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PIERCING
ILLUSIONS We have previously mentioned that there is a distinction between getting the right answers and getting the answers right, and that asking the right questions could be crucial to discerning the right answers. Let's look at an illustration: "Is the pen mightier than the sword?" We can bypass the obvious by asking, "What do bull fighters use to kill the bull," balanced against, "How would you contain the bull," neither of which produced what you were expecting. Solving problems begins with discerning what is the specific problem to be solved and then asking the right questions. In his 1981 Inaugural Address, President Reagan said, "Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." Our last article concluded with the statement, "Money is not the root of all evil; government is. Acknowledging that the federal government is a bubble, the next logical question is, "What is causing the expansion of government?" According to the Grandfather's Economic Report, "Federal government spending increased 8 times faster than the economy...In the 1990s the federal government created $2.8 trillion of new debt; more than was created in the nation's entire 200 hundred year history prior to 1990." Let's look at some trends:
"The
left chart shows total federal spending as a share of the economy -
growing from 3%
Clearly government is a bubble and clearly socialism is the cause. Again from Mike Hodges, "The Social Spending portion consumes 58% of the total, and has increased 14 times faster than the economy." Not convinced? How about these?
History tells us that bubbles are unsustainable trends, and that unsustainable trends end. Contrary to this, Gokhale-Smetters actually predicts that these trends are not going to end; they are going to compound, getting much worse. Do the trends reflected in the charts above coupled with the projections of Gokhale-Smetters represent irreconcilable conflicts with the following charts?
Until this point, we have merely been "penning" down the nature of the problem with a few questions to which we have tried to supply answers that are right. Now it is time to turn our attention to asking the right questions in order to find the right answers. If socialism is driving the growth of government, and if the growth of government is undermining the economy, how can we end socialism and reverse the growth of government? Who are the likely people to accomplish this? Socialism and its accompanying government growth have been undermining and gutting the capital base of our country and our economy for seventy years. Less than five years from now, socialism's growth will begin to gut the mechanisms of capital formation through consumption of the savings pool and the destruction of the savings pool itself through inflation at an accelerating rate. Under existing law, socialism is going to bring down the most important economy in the free world. When our economy collapses, the global economy will almost surely follow suit. Although the problems that confront our country appear to be financial and economic in origin, it will not be businesses, financiers, economists or even entrepreneurs that provide the solutions. Nor will these problems be solved by the Federal Reserve. The economic problems posed by socialism can not actually be solved. Any "apparent solution" that seems to temporarily balance cash flows will merely delay the inevitable collapse and prolong the misery. Socialism is a flawed economic model inevitably leading to failure and should be abandoned as quickly as possible. Socialism is a political creation and if socialism is to be ended, it is going to have to abolished politically by defeating the politicians who sponsor and perpetuate it. "Professional" politicians are the only people that benefit from socialism. "Professional" politicians are the cause of socialism and the sole means of spread. The question we should be asking is who can defeat the "professional" politicians? We have already discussed the fact that the possibility is remote that a third party could end socialism before the Gokhale-Smetters clock runs out. The Democratic Party has been the home of the socialists and is the home of most "professional" politicians that presently sponsor socialism. The Democratic Party will not participate in the abolition of socialism. In truth, the Democratic Party will resist the abolition of socialism to its last dying breath. During past decades, the Republican Party has managed to only offer token resistance to either the expansion of existing socialistic programs or to the creation of new socialistic programs. More recently, some Republicans have begun to be active participants in expanding socialistic programs and many joined in President Bush's shameful effort that created a Medicare Prescription drug benefit. If socialism is to be ended before socialism brings the United States to its economic knees, it will initially be up to the Reagan Wing of the Republican Party and the citizen-statesmen that it recruits to get the Great Debate started as the catalyst that will eventually launch the Reagan Renaissance. The Reagan Wing's campaign to end socialism will be two-pronged. Social Security is the "holy grail" for the advocates of socialism. There is no Constitutional authority for Social Security. Social Security is a mandatory program. Freedom means having the right to choose. A government mandated program is an affront to any concept of freedom. The Pro-Choice Social Security initiative will be the first focus of attack. Term Limits will be the second focus of attack through a Term Limits Amendment for members of Congress and a Term Limits Amendment for all members of the Federal Judiciary. Because Constitutional Amendments will take time, the main thrust of the Reagan Wing will be the effort to term limit "professional" politicians by electoral defeat in each successive election beginning with the 2006 election. Without a national spokesman and in the absence of a major media presence, only you can spread the word about the Reagan Wing of the Republican Party and the Reagan Renaissance it hopes to foster. You can make a difference. Contact your friends and family. Send a link to these articles to Republican office holders and candidates that represent your district. Inform them of your views on socialism and that you are Pro-choice. Please email a link to this article and one to the Reagan Renaissance Archive to your favorite conservative third party, web site, political analyst, talk show host or any other conservative organization that might have an interest in turning up the heat in order to melt the ice. One man standing on the dock pushing on the bow of the Titanic will eventually push the ship away from the dock. Avoiding the iceberg in our future is going to take a lot of hands on deck. And time is of the essence.
Chart Courtesy: The Grandfather Economic Report and Contrary Investor Author's
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