in common. I’m black as night and I see that you are too. You have obviously spent your life in service over the open fire as I have.”

With this in mind, two different voices spoke out publicly this week, saying “Having personal and deep knowledge of Marxism, it is obvious that the US is speeding down the road to Marxism.” While this is my own paraphrasing, both individuals made this accusation unambiguously.

First: Committed Marxist and aspiring communist dictator, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela has nationalized (government confiscation of private businesses) most of Venezuela’s key economic sectors. Recognizing a kindred spirit in Obama, Chavez paused during one of his infamous paternalistic lectures on his favorite subject (the scourge of capitalism and the glories of socialism) to opine: “Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than General Motors. Comrade Obama!”

He continued with a warning to fellow Marxist and Cuban dictator Fidel Castro: “Fidel, careful or we are going to end up to his (Obama’s) right.” Imagine!  Communist dictators expressing concern that an American president might be more socialist than they are. Clearly, the pot is seeing something in common with the kettle!

Second: The official newspaper of the Soviet communist party was Pravda. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the same publication was resurrected as an independent news organization, which employed most of the same journalists as Pravda. This week Pravda Online published an
editorial written by a man quite experienced with life under Soviet rule. This gentleman’s insights and reasoning are worthy of our attention. His thesis: “It must be said, that like the breaking of a great dam, the American descent into Marxism is happening with breathtaking speed, against the backdrop of a passive, hapless sheeple, excuse me dear reader, I meant people.”

1. The author then lists four critical events that led to American’s blind acceptance of the collapse into corruption and socialism.
   “First, the population was dumbed down through a politicized and substandard education system based on pop culture, rather than the classics. Americans know more about their favorite TV dramas than the [political] drama in [Washington D.C.] that directly affects their lives. They care more for their ‘right’ to choke down a McDonalds burger or a Burger King burger than for their constitutional rights.”
2. “Then their faith in God was destroyed, until their churches, all tens of thousands of different ‘branches and denominations’ were for the most part little more than Sunday circuses and their televangelists and top protestant mega preachers were more than happy to sell out their souls and flocks to be on the “winning” side of one pseudo Marxist politician or another.”
3. “The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America’s short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more than another year … America at best will resemble the Weimar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe [both noted for their hyperinflation and economic collapse].”
4. “These past two weeks have been the most breathtaking of all. First came the announcement of a planned redesign of the American Byzantine tax system, by the very thieves who used it to bankroll their thefts, losses and swindles of hundreds of billions of dollars. These make our Russian oligarchs look like little more than ordinary street thugs, in comparison. Yes, the Americans have beat our own thieves in the sheer volumes.”

Most poignantly, though, the author recounts how Russians did not embrace Marxism, but were violently forced to submit to it. “The initial testing ground [of Marxism and communism] was conducted upon our Holy Russia and a bloody test it was. But we Russians would not just roll over and give up our freedoms and our souls, no matter how much money Wall Street poured into the fists of the Marxists.”

While I and most conservatives share the sentiments expressed by both Hugo Chavez and the Pravda editorialist, so many of our fellow citizens are either 1) incapable of understanding what is happening to our country, 2) willfully and dangerously ignorant, 3) traitorously indifferent, or 4) complicit in the imposition of socialism and Marxism upon the populace. My question is whether Americans will roll over and give up the freedoms dearly won in the blood of our martyrs, thereby abandoning the vision of our founding fathers. Or, will we stand up like the Russians, the Koreans, the Chinese, and the Vietnamese and say “Enough is enough! We will allow no one to destroy the divine miracle of America!”

Hundreds (if not thousands) of Tea Partys were held this week around the country to demonstrate popular objection to Obama’s massive spending and the anticipated equally massive tax increases to pay for it. In advance of this grassroots activity, the mainstream press announced that it would not report on the protests because it was a “non-event.” Conservative pundits were hardly surprised given the mainstream press’ reluctance to report on anything that runs counter to their cheerleading for Obama.

Once again, though, Obama and the press are out of step with the American people, while conservative sentiments continue to align with the citizenry. Recently, a
Rasmussen survey found that 75% of America (a super majority) is distrustful of government, while only 7% support the “political class.” Specifically, the study found that most of the country:

• Trusts the judgment of the American people more than they do the judgment of America’s political leaders.
• Believes that the federal government has itself become a special interest group that looks out primarily for its own interest(s).
• Believes government and big business work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.

Underscoring these sentiments is another Rasmussen survey that found only 14% of Americans believe that the federal government will do a better job running the big three automakers than private industry. A full 67% believe the automakers will be worse off with the federal government in charge.

It should be noted that in each of these studies, a majority of Republicans AND a majority of Democrats side with the majority of Americans – these sentiments cut across party lines. This supports my assertion that most Americans do not understand conservatism and that most Americans hold views consistent with conservative principles.

In apparent contrast to this opinion, yet another Rasmussen survey found that barely half of all Americans believe that capitalism is better than socialism.

Looking deeper at capitalism/socialism preferences, the study found that people with investments, Republicans, and Americans with more life experience (older than 30 years) are decidedly in favor of capitalism. Even a small majority of democrats and people without investments prefer capitalism. The one demographic group that overwhelmingly prefers socialism is adults under 30 years.

Given that only 53% of Americans recognize the benefits of capitalism, how is it that 75% are distrustful of the government’s management of the economy? One possible explanation is that many/most people do not understand what the two terms mean or how they differ. The survey simply asked which system people preferred, capitalism or socialism; it did not attempt to define the two terms. Perhaps simple ignorance explains the apparent disparity between this survey and the others cited.

On this disparity, Rasmussen opines: “The fact that a ‘free-market economy’ attracts substantially more support than ‘capitalism’ may suggest some skepticism about whether capitalism in the United States today relies on free markets.” They support this position with added evidence that only 15% of Americans prefer a government-managed economy (a popular definition of socialism).

Which brings me back to my assertion that most Americans don’t understand conservatism and that most Americans hold views consistent with conservative principles. This is a lesson we conservatives can take to heart. When speaking with non-conservatives it is best to assume a certain level of political naiveté and find common ground, which usually exists since most people hold conservative values in their heart of hearts, and then build agreement on the underlying conservative principle(s).

Then, most important of all, resist the urge to accuse them of being a closet conservative!

China is the single biggest debt-holder of the United States Government. Over the last several weeks, China (not to mention several prominent members of the largely socialist European Union) has expressed growing concern over Obama’s handling of the current economic crisis and his administration’s push for increased economic globalization. Their concern, not surprisingly, is not altruistic but is at root a concern for its own economic welfare. Since China has vast holdings of U.S. government bonds and is hugely dependent on product sales to the U.S. economy, they are rightly concerned when something threatens the economic viability of our country. In other words, if our economy is sufficiently damaged, the U.S. will default on its debt and reduce trade, which will damage the already precarious Chinese economy.
 
Speaking from this position of concern, and likely trying to strengthen its role in global economic matters, China recently proposed the creation of a new global currency to replace the U.S. dollar. Russia is of like mind and has not only called for an international currency to replace the dollar, but is taking the next step of convening an international conference to discuss the creation of that currency.
 
For the last several decades, the dollar has been the most widely used currency in the world, largely because the U.S. has the biggest and strongest economy in the world, and the U.S. political system is one of the most stable around the globe. However, as the Obama administration has taken bold steps to dramatically change the U.S. economy, many abroad have seen such action as reckless and threatening to the overall global marketplace. Premier Wen Jiabao of China recently appealed to Washington to avoid taking any action that would weaken the dollar or threaten the ability of the U.S. to repay its debt.
 
This concern is not being expressed only by communist China. Many governments around the world hold a large portion of their financial reserves in U.S. dollars and rely on them as stabilizing factors in their fiscal planning. Additionally, nearly all countries are reliant on the dollar for numerous commodities and international business transactions. These countries are also at risk should the dollar or the U.S. economy falter or fail. Knowing their welfare is dependent in large part upon our welfare, leaders of many nations have warned the U.S. about its plan for the federal government to spend its way out of the recession. France, Germany, and the United Kingdom have all joined the chorus in expressing their doubts and concerns about Obama’s spending plans.
 
Normally, I’m not one to give much ear to socialists and communists who try to tell the U.S. how to run its business. But when voices of socialists and communists around the world speak in harmony with each other, together with American conservatism, such harmonics do catch my attention. This is especially true when the choir members have already traversed the road Obama is now embarking on. These nations boldly marched the socialist road to the brink of economic collapse and are deliberately backing away from socialism. (Russia excepted here. The Soviet Union drove off that economic cliff and ceased to exist as an empire.) These nations know the terrain and the landmarks and they are saying, “Stop!  There is a cliff ahead!”
 
As Obama moves the U.S. economy squarely into the realm of socialism (in some ways further left than where most of socialist Europe and communist China are today) we need to ask ourselves:

• Has a socialist economy ever succeeded in consistently raising the standard of living for its people?
• Does socialism inspire innovation and foster efficiencies?
• Does socialism preserve individual liberties?
• Has government ownership of business improved profits, products, choice, availability, or fostered healthy competition?

To date, the world has yet to witness affirmative answers to any of these questions.
 
As for replacing the U.S. dollar with another currency as the currency of trade and national reserves I am rather agnostic. There are pros and cons either way. Personally, I’m inclined to focus on the health of the dollar rather than the national ego of printing the international currency of choice. Of much more importance, however, is that nations around the globe are expressing strong concern about the U.S. government’s handling of the economic crisis and the likely outcome. Add to those voices the 60% of Americans who doubt the efficacy of Obama’s plans and a rational person must ask why Obama et al are running at full steam without pausing to listen to reasoned and experienced voices of caution?
 
Well, maybe it is the audacity of arrogance or the audacity of ignorance. Most likely, though, it is the audacity or power-mongering and the audacity of Marxist ideology.
 
Let us each bolster our hope for America’s welfare with the resolve to play a role in changing the direction our nation is currently headed.

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As a point of clarification, we can always have a different global currency (the Euro, the Sterling Pound, etc.) and retain our dollar for mainly domestic use. This is what the rest of the world does today. It is a quite different matter to surrender autonomy by adopting a new national currency as Europe did via the Euro. This is not what is discussed above.

Rob from the Rich…
This notion may have originated with Robin Hood, but it was Karl Marx who made the doctrine infamous. The Marxist equivalent, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” epitomizes communist principles. Slowly and quietly, the radical left has championed this Marxism in America for eight decades, working slowly, cautiously and mostly through stealth. With the election of the country’s most radical senator to the office of president, the left no longer needs to resort to secrecy.

Much of the Economic Destruction Plan recently passed by Congress shamelessly fosters the transfer of wealth. Due to the magnitude of that legislation, most of the public has no idea what it will do. Hearing very few objections from the electorate, Obama has been emboldened and is marching proudly forward with the Marxist agenda he trumpeted during the presidential race. (Click for a good and thorough backgrounder on Obama’s politics.)

Cap and Trade
Sources close to Obama have said he is moving forward with a proposal to tax carbon emissions. Leaving aside for a moment that our breath has been classified as a pollutant and that human-generated carbon dioxide has no demonstrable impact on the climate, Obama plans to tax businesses and industries emitting the evil gas. His little scheme is called Cap and Trade.

Under Cap and Trade, businesses will be forced to curtail their carbon dioxide emissions or buy permits if they cannot, or choose not, to reduce these emissions. The permits are sold by the government, which can set ridiculously low limits and charge whatever it wants. The European model of Cap and Trade has been operational for 4 years and has resulted in significantly higher costs while doing very little to lower emissions. American Cap and Trade will increase the jobless rate and act as significant tax on every American business and consumer as nearly all segments of the economy will be impacted.

Hey, but there is a bright side to Cap and Trade—the proceeds (after government administration expenses) will be distributed as welfare payments (tax credits) to the poor and to help people deal with higher energy costs. (Now there is some lunacy, tax energy because it is evil and give those tax funds back to the tax-payer to help pay for the more expensive energy they have to consume.)

Punish the Rich
Mr. Obama is also proposing to dramatically increase taxes on high-income earners, specifically those households earning a combined income in excess of $250,000. Their marginal rate will increase to 41.6% when their hidden deductions are phased-out. Additionally, tax rates are set to increase for capital gains (profits from selling items like real estate, stocks, or gold) and stock dividends. By the way, these last two taxes are paid by almost all investors regardless of their income levels. The plunder taken from rich will be used to fund the $634 billion overhaul of the U.S. health-care system. Unfortunately, these additional taxes won’t come remotely close to paying the proposed health-care bill. (see WSJ article)

Obama is confident that most Americans won’t be too offended that he is socking it to those dastardly rich folks. However, most of us are clever enough to realize that it is this group of people who take their money and invest it in the stock market, in businesses, in new jobs, and in the overall economy. If they are punished for making money, they will do what any sane person would do; find the best ways to avoid taxes. History shows that when the rich start conserving their money and avoiding heavy tax burdens, the economy slows, jobs dry up, and the stock market stagnates along with nearly everyone’s retirement funds. So who is really being punished, the rich who are preserving their wealth or you and me trying to scrape together enough to pay our bills and taxes?

The Lessons of Marxism
One hundred and fifty years after Karl Marx, our world can evaluate numerous examples of communism at work. As we all know, not one communist regime has been even nominally effective at building a thriving economy, lowering joblessness, driving innovation, ensuring liberty, or significantly improving lifestyles for its people. Communism and its close cousin, socialism, are however very effective at keeping a tight rein on the populace and preventing people from improving their personal economic situation. In other words, “tax the rich and give to the poor” translates into financially tethering the common guy.

So buckle-up and get ready for a wild ride. If Obama pursues the objectives he has written about and campaigned for, Cap and Trade and Tax the Rich are just the beginning of his unabashed drive to a Marxist America. Next on the agenda are: 1) socialized medicine, 2) disarming the public and/or curbing our right to bear arms, and 3) silencing the opposition through some form of the “fairness doctrine”.