PrintAugust 29, 2009
This Will Never Be A Euro-Socialist Country
The Obama Administration, the Democrats in Congress and the media are shocked and surprised by the depth of reaction to the proposed overhaul of the health care system and the tax and spend policies of this government. They had assumed that since the President had garnered over 69 million votes in the past election (53% of the votes cast), the American people had given him and his party a free hand to transform the country. Never mind that the votes Mr. Obama received only accounted for 30% of the voting age population in the country and that many voted for him thinking he was the moderate he proclaimed to be during his campaign for President.
It is apparent that Mr. Obama, his advisors, the leaders of the Democratic Party and the so-called intellectuals on the left appear to have little or no understanding of why the Euro-socialist utopia they envision will never be accepted by the American people. Had these elites gotten beyond their own sense of superiority they would have understood that the basic nature of the American society is unlike that of any nation in the world.
Throughout the history of mankind strong centralized governments have dominated those societies whose make up was primarily of a single ethnic group and who had little or no history of popular uprisings (e.g. Russia, China, various Arab countries). So too for modern day Marxism or socialism, those nations in today's world that live under various manifestations of socialism are similarly formulated. A docile and willing public is essential for the acceptance of an authoritarian government.
In 1782 a French immigrant to the United States, Michel Guillaume Jean de Crevecoeur in his notable essays: "Letters from an American Farmer" wrote of his newly adopted country:
What then is the American, this new man? He is either a European or the descendant of a European, hence that strange mixture of blood, which you will find in no other country...Here individuals of all nations are melted into a new race of men, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.
The population of the country has increased nearly a hundred fold (3.9 million to 307 million) since those words were first written 227 years ago. The "new race of men" now includes those from all corners of the world and their labor and posterity has in fact caused great changes, for the better, in the world. It has become a source of pride in American families to trace their ancestry and celebrate the courage and determination of their forefathers; whether they came on the Mayflower, by steerage to Ellis Island or suffered and persevered through forced servitude.
These pioneers injected into a uniquely American character a fierce desire to be independent, free and the final arbiter of one's success or failure. There resides deep within the soul of this country a deep mistrust of a powerful central government which stems from the firsthand experience of these immigrants from whom virtually all Americans today descend.
Over the past sixty years as the United States became the wealthiest and most powerful country on the face of the earth another trait unique to the American people came to the fore: a genuine sense of generosity and fair play. All were willing to accept the notion that the individual (and the government to a much less degree) should help those in need and give the downtrodden a leg up. Unfortunately this characteristic has been exploited by the left who desire to transform the country into a socialist utopia (governed by them, of course). The stratagem used was to foster guilt for one's success, substitute government for individual charity and declare as rights those things that only government could insure. As long as the future of the nation did not appear to be in real jeopardy and it could, on the surface, afford this spending, many simply chose to drop out of active participation in governance while others, in smaller numbers, chose to accept the largess.
This did not mean, however, that the basic character of the American people, as instilled by their forebearers, had changed to become amenable to a massive central government controlling all aspects of their lives while jeopardizing the future of their children and grandchildren.
The Obama Administration has, by its unbridled spending and head long drive to control the day-to-day activities of all Americans, awakened a "sleeping giant.
Now even the least involved of our fellow citizens has begun to realize we have embarked on a path that will in due course bankrupt the country, leave the most personal decisions in the matter of life and death in the hands of faceless bureaucrats and make us vulnerable to those who wish us harm. It is now apparent to many that the survival of a great nation depends in its ability to remain master of its destiny and that capability is now in question.
With the levers of power in Washington now controlled by one party and that party controlled by its radical element, these transformative policies can be forced upon the American people. The Obama Administration and Congress may well choose to do so out of fidelity to their admiration of Euro-socialism or to maintain an air of invincibility for the President. If the health care reform with any form of government control is passed and the profligate tax and spend agenda is continued, the American people will never accept those changes and will hold responsible all those who betrayed the best interests of the country. Once these proposals are passed it will be difficult to roll back but this is a country that has faced many challenges over its history, some that nearly destroyed it.
As a displaced person from World War II and welcomed into the United States with open arms, I have seen firsthand the sacrifices, determination and leadership exhibited by the American people in defeating the Axis Powers thus freeing millions from tyranny and certain death, rebuilding entire countries and above all showing the world the true power of liberty and freedom.
The American people will also rise to the challenge of overcoming what this Administration and Congress will attempt to do. In doing so they will invoke the now faded image of the masses at Ellis Island, the bent over figures of those in the cotton fields and all the men and women that made this the greatest and most unique country in the history of mankind. The legacy left to today's generations by these pioneers will not be betrayed, it is after all who we are.
