Be Wary of Socialism, Very Wary!

Socialism is a vast bureaucracy dictated by the few for the good of the few and the control of the many. A small, elite governing body is responsible for making decisions. Socialism requires total control over the teaching of its citizenry and control over the relationships of its subjects. Citizens are asked, even required, to report their neighbor to government officials for even suspected violations of government directives.

NEED FOR CHECKS AND BALANCES

The beauty, freedom and strength of America, however, and of existence itself lies in a multiplicity of ideas and variations in cultural interpretations. This multiplicity of ideas maintains the checks and balances that prevent abuses of power and encourages evaluation and growth. It is the faith of the free system of government that open and honest debate provides a foundation where the general population can choose what form of laws and regulations will best serve the greatest good. The government is then held accountable to the people for its continuing existence.

U.S. MOVES TOWARD ECONOMIC SOCIALISM

As we watch the economic breakdown in the United States two weeks now before the election of a new president, it becomes evident that decisions by small, elite groups in both business and government have undermined our free economic system and replaced it with economic socialism. We have been misled and misdirected.

We are informed that it is in our best interest to move toward socialism in this time of economic crisis.

POLITICALLY CORRECT SOCIALISM

Socialism has been rampant in the universities for decades. I entered Cornell University to return to graduate school in the early 1970's, another era of social crisis. Watergate trials were playing non-stop on the television. The Vietnam war was waging. Minorities and women were challenging the university system for equal rights. The ideology being presented by the elite academic gurus was that we needed to move toward socialism. 'Benevolent dictatorship' was whispered to be the obvious solution. A chill ran down my spine, because 'benevolent dictatorship' is a contradiction in terms. Socialism continues to be 'politically correct' in the major universities.

In the 1800's, the historian and moralist, Lord Acton, noted the corrupting behavior of absolute power.
"POWER CORRUPTS AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY"

Germany, the Soviet Union, and other communist countries have shown us the tragedies related to socialist perspectives in governance, and how all citizens can be drawn into these tragedies.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, in his book, The Gulag Archpelago, describes the atrocities of the Soviet prison system. He asks, "Where did this wolf-tribe appear from among our people? Does it really stem from our own roots? Our own blood? It is our own."
He concluldes, "If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being."1.

THE BANALITY OF EVIL

In 1961, Hannah Arendt reported on the trial of Otto Adolf Eichmann. She describes the banality of evil, noting that while the deeds Eichmann committed were monstrous, Eichmann, himself, was quite ordinary, neither demonic nor monstrous. What Arendt noticed was thoughtlessness, an inability to think. His responses were cliches, stock phrases, and standardized codes of expression.2.

We revolt in horror when we consider what was done in Nazi Germany by medical doctors. Robert Jay Lifton researched and reported the systematic genocide in Auschwitz and elsewhere. He noted that the Nazi motivation of 'killing as a therapeutic imperative' for the good of the Volk compelled medical doctors to participate in the Nazi eugenic vision. Doctors held no authority in deciding orders. They were powerless cogs in a vast machine, a faceless detached bureaucracy.3.

Lifton outlines the principle of 'doubling' which involves the formation of a second, relatively autonomous self, which enables one to participate in evil, while maintaining a prior self that continues as a family person and humane member of society.

CALL FOR CRITICAL THINKNG

Lifton notes that most Nazi doctors were not beasts, they were very ordinary people with families and children. However, the whole society failed to exercise the faculty of thinking critically.

Our present day 'preachings of political correctness' come dangerously close to careless and thoughtless cliches, stock phrases, and standardized codes of expression. We are being intimidated into accepting behaviors that render atrocious consequences.

Lifton concludes his discussions on doubling by saying, "In light of the recent record of professionals engaged in mass killings, can this be the century of doubling? Or, given the ever greater potential of professionalization of genocide, will that distinction belong to the twenty-first century? Or, may one ask a little more softly, can we interrupt the process - first, by naming it." 4.

COURAGE OF OUR CONVICTIONS

A crisis is that point in an illness where the patient either recovers or dies. The survival of democracy and the maintenance of the free citizen is dependent upon the vital reactivation of citizen awareness and critical thinking on the part of all. Most importantly, it requires the courage to speak out in support of our convictions.


REFERENCES:
1. Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr. The Gulag Archipelago. In Literary Cavalcade. Jan. 1976. Vol. 28, No. 4. Pg. 41.
2. Assy, Bethania. "Eichmann, the Banality of Evil, and Thinking in Arendt's Thought". Pg. 1. http://www.bu.edu/wcp/Papers/Cont/ContAssy.htm.
3. Lifton, Robert Jay. The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide. Basic Books. (1986)2000. Pgs. 14-15.
4. Lifton, pg.465.

Economic Socialism Endangers Our Freedoms!

OUR FREEDOMS AT STAKE!

Our very freedoms are at stake in the horrendous request that asks taxpayers to give the government SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS of their hard earned money to bail out fiascos on wall street.

Our free enterprise system is the foundation that allows many voices to be heard and considered and many enterprises to be established to support values.

IT'S TIME TO STOP ALL THE POLITICAL RHETORIC AND INVESTIGATE WHAT AND WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DEBACLE.

Giving government bureaucrats at the treasury department centralized control over the money available for making business loans and more importantly giving them the authority to decide the eligibility rules as to who will receive these loans moves us into the realm of economic socialism.

Government bureaucracies are under the control of 'political correctness' that is being orchestrated by the far left. This concern becomes evident as we examine government control of the public school system.

POLITICALLY CORRECT BUREAUCRATS AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Moral and religious values of many, I would suggest most, of the students and parents are held in contempt as educational bureaucrats use the public school system to present promiscuous teenage sexuality, homosexuality and abortion as normalized behaviors, even in the elementary grades.

The importance of our religious values and heritage are dismissed within the public schools. My own 8 year old grandson informed me that "We're not allowed to talk about God in school".

As a teacher and professor I have sat through at least 4 extended 'politically correct' indoctrination sessions incorrectly promoted as diversity training. I have watched students and teachers who were 'put down' or even dismissed from their profession for failing to buy into the 'diversified indoctrination".

POLITICALLY CORRECT BUREAUCRATS AND OUR ECONOMIC SYSTEM

Now we want to put government bureaucrats in charge of deciding who or what economic loans are justified and possible? Will similar 'politically correct' criteria be used to make these decisions? Will health industries, private schools, books stores, theaters, department stores, etc. first be required to adjust their offerings to 'political correctness' before they can receive loans? Will the 'I Love Jesus Tire and Brake Service' be required to change its name before a loan is made?

Our foremothers and forefathers, often leaving all behind, came to this country to escape the tyranny of government control over their minds and souls.

Our greed to consume is undermining the spiritual and moral values that have made our country strong. The demand for easy credit and living beyond our means is undermining our integrity.

Dying of consumption is not a good way to go!

IT'S TIME TO EXAMINE OURSELVES! IT'S TIME TO BE ECONOMICALLY RESPONSIBLE AND PROTECT OUR ECONOMIC FREEDOMS!

Homosexuality? Caution is Wisdom!

At the end of April, 2008 the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network and the United States Student Association will sponsor the 12th annual Day of Silence in many public schools across the country with the goal of increasing tolerance for the homosexual lifestyle among children.

I am astonished and concerned at how quickly our society has been influenced to move toward the normalization of homosexuality.

I am not here discussing homosexuals, many of whom contribute generously to their community. As individuals in society, every person deserves respect and consideration. I am rather considering the personal and social consequences of homosexuality as a normalized lifestyle.

Some argue that homosexuality has a genetic base. There is much debate about this.
A molecular biologist who headed studies on gay brothers in 1993 concluded that social influences play the leading role in determining homosexuality. He stated, "From twin studies, we already know that half or more of the variability in sexual orientation is not inherited."1.


Many behaviors, including premarital and extramarital sex, incest, sexual abuse of children, and polygamy, may have genetic predispositions; however, behavior is more than genetics. Behavior has a social dimension. To extend normality to behaviors that may be destructive to individuals and society and may take generations to repair is neither prudent, just, nor practical. 2.

The profound changes that would occur in social organization warrant caution and serious consideration, particularly in regard to social integration, social freedom, social reproduction, and social health.

Homosexuality and social integration

The normalization of homosexuality will encourage social disintegration as men relate intimately to men and women to women. In spite of immense variation within the sexes, there remain fundamental differences in biological and emotional makeup. Misunderstanding will develop as each sex holds the other in unrealistic awe on the one hand or loathing on the other.

The traditional family is the building block for the integration of society as individuals grow in
understanding of various perspectives within the heterosexual family. This family unit integrates men and women, children, grandparents and extended relatives in personal and caring relationships that transcend the generations. Countless research studies confirm that the greatest sources of nurture, support, and meaning for the majority of Americans are found within the family unit. 3. 3a.

To preserve and support the family as the building block for social integration, our schools need to include training in the processes that enable caring relationships in marriage and family, including skills in communication, conflict resolution, and compromise.

Homosexuality and social freedom

The essence of freedom in America does not rest on the belief that every person can do whatever he or she wants to do at all times. Freedom in America maintains our ability to preserve and protect our best values, express them within the culture, and pass them on to future generations. Social freedom requires responsible citizenship.

The family is the foundation upon which freedom is built. The autonomous family preserves and passes down it's unique cultural values to the next generation, providing the checks and balances in society which guard against destructive extremes.

Homosexuality will jeopardize the intergenerational transfer of cultural patterns within society.

Homosexuality and social reproduction

The normalization of homosexuality will jeopardize social reproduction and the intergenerational transfer of genetic patterns. Reproduction within the homosexual union will necessitate contrivance and manipulation.

The specter of eugenics becomes evident as the commercialization of reproduction through the buying of sperm and egg and the creating of children through deliberate planning by professionals (at high cost) replaces the caring and loving union of mother , father, children, and extended family.

Homosexuality and social health

Personal and public health risks associated with homosexual behaviors are deeply troubling.

According to the American Medical Association, homosexual youth are 23 times more apt to contact a Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) than their heterosexual counterparts.4

* Syphilis rates in the U.S. that had significantly decreased in the 1990's, increased between 2001 and 2006, primarily among men. Syphilis rates attributed to men having sex with men (MSM) increased from 4% in 2000 to 62% in 2004.5.

* In a 1997 news article, The New York Times stated that a male teenager entering the homosexual lifestyle today has a 50% chance of getting AIDS by the age of fifty.6.

* By 1998, AIDS was the fifth leading cause of death for people ages 25-44. The first cases were reported in the U.S. in 1981 in the homosexual community. 77% of those affected with AIDS are male. Bisexual behaviors have transferred the disease to the heterosexual community.7.

* In the United States, MSM accounted for 70% of all estimated HIV infections in 2004, even though only about 5-7% of male adults and adolescents identify themselves as MSM.8.

* The cumulative estimated deaths of persons with AIDS in the United States in 2005 was 530,307 persons. 9.

Homosexuality comes to school

In the early 1990's homosexual activists sought to promote tolerance of the gay and lesbian lifestyles in the public schools, and to normalize these lifestyles in the public perception. The National Education Association promoted material entitled Affording Equal Opportunity to Gay and Lesbian Students. 10.

Although children have neither the experience nor the insight to evaluate this information, comprehensive sex education curriculums included discussions of homosexuality even in elementary materials. Teaching homosexuality as a viable and normal behavior to elementary children is of particular concern because preadolescent children typically gather in same sex groups, avoiding the opposite sex. To present this as a possible sign of homosexual attraction jeopardizes the ability of children to move into a healthy heterosexual relationship and marriage.

Caution is wisdom

In 1993, Morton Kaplan analyzed the changing patterns of sexual and family relationships and wisely cautioned against hasty and unexamined changes in family patterns. He states, "Our ability to function rationally depends on taboos and social and legal constraints that maintain character and a sense of appropriateness...I suggest prudence, that we do not allow a slippery slope to take us unawares... We need serious discussion rather than the polemics and the heat we are now generating." 11.

In 2003, a writer in the Wall Street Journal cautioned, "Most of the 'slippery slope' warnings of the last decades have proved tragically accurate despite the mockery that silenced them. From the domino theory, to drugs, divorce, to permissive sexuality, who can deny the devastation wrought by each - broken homes, addictions, AIDS?"

Personal and social effects of changes should be seriously weighed before extending the range of permissible behavior.

References

1. Palen, John A. Social Problems for the twenty-First Century. 2001. McGraw Hill:438-439.
2. Kaplan. Morton A. "Common sense on gay rights." The World and I October, 1993:403-407.

3. Marriage in America: A Report to the Nation. Council on Families. 1995:pgs. 9-11.

http://www.americanvalues.org/html/r-marriage_in_america.html.

3 a. Why Marriage Matters, Second Edition: Twenty-Six Conclusions from the Social Sciences. Institute for American Values. 2005.
New York, NY.
4. American Adolescents: How Healthy Are They? The American Medical Association. 1990: pg 31.
5. Center for Disease Control, STD Surveillance 2006.

http://www.cdc,gov/STD/stats/syphilis.htm. Jan 2, 2008.
6. Sheryl Gay Stolberg. "Gay Culture Sense and Sexuality". New York Times (late edition, east coast), 23, 1997. section4, pg. 1.
7. Center for Disease Control. July 2006. http://wwwcdc.gov/hiv/resources/factsheets/print/msm.htm.
8. Center for Disease Control, April 2004.
9. Center for Disease Control-Basic Statistics. pg. 5. June 28, 2007.
10. Buss, Dale. "homosexual rights go to school." Christianity Today. Vol. 37, No. 6 (May 17) 1993:70-72.
11. Kaplan, Morton A. "Common sense on gay rights." The World and I. October, 1993:403-407.
12. Kaylan, Melik. "The Way We Live Now". The Wall Street Journal. Friday. August 8, 2003. Opinion Page