Information about RSS

Socialism and Imperialism Are Taking Us Down
by Jacob G. Hornberger

In a February 6 editorial, the mainstream newspaper the New York Times took note of the dangers of out-of-control federal spending and soaring debt. In 2011 alone, the projected deficit is $1.3 trillion, an amount that even the Times calls “breathtaking.”

But what is even more breathtaking is what Times recommends that federal officials do. You’re not going to believe this and so here’s the link to the editorial so you can verify what I’m saying.

The Times is saying that U.S. officials must spend even more money than they’re already spending, in order to create jobs!

That’s right, on the one hand, the NYT editorial board, which has to consist of some rather smart people, says that “persistently high deficits are harmful to the economy and the country’s long-run security” and, on the other hand, says that the federal government must spend even more money in order to create a “jobs revival.”

That is economic nonsense in its purest form.

Now, consider this article — “Is Greece’s Debt Trashing the Euro?” — that was published by the Times on the same date as the editorial. The point it makes is that Greece’s soaring indebtednesses is threatening to bring down the entire Euro monetary system.

No doubt the NYT editorial board would say, “Greece just needs to spend more money to create jobs.”

In its editorial, the NYT points out that Republican criticism of the deficit and the national debt ring hollow because the Bush administration did the same thing. That’s of course true. But what the Times fails to mention is what Bush did to cause federal spending to soar out of control: He ordered the troops to invade and occupy Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pardon me, but didn’t the NYT support those imperialist escapades that enabled Bush to send federal spending through the roof?

Don’t you just love people who rail against out-of-control federal spending while embracing and supporting the things that the spending is going for?

Consider Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and military spending — the programs that everyone agrees are the root causes of out-of-control federal spending and soaring debt.

The statists always call for reform, reform, reform. The latest brilliant proposal, which the NYT endorses, is a commission to study the problem, one that will inevitably conclude, “The system needs reform.”

Hope springs eternal for the statists. All that’s needed is more spending, higher taxes, and “reform,” and socialist-imperialist paradise will finally have arrived.

That’s just siren-song nonsense. What’s actually needed is a repeal of all socialist programs, including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and all the rest, along with all the taxes that fund them.

Yes, you read that right — repeal, not reform — and immediate.

No, there will not be people dying in the streets. Instead there will be the greatest outburst of economic prosperity and vitality that people have ever witnessed, along with the greatest outpouring of voluntary charity. It just requires self-esteem, self-confidence, self-reliance, and an unswerving belief in one’s self, others, freedom, and God.

Moreover, it entails an immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, where U.S. troops continue to kill, maim, torture, incarcerate, kidnap, and destroy every day. Yes, you read that right — withdraw immediately. And not only from there, but also from Korea, Europe, Japan (where the Japanese people are demanding an end to the U.S. occupation of their country), Africa, Latin America, and everywhere else. Why, it’s even time to start closing military bases here in the United States. The Cold War ended long ago, and all the U.S. Empire has done since then is stir up trouble to keep the warfare largess flowing to the military-industrial complex.

Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s end the drug war too, immediately. What possible justification for spending money on this 35-year old failed, immoral, and destructive program could there be, except that it provides revenue (including bribes and asset forfeiture) for public officials and drug lords?

Only by restoring a genuinely free-market, limited-government republic to our land can we hope to restore morality, freedom, harmony, and prosperity to our land.

Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Send him email.