by
Rick Dalton
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Social Democracy for which it stands.
Did you notice anything different in this
portion of our pledge that is recited in fewer and fewer schools each
year? One word was replaced by two. One term by another. So, as Hillary famously said at the congressional hearings on the Benghazi cover-up, "What difference does it make?"
I guess it makes a difference to Professor Lane Kenworthy, of the University of Arizona. His newly released book Social Democratic America, (Oxford University Press) makes the case that America is, or should become a social democratic nation. In chapter one of his book, Kenworthy lists some problems America faces:
"..too few ordinary Americans have adequate economic security, too few who grow up in disadvantaged circumstances are able to reach the middle class, and too few have seen their boat lifted when the economic tide rises". Kenworthy, Lane (2013-11-16). Social Democratic America (p. 1). Oxford University Press, USA. Kindle Edition.
So what is the key to a solution for these problems, according to Professor Kenworthy?
"The key to a solution? Government social programs." Ibid.
Government. Social programs. So this is democracy according to Kenworthy? The answer to our problems is government, more government, bigger government. Those words might as well have been written by Barack Obama. The ideas have failed wherever and whenever they have been tried.
Types of Government
We often hear the word democracy used to
describe our form of government, but do we really think about it? Did you immediately think of the original term in
the Pledge?
REPUBLIC.
That’s what America was when the writers of
the U.S. Constitution emerged from the deliberations of that long hot summer in
Philadelphia in 1787. In fact, a woman
actually asked Benjamin Franklin what the Framers had given to “We The People”. His reply was “A republic, madam, if you can
keep it.”
A republic is a system of elected representatives using elements of majority rule, but with the guarantee of minority rights.
A democracy is basically rule by the majority. It hasn’t brought freedom, prosperity and
peace – the three basic yearnings of mankind – anywhere it has been used
as form of government. Franklin said democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for dinner. That’s why the
Framers specifically rejected it.
A social democracy is something entirely different
from these two terms.
.
so·cial de·moc·ra·cy
noun
1.
1.
a socialist system of
government achieved by democratic means. (source: Wikipedia)
/socialism a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled
by the government rather than by individual people and companies .." (Webster's Dictionary)
Many of the socialist nations of Europe, for example, are social democracies. (For the best brief and clear analysis of the basic types of government in the world, click here.)
So What's in Our Future?
A new article by Kenworthy (pictured at left) predicts how the U.S. will be in the future. The article appears in the January/February 2014 issue of
Foreign Affairs, the main publication of the
Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Read the entire article
by clicking here. He says:
"Over the past century, the United States, like other rich nations, has created a number of public insurance programs. But to achieve genuine economic security, equal opportunity, and shared prosperity in the new economy, over the course of the next half century, the federal government will need to greatly expand the range and scope of its existing social insurance programs and introduce new programs." (Foreign Affairs, p. 94)
Equal opportunity, genuine economic security, and shared prosperity? All this equality is going to come directly from the government? Everyone will have a guaranteed income, government provided "public sickness insurance" and equality with everyone else? Impossible without destroying liberty, property rights, and other Constitutional rights.
Now we get to the Alligator
I bet you thought I would never get to the alligator. Jack McLamb, retired Phoenix Police officer and freedom warrior par excellence, is one of my heroes. I met him in 1980 when I read a pamphlet he wrote entitled A Lawman Speaks for Liberty. Yes, it's his title that I have placed at the head of this blog. Anyway, the first time I visited him at his Phoenix home, he showed me something in his bathtub. It was Alley Oop, his five-foot alligator that he previously used in his Officer Friendly presentations at elementary schools. This monster was now too big to take into schools, and so he kept him in the tub! As Jack pulled back the shower curtain, Alley Oop hissed and jumped halfway out of the tub.
Latest news: Jack McLamb passed away yesterday after a battle with a degenerative disease. My next post will be a tribute to my friend, brother and hero.
Jokingly Jack said "that's the problem with alligators. You feed them and they get bigger. He's way too big for the bathtub. Pretty soon he's gonna hurt somebody and I'm gonna have to cage him up or kill him."
Well, that's our problem in America today. The alligator in the tub is the federal government, and to some degree the state governments. Because we have fed it, it has grown larger than even the "cage" called the Constitution. The chains spoken of by Jefferson have been broken and only We the People can repair them. We must return to limited government in a republic.
The Council on Foreign Relations and Lane Kenworthy, along with many other socialist professors, or so it appears, are pushing for a bigger prize: equality of nations. The standard of living of the US and other so-called rich nations must reduced so that we can be comfortably be merged into a one-world government, which will trample on our liberties and reduce each individual (except the privileged few who administer this social democracy) to a minute cog in the machinery of socialism. Is that what you want? If not, what are you doing about it? Kenworthy proclaims in his book that we, who oppose statism and support individual liberty are "fighting a losing battle".
Are you going to be just another sheep eaten by the wolves and alligators, or are we going to get us some alligator shoes? The next post will outline concrete things you can do to increase freedom in America.
FRDMWRX
After a while on the police department, I realized the fact that traffic enforcement isn't always about traffic safety. Sure, DUI, road rage, and some other acts on the road need to be prosecuted, but your average traffic ticket violation is useless in increasing safety. Its utility, and hence it's heavy enforcement, is in the amount of revenue it generates for the jurisdiction that spends it.
I quit looking for violationis and reacted to dangerous driving actions I witnessed, or that were called in. The rest of my time I went looking for real criminals. Today is a time when rethinking law enforcement is valuable activity. Here's a rather hard-line commentary on one day in traffic court witnessed by a renowned economist. To read it, click HERE.
