“Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves…love of power does far more harm than love of drink or any of the other vices…In virtuous people love of power camouflages itself as love of doing good…Moral indignation is one of the most harmful forces in the modern world, the more so as it can always be diverted to sinister uses by those who control propaganda.” -Bertrand Russell
Russell appears to be speaking of progressives and their mantra “power by any means necessary.” The progressive lust for power is disguised by moral indignation. Russell’s observations are further reinforced by a combination of progressive blather and the mainstream media’s propaganda which becomes “diverted to sinister uses.” Russell’s “Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves…” has become a progressive reality.
The latest acquisition of power under the guise of “doing good” is Medicare for All. Previously it was the War on Poverty. Progressives spent $3 trillion of our money in their poverty war, and crony capitalists got rich on our money. So did campaign coffers, government grants, NGOs and other “anti-poverty” causes.
The “free healthcare” battle cry promises the same dismal results. In 2017 we spent $600 billion dollars and only shifted medical coverage from the middle class to the poor. There was no net gain in usable medical insurance coverage despite the money spent.
If the progressives continue their war on medicine, it will cost over $3 trillion a year, according to a study by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Governor-elect Janet Mills says that she can expand Medicaid in Maine for $54 million a year; Governor LePage’s administration says it will be more like $65 million a year. Under either scenario, the middle class will pay for it.
What we see with this scheme is a massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the poor with no overall improvement. Once again, the political class and their cronies will get rich while the middle class becomes poverty stricken. Equality of result.
In the 2018 midterm elections, Maine as well as many parts of our country have lurched to the left, embracing the failed policies of European “democratic socialism.” The newly elected governor and the legislature are pushing social democracy as if it were the holy grail. Apparently, they think that if they can extend equal results to all and the delivery of services will be better. Unfortunately, it won’t. This is another form of the European model of democratic socialism (mutually exclusive terms). Let’s examine the words;
- Democratic: Majority rule. 51 percent of the people can vote away the rights of the other 49 percent.
- Socialism: A social system that seeks equality of result (e.g. you and Jack have the same income, but you work for yours and Jack doesn’t work for his – equality of result.)
Westbrook Pegler said it well: “Damn democracy. It is a fraudulent term used, often by ignorant persons but no less often by intellectual fakers, to describe an infamous mixture of socialism, graft, confiscation of property and denial of personal rights…”.
And damn socialism’s equality of result; it is a shell game that no known economic system can sustain. As the great British Prime Minister, Lady Thatcher (the “Iron Lady”), put it so eloquently: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
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