The people of this country are experiencing sticker shock at the grocery store. Why? Everything purchased in a store arrives in trucks, and those don’t run on fairy dust. If a finished product, like bread, must be created out of other materials before being sold to the consumer, then that means more than one trip. The wheat is first delivered to a mill, where it is turned into flour. The flour is driven to a commercial bakery, as are all the other ingredients. The finished loaves complete the journey when they are finally trucked off to a retail store. Since the price of gas and diesel fuel required for each of these trips has risen, the additional cost is tacked onto the price of the food. Add in higher wages for staff, and the middle class and small businesses take a serious financial smack. The policies of the Democratic Party sound nice, but they end up impoverishing most of the people. Why? The poor and uneducated are easier to control.
California, a land once brimming with opportunity and resources, has been ravaged by a plague far worse than the COVID-19 pandemic. Beginning in the mid-1970s, swarms of Democrats and liberals developed all kinds of new regulations and laws that slowly decimated the middle and lower classes as well as small businesses. Add to that dry kindling an avalanche of obscene taxes only the very wealthy could survive, and the progressive transformation of California caught fire. A small circle of the rich and a much larger poor class are emerging from the ongoing inferno; it’s reminiscent of a medieval state consisting of struggling peasants and the aristocracy.
The current policies of the Democratic Party appear to align closely with the political and economic ideas of communism and socialism, which have impoverished every society that has tried them. Theoretically, every person within the society works for the common good, and there is a more equitable distribution of wealth and less emphasis on class. These are noble goals, but they aren’t achievable. Why not? They preclude independent thought and the differing ambitions, skills, and motivations of people. Most of all, unfortunately, human nature still struggles with pride, greed, envy, and sloth; nobody is truly immune to the poison of these emotions.
Few would embrace communism, or even socialism, if told such systems required individuals to sacrifice their own unique dreams and individual talents, as well as much of the accumulated wealth they had earned. That is why such systems of government are always embellished with plenty of virtuous rubbish. To gain control of people it is essential to persuade them with inspiring but vague language. Still, no amount of lipstick and trendy rhetoric conceals this ugly beast for long. Money and education offer people more options, so it is imperative that both are either taken or destroyed. Communism impoverishes the people; this is intrinsic to its design as a system of authoritarian government forged primarily to concentrate power and wealth into the palms of a select few. Stealing or destroying even the modest wealth of the middle class is precisely how the power of individuals is undercut and limited.
Offering healthcare to thousands of undocumented migrants may seem compassionate, but it takes money away from those who are contributing to this society, including those workers least able to afford it. This is like a thief who donates some of the loot to a charity, or perhaps more akin to the easy generosity of politicians quick to offer the hard-earned money of taxpayers on unemployment benefits that tempt folks not to work – and it does not take long for people to lose the discipline and good habits necessary to hold a job. Our educational system has been failing for many years and yet nothing is done about it. Why? Ignorance helps achieve more governmental control.
Why are there so few conservative K-12 teachers and even fewer conservative college professors in the educational arena? To ensure that students are not confronted with opposing (or enlightening) views on socialism or communism and to eliminate any pesky bit of perspective students might receive. After limiting options, communism moves quickly to quash the independence, ambitions and resistance of people. In short, the human spirit is broken in many ways, including public shaming – like today’s “cancel culture” – and secretive governmental intrusion into the private lives of people. Plus, people who say the “wrong” things can and will be censored. Anyone, who pushes back against the elite “narrative” is censored, up to and including the president of the United States.
Less than a hundred years ago, hospitals and schools were often the beneficiaries of wealthy, civic-minded companies and individuals. These donors were able to afford such contributions; poor and middle-class folk were not. In raising taxes to pay for health care and education, the burden is shifted away from wealthier folks to taxpayers, many of whom make sacrifices to find the money.
Surrendering the health care and education system of the United States to the control of federal bureaucrats created two classes of people. One class can afford alternatives, and the other cannot. This furthers the inequality gap between the classes and strips away more of the accountability that exists when systems are more local.
Essentially, the poor have less health care and are less educated. The poor languish in overcrowded emergency waiting rooms. Wealthier people flick private insurance cards and glide through the system with the aid of their personal physician. Wealthier people can choose to send their kids to private schools or to homeschool. We know what happens when government bureaucrats get involved: Costs rise and standards go down. So why are our politicians bankrupting generations of the middle and lower classes? Why is the Biden administration and current Congress choosing poverty over prosperity for so many in the United States? Could it be to better control the citizens of this country?
By Margaret Iverson
