E-Newsletter No. 92                August 2021          

How do you create a Socialist country?

Poverty – Increase the poverty level as high as possible.  Poor people are easier to control and will not fight back if you are providing everything for them.

Welfare – Take control of every aspect of people’s lives (food, housing, income) because that will make them fully dependent on the government.

Fortunately, our free-market economy was successfully rejuvenated during the years 2017 – 2019 (prior to the pandemic that originated in China).  Unemployment statistics and poverty levels were reduced to new lows that had not been seen in decades.  The improved economic results were shared by people in all economic “classes”, including those individuals and families who were for the first time able to start building wealth. 

So how did the Left react to this new level of prosperity?  They resurrected the divisive Marxist mantra of class warfare.  Our country’s free-market “sin” of income inequality became the Left’s new (old) rallying cry.  Take a moment to set aside the hypocrisy of the Big Government elites who were largely successful in diverting attention away from their own accumulation of wealth (and real estate properties).  Fortunately, many of our country’s citizens are well aware of the fact that multiple homes are owned by self-described Democratic Socialists and other Big Government elites, including Bernie Sanders, etc.

The members of our Editorial Board do not have any problems (at all) with the creation of wealth when it is earned in the private sector (versus the public sector).  The wealth that is created in the free-market economy adds to our country’s Gross Domestic Product.  Increases in wealth for those in the public sector happens due to a redistribution of wealth that is created in the private sector.

Nor are we troubled by the (inevitable) fact and existence of income inequality.  Marxist class warfare rejects the fact that different people have different skills, desires, and levels of ambition.  Our acceptance and lack of concern about income inequality is simply due to the fact that the only “solution” advanced by the Left is to try to “perfect” the concept of Socialism (which has been an abject failure every time and in every country it has ever been attempted).

Our reaction to the question of “How do you create a Socialist country?” is to say “No thank you.”

US Debt Clock – – July 1^st – $85,400 per citizen / August 1st – $85,750

E-Newsletter No. 91                       July 2021          

How do you create a Socialist country?  Step One is to take control of what people read and listen to and what children learn in school.  The indoctrination that has been happening on our country’s university and college campuses is now being taken down to the high school and elementary school levels.  Critical Race Theory and a curriculum that incorporates The 1619 Project are being advanced by the federal government, teachers unions and Leftist state legislatures.  Fortunately, there has been a growing backlash at school board meetings to push back against this divisive agenda, which is a direct affront to one of our country’s founding principles – e pluribus unum – out of many, one.

Many years ago, the Left began to target popular culture, Hollywood movies, and television programming.  One of the most egregious examples is to think back on what happened to Superman, who had always fought never-ending battles for Truth, Justice and the American Way.  In Action Comics # 900, published in June 2011, Superman announces his intention to go to the United Nations and renounce his US citizenship, to put a global focus on his never-ending battles.  (The Globalists of the Left cheered).

Dennis Prager has a 5-minute video entitled “Why Are So Many Good Things Being Destroyed?”  Why Are So Many Good Things Being Destroyed? | PragerU    The list is long – Universities, the Arts, Literature, Late-Night Television, Religion, Free Speech, The Boy Scouts, and the identities of the genders.  To that list, you can also add the NFL, the NBA, and the venue of the MLB All-Star game.  In addition, there are various out-of-favor, politically incorrect games like Cowboys and Indians and Cops and Robbers (with toy guns), and playing “dangerous” games like dodgeball, kickball, and red rover.

But the most effective (and damaging) take-over has been that of the mainstream media and television “news”.  Virtually all of the major outlets are controlled by the Left.  Conservatives’ free speech rights are under constant attack by the Left and their Big Tech allies.  Expressions of any thoughts that deviate from the Left’s narratives are immediately denounced as “misinformation”.  Censorship, “de-platforming” and other forms of “Cancel Culture” are the tools used by the Thought Police of the Left, whose own Truths are oftentimes false – (collusion with Russia, etc., etc.).     

The good news is that a growing number of people are walking away from the indoctrination, as the number of “subscribers” to the mainstream media continue to drop.  This is the most effective way to defund the mainstream media.  At the same time, conservatives have begun to build their own replacements for Facebook and Twitter, CNN and MSNBC.  However, those efforts require a sizable investment.   And unfortunately, those efforts (which are necessary to protect free speech) are probably serving to further divide the country between the “Leftist Progressives” who want to fundamentally transform our country into “something else” versus Conservatives who want to retain the principles that have always made America the freest, most prosperous, least racist multicultural country in the history of the world.  The questions for the Left are – Why do you want to “transform” our country?  And why (if our country is so flawed and evil) do people from around the world continue to want to move here?  Our Editorial Board believes this is primarily due to another one of our country’s founding principles – liberty (freedom) – which is under constant attack by the Left.

US Debt Clock – – June 1^st – $85,100 per citizen / July 1st – $85,400

E-Newsletter No. 90                       June 2021          

Last month we provided a link to a new Conversation Piece – something that we ran across a couple of years ago entitled   ”How do you create a socialist country?  (But why would you ever want to?)” 

http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/How-to-create-a-socialist-country.pdf

This month we are going to focus on the first step – Education – Take control of what people read and listen to and what children learn in school.  Today’s Leftists have taken their cue from Vladimir Lenin, who said “Give me four years to teach the children, and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.”  It is widely recognized that our colleges and universities have been one of the main delivery vehicles of Leftist ideology for the past several decades.  Unfortunately, this indoctrination is now filtering down to the high school and elementary school levels as well.

So, what can conservatives do to counteract this indoctrination?  One of the more effective countermeasures is to simply defund the Left’s agenda.  We need school choice – charter schools, or home schooling, if necessary.  For those parents who want to have their children attend a public school, they need to get involved and stay informed (be a room parent, join the PTA, run for the school board, or at least attend the school board meetings) to ensure that the Left’s attempts to indoctrinate your child are kept to a minimum.  As your children graduate high school, and if they want to go to college, pick one that focuses on providing a good and useful education in their field of study, with the least amount of Leftist indoctrination.  That might be easier said than done, but there are still some excellent conservative colleges out there that your child could attend.   

Next month, we will discuss the Left’s debasement of Hollywood, and their takeover of the mainstream media.

US Debt Clock – – May 1^st – $84,800 per citizen / June 1st – $85,100

E-Newsletter No. 89                       May 2021          

There is a quote that is oftentimes attributed to Norman Mattoon Thomas, who ran for president six times (1928 to 1948) as the candidate for the Socialist Party of America – – “The American people will never knowingly adopt Socialism.  But under the name of ‘liberalism’ they will adopt every fragment of the Socialist program, until one day America will be a Socialist nation, without knowing how it happened.”

Some of us have not been blind to what has been going on in our country since the 1930s.  The first implementation of a socialist programs by our federal government occurred during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.  One of FDR’s “New Deal” programs was the creation of Social Security.  Unfortunately, this socialist program was founded on an egregious lie – – a pamphlet published by the government assured the public that “the 2 percent tax on wages up to $3,000 would be the most you will ever pay.”  As we all know, there is no actual cash in the Social Security “Trust”, only intragovernmental IOUs, because all of the money that has been paid into the “trust” has been paid out, plus some more.  And the present value debt of the promises that have been made by the federal government for the Social Security program are truly mind numbing – – they dwarf the amount of the federal government’s current “on book” debt.  (And Medicare is even worse).

We have added a new Conversation Piece to our website, which we ran across a couple of years ago, prior to the 2020 elections.  It is entitled   ”How do you create a socialist country?  (But why would you ever want to?)” 

http://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/How-to-create-a-socialist-country.pdf

Contrary to what Norman Thomas said nearly a century ago, many of our country’s citizens now appear to be willing to continue to implement socialism, even though history has shown that socialism has failed in every country where it has been attempted.  A couple more quotes come to mind –

Alexander Fraser Tytler – “A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.  A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.  From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.” 

Benjamin Franklin – “Those who surrender Freedom for Security will not have (nor do they deserve) either one.”   

US Debt Clock – – The total “on-book” debt of the federal government as of April 1st – $28.24 trillion / $84,800 per citizen / Excludes the “off book” debt relating to promises made by the federal government for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other socialist programs.

E-Newsletter No. 88                       April 2021          

We were originally going to write about the steps that have been taken by the Left over the past several decades to implement full-blown Socialism in our country.  (And yes, they are making slow and steady progress).  However, we will defer that topic for another month because we recently ran across a very pertinent letter that was posted on another website.  The author wanted to remain anonymous, so we don’t know his / her name, but we wanted to share their thoughts.

This morning, I realized that everything is about to change.  No matter how I vote, no matter what I say, lives are never going to be the same.  I have been confused by the hostility of family and friends.  I look at people I have known all my life so hate-filled that they agree with opinions they would never express as their own.  I think that I may well have entered the Twilight Zone.

You can’t justify this insanity. We have become a nation that has lost its collective mind.  We see other countries going Socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us.  Somehow it’s un-American for the census to count how many Americans are in America.  People who say there is no such thing as a gender are demanding a female President.  Universities that advocate equality, discriminate against Asian-Americans in favor of African-Americans.  Some people are held responsible for things that happened before they were born, and other people are not held responsible for what they are doing right now.  Criminals are caught-and-released to hurt more people, but stopping them is bad because it’s a violation of THEIR rights.  People who have never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves.  After legislating gender, if a dude pretends to be a woman, you are required to pretend with him. 

It was cool for Joe Biden to “blackmail” the President of Ukraine, but it’s an impeachable offense if Donald Trump inquiries about it.  People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees of real or questionable value.  Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome, but you’d better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated.  Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the US must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gang-bangers who jump the southern fence are welcomed.  $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but $1.5 trillion for “free” health care is not.  If you cheat to get into college you go to prison, but if you cheat to get into the country you go to college for free.

And, pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us “racists”!  Nothing makes sense anymore, no values, no morals, no civility, and people are dying of a Chinese virus, but it is racist to refer to it as the Chinese virus even though it began in China.   We are clearly living in an upside-down world where right is wrong and wrong is right, where moral is immoral and immoral is moral, where good is evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing innocent babies is right.

Wake up America. The great unsinkable ship Titanic America has hit an iceberg and is taking on water and sinking fast.,

So…  Is this letter too “over the top”?  We (and several others) don’t think so.  Here are a few excerpts from some of the comments that were posted under the author’s letter.

Yup, my heart is with the author of this letter. However, we must not give up hope.  Please find strength in Faith, find comradery in those who share your insights, experiences, and values; find ways to speak up and speak out.

Will someone wake me up from this horrible dream?  Stop dividing this wonderful one-of-a-kind country from going the way of socialism. Use your heart, your common sense.  Let’s work as one to save our country for our children and future generations to come.  After reading this, has it changed the way you see the way this country is heading, and is that the way you want it to move?

My question is, why do we put up with this?  Millions of Americans died for our freedom, and now we don’t say anything because we’re afraid we’ll get thrown out of Facebook?

Agree! I’m a Latina American married to an Irish/Italian. My daughters are married to English Americans and my grandchildren are a part of this Freedom-loving melting pot that their great grandparents wanted them to grow up in.  It’s time for us to defend what our parents/grandparents and Founding Fathers fought for – Freedom!!!  GOD BLESS AMERICA! 

Next month, we will discuss the reasons why our country is heading in the wrong direction. 

US Debt Clock – – March 1st – $84,700 per citizen / April 1st – $85,150

The federal government “borrowed” $900 billion from the future (from our children and grandchildren) in December and then an additional $1.9 trillion in March.  The December “stimulus” legislation was passed to provide a $600 payment (to most citizens), and the March legislation was passed to fund an additional $1,400 payment.

So, here is the first piece of simple math regarding the March legislation – – $1.9 trillion divided by 330 million citizens is $5,757 per citizen.  On what planet does borrowing $5,757 in order to receive a $1,400 check make sense?  Why would any person willingly funnel $5,757 through the hands of the federal government?  (More on that later).  And what happened to the rest of the $5,757?

OK – The next piece of math is a simple sum of the components of the legislation that was passed – – $410 billion for stimulus checks, $360 billion for government, $246 billion for extended unemployment benefits, $176 billion for education, $143 billion for expanded tax credits, $123 billion for COVID-19 response, $105 billion for other healthcare costs, and $325 billion for “all other” (none of which related to the pandemic).      

$410 billion divided by $1,400 equals approximately 164 million (not 330 million).  Simply put – – the Socialists have successfully implemented one more step in their game plan to eliminate “income inequality”.  Unfortunately, they have accomplished that feat by stealing that money from future generations.  And why is this “favoritism” not considered to be a direct violation of the general welfare clause that talks about the country as a whole, and not just sub-segments of the “winners” (citizens below the stimulus checks’ income threshold) versus the “losers” (the kids and grandkids)?

The $360 billion to government is also a wealth transfer.  In this case, it’s from future generations to the politicians in power today.  Most of this money will be going to bail out Blue states that have mis-managed their state’s finances. 

$246 billion will be spent so that some people may continue to choose to remain unemployed, because it is more profitable than finding employment.  And with continued government-mandated restrictions on certain segments of the economy (restaurants, etc.) unemployment will continue to be higher than it should be. 

$176 billion will supposedly be spent on educating our children, many of whom continue to be prevented from actually attending classes in their school.  A lot of the money that has already been appropriated for education in previous “stimulus” bills has not even been spent yet, and we do not know where or how this latest “payoff” will be spent.

$143 billion for expanded tax credits is simply another way for politicians to buy some more votes.

If you add the $123 billion and the $105 billion, the math shows that only about 12% of the total cost of the March legislation is actually being spent on the pandemic.

US Debt Clock math – – $84,700 as of March 1st, plus $5,757, equals $90,457 for every man, woman, child and retiree in the country.  One last piece of simple math – – the March legislation was passed with zero Republican votes in either the House or the Senate.  The Socialists in Washington DC are simply buying some more votes today at the expense of our country’s future.  More on that next month.

E-Newsletter No. 87                         March 2021          

Last month, we discussed the reasons why Socialism is immoral and is akin to slavery due to the government’s confiscation of an individual’s output, coupled with the individual’s loss of liberties and freedom.  Socialism has a long history of failure wherever and whenever it has been attempted.  So, what are some of the principles we should follow in order to avoid that fate?  The following thoughts are from Lawrence Reed, who is the president of the Foundation for Economic Education.  (More education is always a good thing).  We agree with the principles he lists.  It should be noted that we have taken some liberties in adding our own thoughts to the discussion about these principles.

Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.  This is a truism that is rejected by the Left.  The Left’s dogma is that in a utopian Socialist society, the government needs to ensure that there is an equality of outcomes.  They do not accept the reality that in a free market, where people are free to pursue their own dreams and passions, some people will earn vastly different levels of income.  The Left does not accept the fact that some people have more valuable talents, and if they do, then other people are entitled to their “fair share” of what that individual produces. 

What belongs to you, you tend to take care of; what belongs to no one or everyone tends to fall into disrepair.  We agree – this principle was discussed last month.

We need to consider long-term effects and all people, not just short-run effects and a few people.  The “general welfare clause” pertains to the country as a whole and all of our country’s citizens.  The US Constitution also talks about securing the blessings of Liberty for our posterity.  Another concept that our Editorial Board supports is “Favoritism to None.”  When the Left divides us (in order to dole out certain types of favors to some sub-segment of the population) it creates problems.

Mr. Reed goes on to say that our government officials need to be thorough in their thinking.  If a thief goes from bank to bank, stealing all the cash he can get his hands on, and then goes to the mall and spends it all, some people (i.e., the government and the store owners) might say that he has stimulated the economy.  However, the vast majority of us would still conclude that the thief’s actions were immoral.  Is it moral for the federal government to “borrow” (steal) an additional $1.9 trillion from the future, after having just done the same thing in December for $900 billion?

If you encourage something, you get more of it; if you discourage something, you get less of it.  Encouraging dependency is not a good thing.

Nobody spends somebody else’s money as carefully as he spends his own.  Socialists and the Left have no qualms about spending someone else’s money, especially when it can buy some votes.

Government has nothing to give anybody except what it first takes from somebody, and a government that is big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take away everything you’ve got.  (This quote is oftentimes mis-attributed to Thomas Jefferson – but that’s OK – we agree with whoever said it first).  Another twist on this quote is “There is no such thing as government-funded – it’s all taxpayer-funded.”  Circling back to the first principle listed above, a free and independent people do not look to government for their sustenance.  They should look to government only as a protector of their Liberties.

Liberty makes all the difference in the world.  Liberty isn’t just a luxury or a nice idea – it’s what makes everything else happen.  Liberty is one of the most important elements of the American Trinity (stamped onto every coin) along with E Pluribus Unum (under constant attack by the Left) and In God We Trust (under constant attack by the radical Left).  Our country’s citizens need to recognize and acknowledge that all three elements of the American Trinity are under constant attack by the Socialists and other advocates of Big (and Bigger) Government.

US Debt Clock – – February 1st – $84,150 per citizen / March 1st – $84,700

E-Newsletter No. 86                         February 2021          

Last month, we pointed out the fact that Socialism has an unbroken record of failure everywhere and every time it has been attempted.  We also asserted that Socialism is immoral.  Before we get to the question of morality, let’s review the primary reasons why Socialism has its history of failure.

Socialism runs directly opposite of the American Dream.  It promises to create equal outcomes, but it actually creates a vast inequality between a country’s citizens and the government elites (i.e., the Bernie Sanders types in Washington DC).  This is true in every Communist / Socialist country in the world.  Socialism takes away the benefits of hard work as it strives to create its “equality of outcomes.”

Politicians believe individuals are not capable of making important decisions, so they decide to intrude, rather than allow an individual to make his / her own decisions about what they want out of life.  Socialism inevitably tramples on an individual’s Liberty. A government must use force (coercion) to implement the elites’ decisions.

Freedom of choice is severely limited or eliminated.  This goes well beyond the issue of goods and services in the marketplace.  Taken to its (historical) extreme, Socialism has placed limits on an individual’s ability to choose their own calling in life.   Under a Socialist regime, your ability to keep your current job, or even change careers or follow your own dreams can become severely limited.

Under Socialism, all of a country’s citizens suffer.  Mild Socialism lowers a country’s standard of living.  Severe Socialism leads to mass poverty and deprivation.  This has been proven over and over again in the historical record – – The USSR, Maoist China, North Korea, Cuba, and most recently, Venezuela.  Socialism has left nothing but disaster in its wake.

If “everyone” owns the resources and means of production, then nobody truly owns them.  Socialism is an awful steward of assets.  It makes people careless and wasteful, and it eliminates pride of ownership and any sense of personal responsibility.  It should be noted that not all “renters” are bad people, but they have less of an incentive to protect what they have.

“Robbing Peter to pay Paul” is simply morally wrong.  There is no way to morally justify or rationalize it.  On the other hand, voluntarily using your own time and money to help another individual or family is called benevolence.  Charity and compassion are virtues.  Compliance with government coercion does not provide a moral equivalent.  To demand that everyone pool their resources and the fruits of their own individual efforts into a giant pot to be redistributed by politicians and government elites is morally corrupt and doomed to fail.

Inevitably, power is consolidated within the government.  The forced redistribution of wealth damages the web of relationships we rely upon to live full and meaningful lives.  The recipients of government-granted welfare become trapped in dependency.  Socialism seeks to suppress (replace) the human relationships that are fostered by religious congregations, social services agencies, charities, and other civic organizations.  The government becomes tyrannical when it tries to silence alternative ideas that are at odds with the state’s agenda.

Socialism creates dissent and stifles freedom of speech.  Government control and regulation of the media, political speech, and elections are the norm in Socialist countries.  Anyone with “free thoughts” or who dares to oppose the growing power of the government is viewed as being a threat.

As noted above, Socialism creates dependence instead of freedom.  It destroys peoples’ drive to be self-sufficient or to improve their lot in life.  Within a free society, a person’s creativity, innovation, and hard work are rewarded.  In a Socialist country, only the well-connected are rewarded.  Oftentimes, those rewards are bestowed simply for being a loyal member of the nonproductive bureaucracy.

Friedrich Hayek wrote a book that was published in 1944 entitled The Road to Serfdom.  Hayek warned of the danger of tyranny that inevitably results from government control of economic decision-making through central planning.  As many of us know, in medieval times, a “lord of the manor” would rule over his lands and his serfs, who could live on his land in exchange for a place to live, so they could grow crops for their lord and for their own consumption. 

Our Editorial Board has decided to update Friedrich Hayek thesis, by advancing it a few centuries, and bringing it home (to this side of the ocean) to our country’s Southern states in the years that led up to the Civil War, as we make the case that Socialism is Slavery –

Socialism-is-Slavery.pdf (f2ppr.org)

US Debt Clock – – January 1st – $83,400 per citizen / February 1st – $84,150

E-Newsletter No. 85                       January 2021          

The current state of our union is not very healthy.  As many of us would agree, the concept of E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One) has been under constant attack by the Left’s identity politics agenda.  The state of our union has been deteriorating for several years, not just the past four or five years.  This 48-second segment in the following video (starting at 1:21:27 to the end) is the most telling example of what has been going on.

Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and the other members of the radical Left, along with their allies in the mainstream media, have shown nothing but utter contempt for President Trump.  But it goes beyond just President Trump – – it extends to all of the “deplorable” conservatives “who cling to guns and religion.”  It was also suggested that “Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will.  And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” (a quote from Hillary Clinton at the April 2015 Women in the World Summit in New York City).  And now, the radical Left is calling for “re-education camps” for conservatives who do not buy into the Socialists’ agenda.

Another telling example of this growing divide can be seen in a one-minute 34-second segment of this video (from 39:18 to 40:52).  The members of our Editorial Board agree with President Trump that Socialism will end up destroying American healthcare. Obviously, based on the reactions of the Leftists in the audience, they disagree.  Our newsletter next month will cover the reasons why Socialism is immoral, and why it has a history of failure everywhere and every time it has been attempted.

Also…. Since the start of our federal government’s fiscal year on October 1^st, the amount of debt that has been pushed onto our children and grandkids has increased by $1 trillion in just three months.  A $900 billion “stimulus” package that was passed in December (in order to keep the government from shutting down) now appears to be inadequate – – the Democrat party wants to tack on an additional $1.9 trillion.  There doesn’t appear to be any end in sight on new ideas for more spending by the federal government.  Unfortunately, if you believe your family is already paying too much in taxes to the government, you haven’t seen anything yet.  In the meantime, the detrimental effect of this uncontrolled spending is simply being pushed downstream.  But then again, we shouldn’t be surprised, because that is what career politicians tend to do. It’s no wonder that Congress’ latest approval rating has slipped into single digits..

US Debt Clock – – December 1st – $82,600 per citizen / January 1st – $83,400

E-Newsletter No. 84                       December 2020          

So,…  What is our Editorial Board’s assessment(s) regarding the various results for the 2020 elections?  We don’t have any yet.  More to follow next month.

In the meantime, we should expect our country’s dysfunctional Congress to pass yet another continuing resolution in the next few days to avoid having the government shut down on December 11^th.  

US Debt Clock – – November 1st – $82,270 per citizen / December 1st – $82,600