Socialism Kills Creativity

Socialism is predicated on the notion that the government controls the means of production and distribution (MOP/D) for the best interest of the population.   The word “control” is key.  Control requires authority.  Authority carries responsibility.  Thus, government has responsibility over the MOP/D.  Results of the said responsibility lie with the government.  With government controlling and taking responsibility over MOP/D, the individual is left to work for the government (by default of them controlling MOP/D).  Governments defend, and people argue constantly, this is all done in the name of valuing people.

Our value as individuals is not tied to economic performance.   I asked my friends 7 year old daughter the other day, “If you were hanging off a cliff and you were holding a dog in one hand, and a person in the other who would you let go of in order to pull the other one up?”.  With no surprise, she replied, “I’d let the dog go and pull the person up”.  I replied back, “Exactly. Why?”  She said, “Because people are more important than animals”.  A person is more valuable than an animal, but a rich person is not more valuable than a poor person.  Person A is as valuable as Person B.  Trusting the scripture reference is not problematic for most:  Job 34:19 Yet He is not partial to princes, Nor does He regard the rich more than the poor;  For they are all the work of His hands.  Finally: Lev 19:15 ‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty.

The point to the above is simple.  Government does not have to tax rich person A and give to poor person B to confer equality or value to poor person B.  Poor person B has a value that is already fixed and set as high.  Therefore no government planning of forced redistribution will ever accurately bestow a message of value to an individual.  If my value is a 100% high and fixed, then no government can add to my value.  It is logically impossible.

Since the motives of killing private ownership in favor of government controlling MOP/D is to confer/bestow value on all individuals equally and since governments cannot confer/bestow value, the entire (self-contradicting) motivation behind socialism undermines our pre-declared value.

In undermining our value as people (inadvertently, of course…because socialists intend to value others), we see the consequences unfold. With this abdication of choice, control and responsibility is a clear message of destiny and future.  In the name of ‘equality’ and ‘everybody makes the same’ I ask, on what authority does the government seek to compromise my dreams and destiny with some bastardized* concept of valuing individuals?

Valuing individuals is not giving everyone the same via controlling MOP/D.  We express value as individuals by allowing people to relate and by encouraging the best in us; by building with us, creating with us and growing with us (thorough tears and joy).  Where we fall short to do this, family, Churches and Charity step in.  Where they fail, sure, a ‘safety net’ can be there for the protection of individuals with food and shelter.  Valuing individuals comes through respecting free choice within a free market (pending we do not break laws) and allowing people to function and relate to each other without government suppressing our choice.  Free choice within a free market is a powerful driving force behind the beauty of creating.  If “creating” is a car, then free choice within the free market are the roads.  Socialism is then the collapsed bridge.

By definition, government ‘leveling the playing field’ by controlling MOP/D kills incentive, literally. With incentive now in the grave next to ‘responsibility’ and ‘destiny’ it’s clear creativity and innovation take a beating.  Our dreams, authority, control and choice all get yanked in to the fight.  Government controlling MOP/D is done in the name of ‘valuing everyone equally’, whereby it produces the opposite results.  It devalues people through a bastardized concept of value.  If you butcher the terms “value” and “equality”, then base an economic philosophy on the said dysfunctional words, chaos ensues, both morally and economically.  Suppression of our human spirit comes by way forced draconian control over the MOP/D.  Killing free choice within a free market undermines how we were created to function: we were created to create, strive and overcome.  Killing profit and rewards for our excellent performance squashes incentive and therefore creativity.  Also lost is the powerful lessons taught by failure, heartbreak and loss.  Enabling the individual to control MOP/D (for profit or bankruptcy) is a key element in acknowledging how we were made as humans by empowering us to choose.  With our value already fixed and high and our observable proclivity to release our gifting’s I submit we were made with the power to create.  Please government, let the individual control the MOP/D and we will do just that: choose to create.

The government confers nothing on me in terms of value.  Therefore, I do not need, require or want a government led economic system engaged in debasing my dreams, aspirations and hard work.  If the government desires to express value, here’s how they can do so:

1.       Understand every person’s value is fixed and high: stop tampering with what is already established.

2.       Empower me to value my family and others by getting out of my way.  Immoral taxes/debt/laws hamper my ability to give for reasons given in this entry. 

3.       Empower me to create by giving me free choice and extending that to the marketplace. 

*to lower in condition or worth; debase: hybrid works that neither preserve nor bastardize existing art forms.

I Tried And Failed To Read Without Crying

Induced labor lets dying man see daughter


Diane Aulger was about two weeks from her delivery date when she and her husband decided there was no time to wait: Mark Aulger had only days to live, and he wanted to see his child.
Diane Aulger had her labor induced and gave birth to their daughter Jan. 18. When tiny Savannah was placed in his arms, Mark Aulger "cried, and he just looked very sad," his wife said. He died five days later from complications related to his cancer treatment.
The 52-year-old Texas man was diagnosed with colon cancer in April. He had surgery and, as a precaution, six months of chemotherapy, Diane Aulger said. With no signs of cancer showing up in follow up tests, the treatment seemed successful.
Then in November, Mark Aulger began having trouble breathing. By Jan. 3, he was sick enough to go to the emergency room. His wife said he was told the chemotherapy had caused him to develop pulmonary fibrosis, which causes scarring and thickening in the lungs.
Initially, the Aulgers were hopeful.
"He thought he'd be coming home in a few days with an oxygen tank," said Diane Aulger, who lives in The Colony, about 25 miles north of Dallas.
But on Jan. 16, the doctor delivered more bad news: Mark Aulger's condition was fatal. When Diane Aulger asked how long her husband had, the response was a sobering five or six days.
"Mark said, `I'd like to see the baby,'" the 31-year-old mother told The Associated Press on Sunday.
Their baby was due Jan. 29, and Diane Aulger had planned a natural childbirth, but when the doctor suggested an induced labor, she immediately agreed. She was already experiencing pre-labor symptoms , and they scheduled the birth for Jan. 18.
Hospital staff arranged for the Aulgers to share a large labor and delivery room.
"Our beds were side by side," Diane Aulger said.
Mark Aulger held his daughter for about 45 minutes after she was born. For the next couple of days, though, he was so tired he was only able to hold her a couple of times for a minute or so. She said he slipped into a coma on Jan. 21 and died two days later.
"I brought her home the night before he fell into the coma. It was just me and Savannah when he passed away," Diane Aulger said.
Along with Savannah, the Aulgers have two other children, ages 10 and 7. Diane Aulger also has a 15-year-old and a 13-year-old.
With her family's story getting much media attention in recent days, Diane Aulger said she's been heartened by the nice comments she's received from people.
She plans to blanket her home with pictures of her husband and said her children are already doing a good job of keeping his memory alive by talking about him.
"We're living day-to-day as if dad's still here," she said. "We know dad is here with us. They talk to dad. Mark was a very funny, funny dad."


I am incredibly proud of this family. 
A humbling reminder for me to be thankful for my family, health and and friends.  This encourages me to live a more thankful and less selfish life.

Greece, Riots, Unions And Ungreatfulness

In a fantastic entry, Mish Shedlock points out the damage caused by unions and entitlement attitudes on a bankrupt nation.  Do they cave to the obvious and relent?

What an exclamation mark!   I get a destructive attitude when you don’t get your way, but this is ridiculous!  Unions marching, destroying property seems silly when the alternative is bankruptcy.  With unemployment over 20% and major cuts coming, there are little options left for the Greeks. 

Do the protests/destroying stuff/socialist attitudes of the unions in Greece remind you of anything?

Reality: Greece is bankrupt.  There is no more to give. End the self-destructive fits Greece.  It looks as bad as the ungrateful computer kid.