Milton Friedman on Collectivism

Government is too intrusive in our lives, building its power to control since the early 1900's. This administration has outdone itself, making socialist FDR look like a piker. Most of Obama's estimated 45 executive branch advisers (czars) have not been vetted, not passed senate approval, answer to no one but Obama, refuse to respond to freedom of information act requests, a justice department that selectively enforces the law, and a president that just plain ol' decides to issue executive orders to open US borders to illegal immigration, shut down mines and oil fields, and a whole list of things only congress, constitutionally, can do. If his ideas are so good, why does he and his Party pass legislation in the middle of the night, announce regulations on Friday afternoon when most are done with the week and not paying attention. This country did not become the most productive and free, benefiting the most amount of people on the planet in the history of civilization, because of totalitarians. Humanity is only impoverished and suffer under Statism, and Obama is the most Statist, anti-democratic, anti-republic president ever.

This eight minute clip concisely makes the point that we need to look at the results of collectivism vs capitalism. The intention of collectivism, what Obama and the Democrat Party want and are forcing down our collective throats, is social justice, equality and the rest is a good thing, but the result is always no just and only the political class and their supporters experience any equality.

http://youtu.be/W-8g5S0z5Y4

Grains of Liberty

One of the ancient and less known Greek philosophers, Eubulides, made an observation about a heap of sand. If one took away a single grain from the heap, it would still be a heap. Take away two grains, and you’ve still got a heap. The question becomes how many grains of sand have to be removed from the heap before it's no longer a heap of sand?

How many grains of liberty have to be taken away before we have no liberty?

Energy, the life blood of our liberty. The grains being taken away? No oil refining plants built in decades. One grain. No nuclear energy allowed. Two grains. No offshore drilling. Three grains. No new oil wells allowed. Four grains. Those and all the unemployed energy workers equal how many grains? No processing of shale for oil is a grain. No Alaska north shore drilling is a grain.

ObamaCare and all the limitations on choice are how many grains of liberty taken away? The legislation requires a citizen to purchase health insurance whether he/she wants it or not, under penalty of imprisonment, fine, or both. One grain. One can go through this legislation that was passed a year ago, around midnight on Christmas Eve by one political party, and find lots of grains of liberty being taken away.  

Sales tax, property tax, income tax, usage taxes and fees totaled together removes about half of each citizen's income and redistributes it to the government. How many grains of liberty do we loose? How much more liberty could you have if your income were say, 35% more, allowing the government a much smaller portion of the grains that give you economic liberty? How many grains of liberty are lost when those tax dollars are given to multi-$trillion companies, their CEO’s and boards, that take that money, turn it around and finance the political campaigns of the politicians that gave them that money?

How many grains of liberty are lost when citizens give up our forth amendment rights against unlawful search and seizure when we want to fly?

How many grains of liberty are lost when children come out of the government education monopoly not knowing about mathematics, literature, history, the Constitution, or how to be a free thinker?

How many grains of liberty are lost when the government tells us what we can eat? The glaring example of this is San Francisco passing legislation telling businesses that stock vending machines what they can put in them, that McDonald’s happy meals are made illegal, or the city council of New York City telling chefs how much salt they can use in their dishes.

How many grains of liberty are lost when an enemy foreign country, China, controls our two and a half $trillion debt, and another enemy bent on our destruction, Russia, comes ever so close to dictating our military strategy and missile defense in Europe? How many grains of liberty are lost when Islamofacist countries build up giant military forces and are close to having nuclear weapons, and nothing is done?

How many grains of liberty are taken away when majority of citizens say to the elites, enough is enough, quit taking so much of our money, stop making so many laws that we can hardly breathe a breath of freedom; and for saying that, vilified and called Nazis, fascists, racists, homophobes and bigots, violent when there is not violence, haters when there is no hate, instead of being listened to.

How many grains are taken away when the right to freedom of religion in the Constitution becomes the tool for the repression of religion; primarily Christianity while giving a pass to Islamofacism?

How many grains of liberty are lost when politicians are voted out of office in protest of their taking away so many of our liberties and so much of our money, and use the last weeks of their power to continue trying to pass legislation that they were thrown out of office for trying to pass in the first place?

How many grains of liberty are lost when states on the border pass legislation to protect themselves because the federal government won't, and the citizens are getting raped, robbed and murdered, and the federal government sues the states for trying to protect themselves? 

At what point does the heap of liberty cease to be a heap? 

Views on the Economy

Regarding the economy, the Statist idea of taking massive amounts of money from a few people, pocketing a lot of it, and giving the rest to constituents, as the basis of national fiscal management doesn't work, has never worked, and never will if the desired result is the most amount of wealth and productivity for the most amount of people.

Another analogy is a man with a bucket at a swimming pool. He's dipping the bucket in the deep end, walking to the shallow end and pouring the contents there, thinking he'll make the shallow end deeper.

Statism ( Beginning Now, I'll Be Using This Word Instead of Liberal or Liberalism)

Statism (or Etatism) is a term that may refer to any (or all) of the following:
Government having a major role in the direction of the economy, both through state-owned enterprises and indirectly through the central planning of overall economy.

The "concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government."

The Facist concept of statism which holds that "basic concept that sovereignty is vested not in the people but in the national state, and that all individuals and associations exist only to enhance the power, the prestige, and the well-being of the state. The fascist concept of statism repudiates individualism and exalts the nation as an organic body headed by the Supreme Leader and nurtured by unity, force, and discipline."