America's Road To Socialism--Fact or Fiction? (Installment 3)

In the first installment of this four part series we reviewed what the latter day prophets have said about socialism. It is clear that the prophetic voice has warned us against the dangers socialism represent in undermining our free agency in the world.

In the second installment we took a brief look at the origins of socialism and the objectives outlined by the founders of this philosophy. We were able to see that much of what the early socialist thinkers outlined as hallmarks of a socialist nation have become visible in America over the past several decades.

Considering what has been laid out in the first two installments regarding socialism and the danger it poses to freedom and individual liberties, it becomes even more urgent that we determine whether it poses a legitimate threat to our country in our day. Are we indeed on a road to socialism in the United States of America today? There is an abundance of warnings circulating on the airwaves, in print, and on the Internet regarding the increasingly rapid move toward socialism we are experiencing today. In light of the warnings of the prophets in this dispensation, it is vital that we determine whether these claims are worthy of our attention, or if they are nothing more than exaggerated propaganda. It is my belief that the United States of America, the greatest beacon of freedom in all of human history, is being hijacked by those intent on ushering in a new age of socialism in this land. Whether you believe this or not is something you must determine by careful consideration of current events and through a thorough review of steps being taken by our federal government. As you are contemplating this important question, consider the 50 observations outlined in the following section. These are actual developments in our country that have been widely reported in the news media. I consider these 50 observations, along with many others, as evidence supporting the conclusion I’ve arrived at concerning the dangers to our country and way of life.

The following stories have been openly reported in major news outlets over the past two years. This is certainly not an exhaustive list of all milestones we have passed on the road to socialism. Undoubtedly there are many I have not included that are prominent in your mind. As you add your own observations to mine, the frightening path we are on becomes even more evident. These are listed in no particular order.

1. August 2008- Barak Obama proposes windfall profit taxes on oil companies. http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/08/obamas-proposed.html
   
2. October 3, 2008- Banks become subject to governmental controls by accepting funds from TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.
   
3. October 13, 2008- The U.S. Treasury announced it would use TARP funds to assume equity stakes in nine major banks.
   
4. November 10, 2008- U.S. Government invests $40 Billion in taxpayer money to purchase preferred shares in AIG. Government now owns nearly 80% of the company. http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2008/11/10/2008-11-10_government_pumps_more_money_into_aig_inc.html
   
5. November 12, 2008- Secretary of Treasury Paulson announced no TARP funds would be used for the purpose outlined in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, which was to buy up troubled assets. This represents an entity of the federal government usurping authority not explicitly given it through proper legislation.
   
6. December 17, 2008- Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson and Chairman of Federal Reserve, Bernanke coerced Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch. http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle/articleid/2962840
   
7. February 4, 2009- President Obama announces cap on executive pay for banks who accepted TARP assistance. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/politics/05pay.html?_r=1&hp
   
8. March 29, 2009- President Obama “fires” CEO of General Motors. http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/30/youre-fired-obama-fires-gms-ceo/
   
9. March 2009- Obama Administration and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner seek to be given authority to take control of any private company they determine to be a threat to the economy. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Politics/story?id=7153542&page=1
   
10. April 21, 2009- Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geitner indicates he will not allow banks to repay TARP loans early, thereby maintaining governmental control. http://money.cnn.com/2009/03/27/news/economy/tarp_takeback/index.htm
    
11. April 2009- Obama administration gives mandate to Chrysler Corporation that they must merge with Fiat. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12168835?source=rss
    
12. April 2009- Obama administration threatens to fire CEO of Citigroup. http://www.kxmc.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=365948
    
13. April 19, 2009- The Obama administration announces intent to convert shares the government owns in our country’s banks from preferred stock to common stock. This would give the government a voting majority in 19 private banks in the U.S. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/us-may-convert-bailouts-t_n_188784.html
    
14. Government will appoint the board of directors of the new Chrysler/Fiat merger. The majority of the directors will not be employees of either Chrysler or Fiat. The government appointed board will appoint a new CEO. http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12168835?source=rss
    
15. May 14, 2009- Official documents reveal that the nine largest banks in America were forced by the government to accept TARP bailout assistance whether they wanted it or not. http://article.wn.com/view/2009/05/14/US_forced_banks_to_take_bailout_money/
    
16. Ted Kennedy and Rep George Miller sponsor the ironically named Employee Free Choice Act, being co-sponsored by 225 Congressmen (222 Democrats, 3 Republicans) and 40 Senators (39 Democrats, 1 Independent). http://www.heritage.org/research/Labor/bg2027.cfm
    
17. Congress passes bill that targets taxation of AIG executive bonuses. This act represents government nullifying legally executed contracts. Passage of this legislation is also ex post facto, which is prohibited by the constitution (Article 1 Section 9). This action is an example of direct taxation against individual citizens who have not been convicted of any criminal wrongdoing. Add to these government usurpations of power the fact that both the Senate and the Obama administration were aware of the bonus contracts at the time bailout money was given. Additionally, no actions were taken against even more lucrative bonuses given to executives of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, both government agencies.
    
18. Cap and Trade legislation continues to be pushed in both houses of Congress to fight global warming. This would impose significant taxation on carbon dioxide emissions by energy producers and manufacturers. Global warming is being increasingly seen by many as nothing more than a vehicle to enact socialist inspired policies. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Cap and trade bills are nothing short of a government re-engineering of the American economy. And S. 2191, with its aggressive targets to reduce emissions from fossil fuel use, would put the nation on a path of serious economic harm not justified by any benefits”
    
19. May 2009- Government announces likelihood of becoming majority shareholder of GM, with speculation that ownership share could rise to as much as 70%. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/27/likely-taking-majority-ownership-gm/
    
20. June 1, 2009- GM files for bankruptcy protection. As part of the restructuring, the government assumes a 60% ownership stake. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN3044658620090601
    
21. April 7, 2009- Homeland Security memo warns that those who don’t agree with a hard left agenda are extremist and pose a terrorist risk. This includes those who oppose abortion, illegal immigration, gun control legislation, expansion of social programs, same-sex marriage, as well as those who “stockpile food”, support U.S. sovereignty over one-world government, support state or local authority over federal authority, or recently returned from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf
    
22. April 23, 2009- Obama administration suggesting Miranda rates can be suspended in certain instances (example of taking away rights rather than protecting them). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/23/obama-legal-team-wants-de_n_190852.html
    
23. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats championing a return of the “Fairness Doctrine”, which would end conservative commentating on the radio airwaves. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/pelosi-support-return-of-fairness-doctrine/
    
24. The current budget from Obama administration increases entitlement programs by $700BB http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ008.111.pdf
    
25. Moves toward socialized medicine in 2009 spending bill
    - $125MM more for government run community health centers ($2.2BB total)
    - $75MM to assist states in preparing to expand government healthcare
    
26. The 2009 Omnibus Spending bill contained 9,287 earmarks totaling close to $13 billion in taxpayer money collected from across the country. These funds would then be diverted to local projects. The earmark culture keeps Congress beholden to special interests and represents taxation without representation for citizens across the country. Imagine taxpayers from all 50 states contributing close to $6 million for the Kennedy institute in Boston, $2.5 million to renovate a building in Maysville, Kentucky, $4.75 million for a road in Montana, or $1 million to fight Mormon Crickets in Utah. http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/upload/porktable.html
    
27. 2010 census moved out of department of commerce and put under direct control of white house. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/02/09/gop-sounds-alarm-obama-decision-census-white-house/
    
28. March 2009- Congress passes the “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009”, widely known as the second stimulus package (the first being the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 signed by President Bush on February 13, 2008) to deal with an economic recession. The cost of this package is over $787 billion. http://useconomy.about.com/od/candidatesandtheeconomy/a/Obama_Stimulus.htm
    
29. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $24.7 billion to subsidize healthcare insurance premiums for unemployed.
    
30. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $10 billion for construction of National Institutes of Health
    
31. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $2 billion for Community Health Centers. CHC’s receive federal funding through the Department of Health and Human Services and provide low or no cost health services to low-income Americans. In many ways it is nationalized healthcare in embryo. There are currently over 4,000 CHC in the United States. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Community_Health_Center
    
32. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $82.5 billion for aid to low income workers and the unemployed.
    
33. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $19 billion for Health Information Technology. One of the primary purposes of federally funded Health Information Technology is to create a single database of patient information for all Americans. This gives government access to private healthcare information of every citizen. http://healthit.hhs.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=1211&parentname=CommunityPage&parentid=5&mode=2&in_hi_userid=10732&cached=true
    
34. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $11 billion for smart grid technology.
    
35. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $5 billion to weatherize modest income homes.
    
36. The 2009 Stimulus Bill allocated $2 billion for housing rental assistance.
    
37. The 2009 Stimulus Bill $8.8 billion to give to states to help with budgets. This fact should be particularly viewed in light of the quote by Elder Albert E Bowen, which essentially explains that by accepting federal stimulus dollars, states are surrendering a degree of their sovereignty.
    
38. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Olympia Snow (R-ME) have introduced The Cybersecurity Act of 2009. This Act has several disturbing provisions, including giving the President authority at his discretion to shut down all Internet traffic, including privately owned and operated networks and gives the Secretary of Commerce “access to all relevant data concerning (critical infrastructure) networks without regard to any provision of law, regulation, rule, or policy restricting such access”. http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2009/04/cybersecurity-act
    
39. In his latest memoir, Barack Obama shares that he'd like to "recast" the welfare net that FDR and LBJ cast while rolling back what he derisively calls the "winner-take-all" market economy that Ronald Reagan re-ignited.
    
40. From 1990 to 2006 federal subsidy programs increased by 44%, from 1,176 to 1,696. http://www.cato.org/pubs/tbb/tbb_0611-41.pdf
    
41. The Obama Administration’s plan to reform healthcare will centralize more control in Washington and represent a huge leap toward true socialized healthcare, similar to what has been used in Europe and Canada. http://www.heritage.org/Research/HealthCare/bg2197.cfm
    
42. April 2009- President Obama continues to push for a restructuring of the college tuition assistance to make the federal government the only group able to lend money directly to students. Federal subsidies would no longer be available for private banks or other institutions to provide student loans. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/24/obama-touts-plan-change-college-loan/100days/
    
43. Obama administration suggests mandatory civil service for youth ages 18 to 25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0B7dOQwKm0
    
44. December 7, 2007- Senator Barack Obama introduced SB2433, also known as the Global Poverty Act. This bill will allocate $845 billion of U.S. taxpayer money to the United Nations. http://search.cnn.com/search.jsp?query=obama%20global%20poverty%20act&type=web&sortBy=date&intl=false
    
45. Barack Obama has suggested the government provide free childcare and universal preschool. http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Obama_Early_Childhood_Education/
    
46. Medicare Part D, signed into law in 2003 by President Bush. Under this program “Everyone with Medicare, regardless of income, health status, or prescription drugs used, can get prescription drug coverage”. The program cost an estimated $70 billion in 2007 and is expected to run 10 years costs of over $600 billion.
    
47. According to the Heritage Foundation in February of 2007, the long-term medical debt exceeded $32.4 trillion dollars. In fiscal 2008 Medicare benefits totaled $454 billion. http://www.heritage.org/research/healthcare/wm1344.cfm
    
48. May 21, 2009- Obama administration announces new automobile CAFÉ standards that must be achieved by 2016.
    
49. Legislation proposed to expand authority of FDA to increase oversight of the entire food distribution chain. http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/273479
    
50. Proposed taxation of drinks with sugar as an ingredient. This is just one of many examples of over-taxation to pay for expanding government programs. It also would set a dangerous precedent for government to expand taxation to other products it deems harmful. This type of action essentially reflects the attitude that citizens don’t know what is good for them, so government will use taxes to shape our behavior in a direction they deem to be in our best interest. http://www.reuters.com/article/bigMoney/idUS379000416120090512

After reviewing these 50 examples, it is hard to refute that there is a clear trend in the direction our country is taking. Even if only a portion of the 50 examples are actually brought to full fruition, the very intent to pass these various measures speaks volumes of the mind-set pervading our elected officials in Washington.

But perhaps the most disconcerting evidence of the general trend toward socialism in our country was manifest in a recent Rasmussen poll in which only 53% of respondents stated they believe capitalism is superior to socialism. The headline of an article covering the poll is significant. “New Poll Finds American Workers Turning Massively Towards Socialism: Unbelievable But True.” http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=13226

Returning to one of the most passionate and articulate defenders of freedom in the past century, Ezra Taft Benson stated the following.

“I do not fear the small, hard corps of subversives here in America so much as I do those who do not see the danger to freedom that is inherent in more and more centralization of power in government—and I fear especially those who do see the trend and don’t care.”

We can see the pattern toward greater government control and creeping (some may even say galloping) socialism that exists among our political leaders. It also appears there may be an emerging pattern among the citizenry of our nation who do not see the growing danger to our freedoms. If we will, we can take the steps necessary to open eyes and awaken the love of liberty that has become latent in too many of our fellow Americans. As we see these trends, I pray we will care. . . and stand up for freedom.

- Richard Parke