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THE NEW SOCIAL DEMOCRACY (Part I)
Communism's New Champion
by H. David Blalock
Since the fall of Soviet Russia, we have been under the impression that communism is dead. Americans have been led to believe that, without the leadership of a strong USSR, communism and its first cousin socialism have lost their major proponent. But communism has not lost all of its support. It has found a new, growing champion.
The United States Government.
Without a clear ideological enemy superpower, our government's scions have had to turn to a whole new set of ideas to maintain popular support. The same issues that broke the European and Asian governments through revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries are beginning to come to the forefront in America today.
We are developing class warfare. And with this, we are repeating the beginnings of what can end only in events similar to those of Eastern Europe in the early years of the last century.
Americans are, for the most part, politically naive. We have so little history, so little experience with differing ideologies as controlling factors, that we see most political systems as abstract exercises. In point of fact, though we call our society "democratic", it is not. The American government has undergone several changes since its inception.
If we look at it dispassionately, America was not built for the benefit of everyone in the colonies. The gentry, the landowners and businessmen were suffering under exorbitant taxes. They wanted to insure their positions in the face of volatile European fortunes. A chaotic political climate overseas offered them the perfect opportunity to break away from the heavy-handed control of their English masters. After all, they had braved the unknown, built lives and estates far beyond their original grants. In many cases, they stood to lose much should England reassert its supremacy. As long as the English were more concerned with problems at home and on the continent, the colonials had a free hand, but such freedom could not be guaranteed if they remained merely a colony.
The more philosophically minded of the gentry saw in this an opportunity to implement some of their more innocuous ideas, most oriented to the increase of private property and the expansion of free trade. Those ideas that might interfere with this, such as the abolition of slavery, were defeated.
Contrary to popular perception, America did not become a free entity in 1776. It was nearly 50 years before England would finally surrender its claims against the colonies. During that time, the men who risked everything faced a variety of fates. Some suffered terribly and lost all. Others, those who were intelligent enough to walk the line between rebel and loyal, retained their lands, position, and prestige. Their images have become more icon than human, retroactively validating their actions as altruistic rather than practical.
I object to none of this. I believe the current free trade system and government is the best in the world. The problem is, there is a section of our government that feels it is under used, under appreciated, and underfunded.
I refer to the Democratic Party of the United States.
NEXT: Social Democracy in America
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