Simple Utah Mormon Politics

If you're careful as a national government, you can pretend that socialism works, and you can hide for a long time the fact that it doesn't.  It's still sort of working in Germany.  But if you're not careful, soon you'll be France, the new socialist "sick man of Europe".

The leaders and chief central bankers of the richest 20 nations have been meeting in Toronto, Canada today and yesterday to discuss the economic plight of the world. This group is known as the G20. In this context, I thought it appropriate--and definitely ironic--that in our Sunday School today class we read the parable of a rich man who stole the very last sheep that his neighbor, the poor man, owned. This is the essence of the G20. Once you understand this fundamental concept, that it is a cabal of hghway robbers, you will begin to understand why it must be opposed at all costs. The G20 ensures that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. With its henchman,  the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the G20 has been stealing our sheep, and some of us are just about down to our last one.

Both the U.S. and Japan have gigantic social welfare programs. Japan's program is just about as costly as ours, but it works much better, and Japan's crime rate is much lower than that of the United States. Why has Japan's welfare program has worked so much better than ours? In Japan, the family is considered to be the first line of welfare support. The crass individualism Rather than place welfare requirements upon extended families, the United States government chose to attempt to solve the entire problem--and now we have a mountain of debt and cesspools of social filth to show for it. spawned by gigantic corporations caused a great deal of grief to a lot of American workers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal social legislation, in trying to solve that admitted problem, created one that was far worse. The New Deal, in trying to rein in the corporation, and the Great Society, in trying to plug the increasingly leaky dike of...

Socialism doesn't work, no matter by whom it is tried. Life would be so much simpler if the rest of the architects of social doom would get this into their thick heads. California is the latest unfortunate example of social experimentation gone awry. It looks, perhaps though, that a majority of Californians are waking up from the social nightmare, and the bellwether state might just be turning a corner. If we can learn from the smaller failure of Californian socialism, then there is still time to turn the American ship of state away from crashing hard upon the rocky shoals of its much larger social venture. Arnold Schwarzenegger is royally ticked off at the citizens of California, because they aren't going to put up with his Republican socialist crap anymore. They should go It would be nice if government could solve all of our problems, but it simply can't. In most cases it merely pushes the problems into the future, where instead of dealing with mosquitoes now, we b...

Mormons, if they really looked, could find more areas where practices of the Republican party clash with their faith than do those of the Democrat party. The self-righteous arrogance of Utah Mormon Republicans, then, is much more than ironic. In some ways Utah Mormon Democrats are light years ahead of Republicans when it comes to Christlike (read: Latter-day Saint) virtues. It's time for Utah Mormon Republicans to step down off that phony pedestal that they've created for themselves and realize that they might just have some catching up to do. According to the bent philosophies that some Republican Mormons mix with their scripture, their version of Alma Chapter 46 (beginning with verse 19) in the Book of Mormon must go something like this 19 And when Moroni had said these words, he went forth among [his fellow Republicans], waving the rent part of his garment in the air, that [his party members] might see the writing which he had written upon the rent part, and crying with a ...

People are like seagulls in one important way: when things are done for them that they should be doing for themselves, they not only come to depend on the aid, but they gradually forget how to support themselves at all. Government, in an attempt to be benevolent, has destroyed the thrift and industry of many "seagulls" in the United States. The Social Security program, despite how well meaning it may have been, has contributed to the destruction of the family in the United States. From this behemoth has come a plethora of welfare programs that have squelched the ability of people to provide for themselves. It is important for us to take care of each other in times of indigence. This is the essence of charity. It is the essence of welfare. Welfare works best, however, when it is local. When welfare is local, it encourages the indigent to get back on their feet. Federal welfare programs have been largely a bust because they treat people like flocks of seagulls who don...

Newsweek's cover story from its February 16, 2009 issue declares smugly that "We Are All Socialists Now." I'm sure at some point along the way they also declared that a consensus exists that man is causing irreversible global warming. The only people who are socialists now are (a) some of those who are in debt bondage and want an easy fix, (b) nearly all of those who want to control other people's lives, or (c) most of those who don't think clearly. Admittedly, that probably includes quite a few of us. But it's nowhere near all of us. Besides, I can't be a socialist. According to the state of Missouri, I'm a Ron Paul-affiliated terrorist . I'll be dead before I'm a socialist. And there are no socialists in heaven. Several years ago, I made a derogatory They can't afford for us all to become socialists anyway. They need at least a fair number of ants to support their grasshopper lifestyles. comment about the spectacles that everyo...

FDR was probably sincere when he expressed his desire to help "The Forgotten Man"--the everyday American. The policies of his administration, however, had the opposite effect. Not only did high wages keep many individual Americans out of work, the draconian rules of the National Recovery Act destroyed hundreds of small businesses. The NRA purposely herded industry into larger and larger corporations. This is one aspect of FDR's failed policies whose negative effects we are still dealing with. When FDR came to power in America, By the time the NRA bull had finished running through the china closet, hundreds of small businesses had been destroyed. This fact, and the fact that small business destruction was largely by design, have been redacted from public school textbooks. Fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was all the rage across the western world. Many of the policies of the Roosevelt administration, though tamer in practice than Mussolini's strong-arm t...

From 4% of GDP at the turn of the 20th Century, now government controls 33% of the U.S. Gross domestic product--up from 25% just a year ago. We have not had a free market in the United States for just about 100 years now, yet the free market is getting blamed for all the problems that are finally coming to a head. FDR did not fix the problems of the free market; he simply exacerbated the problems of socialism, policies that were already being implemented by Herbert Hoover administration. If what we really have now is the free market, ask yourself why so many of these so-called free market institutions are asking for -- and receiving --bailouts from the federal government? The free market doesn't do these things!

Even today, students of Karl Marx seem to be enthralled by his supposed wisdom. Jesus Christ taught that "by their fruits ye shall know them." The fruits of Karl Marx were dark and hateful. As we learn more about the demonic life of Karl Marx, it becomes hard to imagine why anyone would believe his teachings. Chauncey Riddle, a former Brigham Young University professor, once remarked that Karl Marx made some accurate observations about life, but that the problem arose with Marx's solutions. It is much easier to destroy than it is to build something up. Karl Marx was a destroyer--and we're still paying for it. Everything that Karl Marx wrote came from a Marx implied that "capitalists" were capable of nothing but exploitation of the working men and women--a surefire recipe for class hatred instead of problem solving. framework of class combat. Everything that Jesus Christ taught was from a perspective of loving and serving one's neighbor. Marx's ...

We had a great Utah blogger get-together at Squatter's Pub last Friday night. Proposition 8 was the most popular topic of discussion, but one of the other more controversial issues we discussed was whether President-Elect Barack Obama is a Marxist. Some of us expressed the opinion that he is. Others of us were very vocal that he's not. Which of us is right? Does it really matter? In my opinion, Barack Obama is quite a Marxist. On scale of 1 to 10, he's definitely not a 10, but he's way above a 5. Marx espoused a form of socialism, so for all intents and purposes, Marxism and Socialism are the same thing. The fact that a lot of Republicans are Marxist to varying degrees clouds the question at hand quite a bit. Nonetheless, a Marxist is a Marxist is a Marxist. Karl Marx believed that the free market does not work, and that it eventually leads to monopolies. Marxism focuses on the class warfare that supposedly arises in free markets. The only way to remove class ...

Wealth redistribution is--to some people anyway--way cool in concept. But it takes them by surprise when it happens to them in real life. Wealth redistribution, whenever it is conducted or influenced by government, makes the rich richer at the expense of the poor. Here are two examples of why you should beware of an Obama in sheep's clothing. Story #1--I Guess I Don't Like Wealth Redistribution After All Recently, a radio talk show host ( Alan Watt ?) was walking toward a restaurant when he saw a homeless man holding a sign that said "Vote for Obama...I need the money." He smiled, and walked into the restaurant. After being seated, he was greeted by a very cheerful waiter, who, as fate would have it, was wearing an "Obama 2008" tie. In no case has socialism closed the gap between rich and poor. The difference between the top 1% of Soviet wealth holders and the rest of society was far more vast than exists in America today, but through socialism, that di...

Over a year ago, I read Barack Obama's book, The Audacity of Hope . I was nearly taken in by his rhetoric. As I've come to know more about the man, I've determined that he associates with some pretty shady characters, that he has no experience, that his policies would be devastating, and that America could have done much better in their nomination of the first black American to run for President. A good friend of mine is a cancer survivor, although he is still on a regimen against its recurrence, and he regularly visits Once you go Barack, you can't go back! with his doctor to ensure his good health. Painted on the tailgate of his pickup truck is this statement: "I am a cancer survivor. Obama scares me." You know what? My friend is right to be scared. I've never had cancer, but the more I come to know about Barack Obama, the more scared I am that there are so many people who think Obama is the solution to America's malaise. You should know, befo...

I agree with Noam Chomsky on certain things, such as the lunacy of the Iraq War, but I think he's off his rocker when it comes to social programs. He indirectly accuses me of believing things that just aren't true. We got a way cool gift subscription to NetFlix recently (which we'll probably extend when it expires), which allows us to watch certain movies instantly. I've already watched No End in Sight , a movie about the futility of the Iraq War (about which more in a later post.) Now I'm watching Noam Chomsky: Rebel Without a Pause . It's great stuff. I agree with half of it, but I disagree with the other half. I think he's right on when it comes to the Iraq War. The Bush Administration has unduly scared the crap out of a lot of Americans and run us economically into the ground with it propagandizing for and prosecuting of the Iraq War. What surprises me, though, is that Chomsky says that anyone who is against federal government funding of education doe...

Since the calculated stock market crash of 1929 and subsequent blaming of capitalism for the failure of the US economy, a myriad of "welfare" programs have sprung up--most of them like a cancer on the social and economic fabric of America. While it is important that we take care of our poor, a governmental approach--which is often much more complicated than it needs to be--seldom works. Here's an approach, however, that will work. In an era when presidential campaign finalists attempt to outdo each other in promises to provide for the medical and economic welfare of all Americans, it would do us well to take note of a few realities. Nearly all current government welfare programs are destructive of the family, teach indolence and dependence rather than thrift, and steal human dignity. Government intrusion into the medical arena is the primary reason for skyrocketing health care costs and declining medical care in America. The United States has a current and future debt ob...

It would be nice if the moneymakers at the Federal Reserve were simply inept. It was a terrible idea the moment it was hatched nearly one hundred years ago, and I have now had about a gut-full of the freaks at the Federal Reserve. After creating the financial atmosphere where a subprime mortgage meltdown could occur, the Fed now contemplates bailing out the big boys who took it in the shorts--while leaving you in the lurch. The Mexican Peso Bailout of 1994 wasn't a bailout of the Mexican Peso. It was a bailout of the tycoons who loaned the money to Mexico knowing full well that they would have their spread covered if the deal went south. In a similarly elitist move, the Federal Reserve bailed out Bear Stearns a couple of weeks ago. Why? Because, said Ben Bernanke , we can't afford to let such a big company go under. Given the exceptional pressures on the global economy and financial system, the damage caused by a default by Bear Stearns could have been severe and extremel...

Books don't capture the moment like blogging does. Armando Valladares, Humberto Fontova, and other authors, have masterfully captured the debauchery, the murderousness, and the torture of the Cuban Communist oligarchy; but history presents the truth in a way that can tempt and trick our minds into dismissing its facts as either exaggerations or occurrences of a bygone era. Blogging, however, puts those facts in your face almost as they happen. With up-to-the-minute accounts by Yoani Sanchez--and hopefully soon-to-be others--Americans will now be able to get a clearer understanding that the debauchery, the murder, the torture, and the socialist expropriation are going on in Cuba right now . It's too bad the internet wasn't around when the Cuban revolution of Fidel and Raul castro, along with Che Guevara and other gutter rats, plunged Cuba deep into the dark ages. With the internet, this travesty of freedom may never have been able to happen. If Che Guevara were still arou...