I received this post from a friend of mine named Jessica Morris who is the Spokesperson for Congressman Paul Broun (District 10) and is a new Contributor to Project Logic GA.
=========================================================
Did I miss something in school? I was always taught that one of the reasons that America is the greatest nation on earth is because of capitalism. Not in spite of it. Now I am shocked to hear how so many of my fellow Americans despise the principles of the free market system.
As defined by Merriam-Webster, capitalism is “an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market.” Private decision. Not government intervention, take-over and control. So, why are our elected officials talking about punishing success through higher taxes, dipping into my paycheck and forcing my hand to fund universal healthcare, rewarding irresponsibility and greed through taxpayer-funded bailouts, and creating federal programs for tasks which should be tackled on the local level or, at best, in the private sector?
“I view the federal government as this huge ball of twine of socialism that has been wrapped strand by strand over the years,” Congressman Paul Broun, a proclaimed strict constitutionalist, often explains. “And, I’m working in Washington to unwrap those strands, to leave tax dollars in your pocket, to get the federal regulatory burden off of business and industry so we can have a stronger economy.”
Unlike what some are saying in Washington, it is absolutely not patriotic to pay higher taxes, and the redistribution of wealth is socialism at work. Socialism never has worked and never will work. In totalitarian countries such as the USSR, China, Cuba, and North Korea, it has caused widespread shortages of basic goods and services. It is time to return to the principles of the free market system, for if not, we may very well find ourselves in a far different country than our Founding Fathers fought to provide us.
Now, I am not saying that America is no longer a Democratic Republic or that our leaders will suddenly take away our first amendment rights. I’m not calling anyone a Marxist here, but I am warning that should we continue to look to the government for freebies and handouts, we will be making our bed and forced to lie in it. Instead of demanding more from our government—after all, when has government ever been more efficient than the private sector? The timely responses of churches and non-profits following Hurricane Katrina can attest to that—we should return to the words of President John F. Kennedy when he told his fellow Americans to “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country.” What a far different message than what many are heralding today.
Government dependence is not freedom. Neither is re-distribution of wealth capitalism. It is, however, dangerously close to what former Communist leader Nikita Khrushchev once spoke of: “We can’t expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have Communism.” Think on that…
Project Logic Ga 