The great Ronald Reagan once said, "The problem with our liberal friends isn't that they're ignorant. It's that they know so much that isn't so." There's probably nothing that illustrates the veracity of that statement better than economics.
The thing that motivates the Democrat left the most -- and unfortunately apolitical types who simply were just never properly educated on the topic -- is stunning economic illiteracy. The entire mess our country is in is due largely to the implementation of policies by leaders with a dangerous ignorance of basic economics and obstinate refusal to accept the most basic aspects of human nature. The havoc wrought upon societies by the economically illiterate have been on full display in countries like Greece, Italy, Spain, and, to a much more tyrannical extent, Cuba and North Korea.
Unfortunately for us Americans, too many of our current leaders are cheerleaders for the dismally failed policies that have ravaged these nations, insisting, as El Rushbo, Mark Levin, and others claim, that the reason Marxism-socialism failed in those countries was simply that the wrong people were in charge. That mentality brought us to where we are today: A nation whose economic policy has been drafted and implemented by overeducated Ivy League morons. (Mind you, I'm not trashing the entire Ivy League; yours truly has his Masters from Princeton).
Unfortunately for us Americans as well is the fact that our elitist economically illiterate leaders have convinced enough of "the masses" of the soundness of their ideology. Hence the Occupy movement. Hand in hand with the immature, uncivilized and violent behavior of Occupy movements around the country goes the fallacious philosophy that they have been taught about capitalism and society.
What is exactly do Occupiers and their cheerleaders in government and academia believe? It's pretty well summed up by the brilliant Walter E. Williams in his most recent article:
Class warfare thrives on ignorance about the sources of income. Listening to some of the talk about income differences, one would think that there's a pile of money meant to be shared equally among Americans. Rich people got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share. Justice requires that they "give back." Or, some people talk about unequal income distribution as if there were a dealer of dollars. The reason some people have millions or billions of dollars while others have very few is the dollar dealer is a racist, sexist, a multinationalist or just plain mean. Economic justice requires a re-dealing of the dollars, income redistribution or spreading the wealth, where the ill-gotten gains of the few are returned to their rightful owners.
In a free society, for the most part, people with high incomes have demonstrated extraordinary ability to produce valuable services for — and therefore please — their fellow man. People voluntarily took money out of their pockets to purchase the products of Gates, Pfizer or IBM. High incomes reflect the democracy of the marketplace. The reason Gates is very wealthy is millions upon millions of people voluntarily reached into their pockets and handed over $300 or $400 for a Microsoft product. Those who think he has too much money are really registering disagreement with decisions made by millions of their fellow men. ...
Stubborn ignorance sees capitalism as benefiting only the rich, but the evidence refutes that. The rich have always been able to afford entertainment; it was the development and marketing of radio and television that made entertainment accessible to the common man. The rich have never had the drudgery of washing and ironing clothing, beating out carpets or waxing floors. The mass production of washing machines, wash-and-wear clothing, vacuum cleaners and no-wax floors spared the common man this drudgery. At one time, only the rich could afford automobiles, telephones and computers. Now all but a small percentage of Americans enjoy these goods.
The prospects are dim for a society that makes mascots out of the unproductive and condemns the productive.
Indeed. I pray this national mindset can be turned around before it's too late.
Believe me, I'm not arguing that capitalism is perfect. But it is definitely the most humane and productive economic systems humankind has yet divised, and light years more so than what Obama and his followers have in mind.
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