FrankRep
08-11-2009, 07:11 AM
American Socialism: Repeating Europe’s Mistakes (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/08/american-socialism-repeating-europes-mistakes/)
Bob Ellis | Dakota Voice
August 11, 2009
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Daniel Hannan is the British gentleman who became became famous a few months ago when he dressed down (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/03/mep-daniel-hannan-stripping-the-bark-off-pm-gordon-brown/) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Brown’s inept mishandling of the country.
Hannan also warned (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/03/british-parliamentarian-warns-us-about-socialized-health-care/) the United States back then against repeating their socialist mistakes; President Obama obviously chose to ignore the mistakes of others, insisting on the right to make those same mistakes.
On Sunday Dr. Theo reminded us (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/08/brit-mep-warns-of-dangers-of-socialized-medicine/) of some of these admonitions and pointed us to an interview of Hannan conducted by Glenn Beck.
Hannan also spoke last week on August 6 to the Heritage Foundation (http://www.insideronline.org/blogarchive.cfm?blogid=0520EA11-F62C-1617-6018B6E0140EED00) about repeating Europe’s mistakes. The video of that speech is below. It is about an hour long, but you owe it to yourself to carve out the time to listen to it, regardless of what side of the health care debate you’re on. You’ll find that it is not only enlightening on what is fundamentally at stake in this issue, but is quite an education on what makes America so wonderfully unique…and why it would be so tragic to stab that in the heart with the sword of socialism.
Hannan warns that since Great Britain (and much of Europe) is significantly farther down the socialist road than the United States, we need only look at them to see what awaits us if we remain determined to repeat their mistakes.
You will, unless you change course, find yourselves sadly where we are now: with a treasury empty, your credit exhausted, your nation dishonored, diminished and scorned.
Though he is not an American, Hannan obviously appreciates and respects the unique heritage and accomplishments of the United States, and it is to our shame that he has to say
In a way it’s bizzare, I feel, it’s rather strange that I should come here as a British politician having to warn this of all nations against the dangers of an over-mighty state. The whole story of the United States is the story of constraining government, of dispersing power, of making decision-makers answerable to everybody else.
He is absolutely right. We should not have to be reminded of our heritage–and how our government is still designed to operate–by a foreigner, no matter how well intentioned he is.
But even a foreigner, someone from the country we once fought a long, bloody war to separate from, can realize that this mindless obsession with socialism is fundamentally and profoundly un-American.
Hannan tells of his thoughts when he visited the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. and thought of the ideals Jefferson and his colleagues held so dear, and what Jefferson’s reaction might be to see his successors working so devilishly against those principles:
Look at what’s happened in this country. Having founded the polity on the basis of freedom and low taxes, you are now contemplating such an extension of state power that hasn’t been seen in peacetime. And when you do those things, you’re making yourself a less-American country.
I’m not using that as a rhetorical expression. There is a particularity, an institutional particularity about the U.S. system of government. When you have an American government that is taking over large chunks of the private sector, regulating what people should be paid, presuming to run banks, presuming to build cars, let alone attempting to take over health care and police what people can use in the energy sector, it is making this country less prosperous and less free and less independent, and therefore less American. It is a violation of the precepts on which the United States was founded.
Hannan says the British health care system is a Marxist system, and he makes it clear that he is not just using the term “Marxist” to slur the system–it is genuinely Marxist in nature.
Hannan reminds us that in this fallen world, there will always be opportunities for improvement. He even names some that could be applied to our system, including tort reform and increasing consumer involvement in the process. But…
If you object to having big, unresponsive corporations, you do not solve that problem by having the one thing that is guaranteed to still bigger and still less responsive, i.e. the federal government.
“Well, duh!” you might say. But the American socialist is so star-struck in love with Marxism that he cannot see his lover’s flaws, no matter how glaringly obvious they are to everyone else. So why don’t the British people ditch their terrible system? It is the tyrant they know, which can often be preferable to the unknown. Further, it was started toward the end of World War II during a time when the British economy was totally mobilized for war, was already used to rationing, and so on. Also, once such a gargantuan, all-pervading system is in place (such as the American Social Security system), it is very hard to get rid of it.
If you decide to do this thing, you can’t do it experimentally for a year or two and then change your mind if it doesn’t work out. That isn’t our experience…e absolutely certain before you make this change that you really do want to do it, because if it doesn’t work out, don’t imagine that people are then going to say: “Well, yeah; that’s alright; we’ll just go back to how it was.”
Hannan reminded America of a few of the things that make our country so great and are so particular to us:
My primary purpose is to urge you to think about how lucky you are to have a system that genuinely based on full and accountable democracy. All of the things that are unique to the U.S.–the open primaries, the dispersed jurisdiction, the state’s rights, the competing tax regimes, the (unintelligible) of everybody from the sheriff to the school board to garbage guy–all of those things are, if not completely unique, are unusual, and certainly not shared on that scale in any other country in the world…That is a precious heritage, that you are in danger of tossing away.
Hannan talks about America’s founding fathers and the ideas they held about law, freedom, democracy and accountability. He then asks an indicting question about the Obama Administration which which I wholeheartedly concur:
What is it about this government that it presumes to break the link that connects it to hundreds of years of freedom and democracy going right back to that foundation.
He closes with a heartfelt admonition to America:
Honor the vision of your founders. Respect the most sublime constitution devised by human intelligence. Don’t be afraid to speak to and for the soul of this nation, of which by good fortune and God’s grace you’re priviledged to be part of.
Thank you, Minister Hannan, for reminding us Americans of the things that are so uniquely wonderful about America. And thank you for being such a good friend to America!
Video:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1274179818?bctid=32657254001
SOURCE:
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/08/american-socialism-repeating-europes-mistakes/
Bob Ellis | Dakota Voice
August 11, 2009
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Daniel Hannan is the British gentleman who became became famous a few months ago when he dressed down (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/03/mep-daniel-hannan-stripping-the-bark-off-pm-gordon-brown/) British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for Brown’s inept mishandling of the country.
Hannan also warned (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/03/british-parliamentarian-warns-us-about-socialized-health-care/) the United States back then against repeating their socialist mistakes; President Obama obviously chose to ignore the mistakes of others, insisting on the right to make those same mistakes.
On Sunday Dr. Theo reminded us (http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/08/brit-mep-warns-of-dangers-of-socialized-medicine/) of some of these admonitions and pointed us to an interview of Hannan conducted by Glenn Beck.
Hannan also spoke last week on August 6 to the Heritage Foundation (http://www.insideronline.org/blogarchive.cfm?blogid=0520EA11-F62C-1617-6018B6E0140EED00) about repeating Europe’s mistakes. The video of that speech is below. It is about an hour long, but you owe it to yourself to carve out the time to listen to it, regardless of what side of the health care debate you’re on. You’ll find that it is not only enlightening on what is fundamentally at stake in this issue, but is quite an education on what makes America so wonderfully unique…and why it would be so tragic to stab that in the heart with the sword of socialism.
Hannan warns that since Great Britain (and much of Europe) is significantly farther down the socialist road than the United States, we need only look at them to see what awaits us if we remain determined to repeat their mistakes.
You will, unless you change course, find yourselves sadly where we are now: with a treasury empty, your credit exhausted, your nation dishonored, diminished and scorned.
Though he is not an American, Hannan obviously appreciates and respects the unique heritage and accomplishments of the United States, and it is to our shame that he has to say
In a way it’s bizzare, I feel, it’s rather strange that I should come here as a British politician having to warn this of all nations against the dangers of an over-mighty state. The whole story of the United States is the story of constraining government, of dispersing power, of making decision-makers answerable to everybody else.
He is absolutely right. We should not have to be reminded of our heritage–and how our government is still designed to operate–by a foreigner, no matter how well intentioned he is.
But even a foreigner, someone from the country we once fought a long, bloody war to separate from, can realize that this mindless obsession with socialism is fundamentally and profoundly un-American.
Hannan tells of his thoughts when he visited the Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C. and thought of the ideals Jefferson and his colleagues held so dear, and what Jefferson’s reaction might be to see his successors working so devilishly against those principles:
Look at what’s happened in this country. Having founded the polity on the basis of freedom and low taxes, you are now contemplating such an extension of state power that hasn’t been seen in peacetime. And when you do those things, you’re making yourself a less-American country.
I’m not using that as a rhetorical expression. There is a particularity, an institutional particularity about the U.S. system of government. When you have an American government that is taking over large chunks of the private sector, regulating what people should be paid, presuming to run banks, presuming to build cars, let alone attempting to take over health care and police what people can use in the energy sector, it is making this country less prosperous and less free and less independent, and therefore less American. It is a violation of the precepts on which the United States was founded.
Hannan says the British health care system is a Marxist system, and he makes it clear that he is not just using the term “Marxist” to slur the system–it is genuinely Marxist in nature.
Hannan reminds us that in this fallen world, there will always be opportunities for improvement. He even names some that could be applied to our system, including tort reform and increasing consumer involvement in the process. But…
If you object to having big, unresponsive corporations, you do not solve that problem by having the one thing that is guaranteed to still bigger and still less responsive, i.e. the federal government.
“Well, duh!” you might say. But the American socialist is so star-struck in love with Marxism that he cannot see his lover’s flaws, no matter how glaringly obvious they are to everyone else. So why don’t the British people ditch their terrible system? It is the tyrant they know, which can often be preferable to the unknown. Further, it was started toward the end of World War II during a time when the British economy was totally mobilized for war, was already used to rationing, and so on. Also, once such a gargantuan, all-pervading system is in place (such as the American Social Security system), it is very hard to get rid of it.
If you decide to do this thing, you can’t do it experimentally for a year or two and then change your mind if it doesn’t work out. That isn’t our experience…e absolutely certain before you make this change that you really do want to do it, because if it doesn’t work out, don’t imagine that people are then going to say: “Well, yeah; that’s alright; we’ll just go back to how it was.”
Hannan reminded America of a few of the things that make our country so great and are so particular to us:
My primary purpose is to urge you to think about how lucky you are to have a system that genuinely based on full and accountable democracy. All of the things that are unique to the U.S.–the open primaries, the dispersed jurisdiction, the state’s rights, the competing tax regimes, the (unintelligible) of everybody from the sheriff to the school board to garbage guy–all of those things are, if not completely unique, are unusual, and certainly not shared on that scale in any other country in the world…That is a precious heritage, that you are in danger of tossing away.
Hannan talks about America’s founding fathers and the ideas they held about law, freedom, democracy and accountability. He then asks an indicting question about the Obama Administration which which I wholeheartedly concur:
What is it about this government that it presumes to break the link that connects it to hundreds of years of freedom and democracy going right back to that foundation.
He closes with a heartfelt admonition to America:
Honor the vision of your founders. Respect the most sublime constitution devised by human intelligence. Don’t be afraid to speak to and for the soul of this nation, of which by good fortune and God’s grace you’re priviledged to be part of.
Thank you, Minister Hannan, for reminding us Americans of the things that are so uniquely wonderful about America. And thank you for being such a good friend to America!
Video:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1274179818?bctid=32657254001
SOURCE:
http://www.dakotavoice.com/2009/08/american-socialism-repeating-europes-mistakes/