The Dying Villager

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 12/4/21

            In 1976 at the Republican national convention Barry Goldwater said of Gerald Ford’s opponent for the presidency, “Jimmy Carter’s future is Lyndon Johnson’s past.” This past week Stacy Abrams announced her intentions of running against Brian Kemp for governor of Georgia. For the same reasons – policies – that Goldwater was referring to, we can be sure that Stacy Abrams’ future is Joe Biden’s present.

            And what is Biden’s present? It too is Lyndon Johnson’s past. To Biden’s present and Abram’s future, add steroids. Never has our nation moved so swiftly from representative democracy to executive and bureaucratic power, from local government to the administrative state, and from capitalism to giveaway programs as it has in 2021. Hem and haw and call it what you will but what we’re talking about is socialism. What’s “in” is the village; what’s being forgotten is the villager. What’s “in” is diversity; what’s passé is freedom of speech for those who don’t embrace diversity as defined by progressive politicians, the university, Hollywood, the media, and of all things, corporations and the military. Remember General Milley?

            The waltz being performed by diversity troops and socialist true believers is a sad and dangerous one. Both groups of dancers know where their waltz leads. Many villagers apparently do not. When diversity was first mentioned, it generally referred to the effort to hire more minorities. This noble goal was soon overshadowed by the demand that we embrace trillions in giveaways, so-called equity, transgenderism, homosexuality, and critical race theory. Diversity has become tyrannical. “Think as I think,” it yells. Diversity’s claims should remind us of the old saw, “An open mind is like an open mouth. It accepts everything, rejects nothing, and becomes an open sewer.”

            Don’t be close minded. Be inclusive. Or so the progressive argument goes. Diversity today would have us to accept the welfare state and call it “democratic socialism,” an utter contradiction of terms.

            What LBJ, Biden, and Abrams all have in common is their acceptance of big government and socialism. Socialism is legalized theft. Like capitalism it is an economic system, but unlike capitalism it takes by force. It tells producers that they must surrender a particular portion of what they have produced or built so that it reaches the hands of those who have done neither.

            Socialism places the individual beneath the society, that is, the nation, the village. It imbues the village with a power which it denies the villager. To the socialist the village is supreme, thus the cry “It takes a village.” Not a family, understand, but a village. Hillary Clinton’s book of this title is about the role of government, not the strengthening of families.  The village giveth and it taketh away. And of course parents must turn their children over to the village school and then get out of the way. What do parents know?

            It’s ironic that so many socialists are wealthy. One wonders if Bernie Sanders was embarrassed when his recent bestselling book made him a millionaire. Did he give away an amount equal to what he claims we should give in taxes? Why has Congress always opted for humongous ideas like “the Great Society” and “Build Back Better” that leave villagers in the lurch, not really helping the poor, not really advancing anything. LBJ’s Headstart sounded wonderful but somebody please assess where the family stands today and tell us why youths destroyed cities for four solid months last year. How goes the village today?  What good have the billions flowing from village headquarters done?

             To fully understand socialism is to first understand the socialist. The socialist, whether sincere or a wolf in sheep’s clothing, is always a do-gooder or is playing the role of do-gooder. The insincere ones are desirous of the power socialism brings them. Does anyone think that Castro, Lenin, Mao, Hitler, or Mussolini were not socialists? Do we not remember that the UK was sinking until Lady Thatcher emerged?  Political tyranny doesn’t thrive where capitalism thrives. It thrives where tyrants seized power or where, in a formerly capitalistic country, citizens sell their souls and plop their rear-ends down to wait for checks, thus creating a labor shortage and a far less functional and happy village.

            Death is one thing. Dying is another. Many villagers around us are dying, some socially because they choose to, opting for checks in the mail rather than honorable, invigorating labor. Others are dying economically because their businesses were closed down or because the children of socialism smashed in and destroyed them.

 And that’s why it matters who will be America’s next president and Georgia’s next governor.

 

Roger Hines

12/2/21