Nov 19, 2021 | Economy, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph.D.
Since 2008 half of America was lured into voting socialist despite the harsh lessons of our socialist beginnings. Plymouth and Jamestown rejected socialism and so MUST we to provide the level of universal prosperity America has provided its citizens for centuries.
This Thanksgiving Day we think of the Pilgrims enjoying abundant food, but this was not their real reality. To few note the starving times their first year in 1620 when half died of starvation. Harvests were not bountiful the first year nor the next. Plymouth was beset by laziness and thievery. William Bradford, the governor of the colony, in his History of Plymouth Plantation reported that “much was stolen both by night and day” to alleviate the prevailing condition of hunger. The somewhat mythical “feast” of the first Thanksgiving did fill their bellies, he reported, and they were grateful, but abundance had been anything but common. Why? Because they had fallen victim to the socialistic lure of “share the wealth.” This dis-incentivized the productive base of society.
Then suddenly, as though night changed to day, the crop of 1623 was bounteous, and those thereafter as well, and it had nothing to do with the weather. Bradford wrote, “Instead of famine now God gave them plenty and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God.” He concluded later, “any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” They ended universal poverty.
One variable alone made the difference and ended the famine. They abandoned the notion of government (or corporation) owning the means of production and distribution in favor of the individual having property and being responsible to take care of himself. Every family was issued its own land. Before, no one benefited by working for the common store because he received the same compensation as those who did not. After the change everyone retained the benefits of his labor. Those who chose not to work basically chose also to be poor and the government (corporation) no longer confiscated from those who produced to give to those who did not. No government food stamps here.
Ironically all this could have been avoided had Plymouth consulted history and communicated with their neighboring colony, some distance south of it, who had previously been down the same trail. Jamestown too was first a socialist society where each produced according to his ability and received according to his need, which, of course, affected supply. One cannot divide what does not exist. Our textbooks tell us that only one of twelve survived the first two years for precisely the same reason, starvation. The problem, as noted by Tom Bethel in his work The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity through the Ages, was identified by an unnamed participant as “want of providence, industrie and government, and not the bareness and defect of the Countrie.”
Captain John Smith is credited with having saved the floundering colony by his “no workie, no eatie” government program (the Virginia Company was the government) and was hated for it. Addicted to the promise of getting something for nothing, even if it is always less than promised, the receiving part of the population will always oppose their not getting their “fair share.” Sound familiar? Captain Smith was eventually carted off to England in chains as fast as the parasitic population could do so. Once again, why? Philip A. Bruce in his Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century, p. 121 called it agricultural socialism. “The settlers did not have even a modified interest in the soil…. Everything produced by them went into the store, in which they had no proprietorship.” When settlers finally were allowed to own their own property, and keep what they produced, things changed overnight.
Colony Secretary Ralph Hamor wrote of incoming prosperity, beginning in 1614, after ownership of land was allowed. “When our people were fed out of the common store, and labored jointly together, glad was he [who] could slip from his labor, or slumber over his tasks he cared not how, nay, the most honest among them would hardly take so much true pains in a week, as now for themselves they will do in a day, neither cared they for the increase, presuming that however the harvest prospered, the general store must maintain them, so that we reaped not so much corn from the labors of thirty as now three or four do provide for themselves.”
This Thanksgiving let us be grateful for the prosperity that we have—even the poorest among us. Jamestown and Plymouth set us upon a course that recognized that prosperity requires incentive to flourish and that the profit motive stimulates industry. We are so grateful that, having recognized the poison of the “share the wealth” philosophy, they purged it from their midst and proceeded to make, what later became America, the most prosperous country on earth.
On January 20, 2021, Democratic Socialists took over the White House and both branches of Congress. In ten short months of socialist rule, food prices have skyrocketed and shelves are emptying. Once totally energy independent, we now see fuel prices soar and severe shortages are predicted this winter; some economist even see an economic collapse. Joe Biden’s prediction of a “dark winter” appears on the horizon under Biden—not Trump. Socialism kills incentive to produce— it always has and always will.
Plymouth and Jamestown rejected socialism and so MUST we. Will we be as smart as they? Let us share this message at the table as we feast upon turkey and pumpkin pie this Thanksgiving Day so that our children will know how prosperity is really produced.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Sep 28, 2020 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Immigration, Liberty Articles
Harold Pease Ph.D.
An amazing event happened September 8, 2020 in a Donald Trump campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The huge crowd broke into spontaneous “We love you” chants for the president. He was noticeably affected.
It happened again two days later in Freeland, Michigan, Sept. 10. Ten chants in a row broke out 30 minuets into the speech after his comments about helping stop the violence in Minneapolis and his threat to use federal agents in Seattle if violence did not stop there. He thanked the crowd after the first two chants but they would not stop until after another eight—“We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you. We love you.” He interrupted, “Don’t say that, I’ll start to cry [pause] and that wouldn’t be good for my image. You don’t want to see me cry. I’ll start to cry.” This tender moment was followed by another five “We love you” chants before he was permitted to continue.
Why is this a big story, two reasons? First, because I do not recall any politician getting that chant in the history of this country. Not even George Washington, Andrew Jackson, or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, presidents said to be among the most popular. Second, in almost five years, I have yet to hear one favorable comment from Democrat news outlets. Because of this I am certain half of America, so influenced by the constant “hate Trump” spew, will never know that they lived through the administration of perhaps America’s most popular president. No public office holder has drawn the crowd sizes he consistently gets.
Remember this is the same presidential candidate who just four years ago was “piled on” seemingly by everyone: the establishment media, establishment Democrats, establishment Republicans, establishment bankers and corporations. Added to this was the globalist establishment special interest groups the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bilderbergers. No president has endured more opposition than he—perhaps all put together. Imagine thousands now chanting “We love you” in unison to a politician in appreciation. This has never happened.
So why is he so popular with the American people? I’ll not dwell on the greatest economy in over a century, the highest employment rate for Africans, Hispanics, Asians, women and youth in my lifetime. The lowest taxes for the middle class in decades. These are not even disputed by the left in the 2020 election.
He is loved because he took on the globalists who were turning this country into the military arm of what they call the New World Order. He started no new wars, ended nation building in foreign lands, and is pulling out of the no-win wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Our soldiers will no longer dye in foreign lands for globalist causes.
Veterans love him because he treated them with dignity. He signed the VA Choice Act and VA Accountability Act, expanded VA health services, walk-in-clinics, and same-day urgent primary and mental health care.
Until the Chinese Wuhan Virus he lifted nearly 4 million Americans off food stamps. Against the advice of his opponents he shut down immigration from China early in the virus. He teamed with the CDC with daily reports and projected confidence by not overreacting to the virus by a nation-wide shut-down of the economy. He is viewed as most likely to restore his previous booming economy.
He gave America energy independence by encouraging fracking, opening ANWR and approving the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines. These blocked by his predecessor.
Border law enforcement agents love him because he is finally building a wall to stop illegal immigration that undermines the salaries of the American worker. It also slows drug trafficking that is killing Americans and greatly restricts the activities of drug gangs like MS-13 and other criminals. Trump has done more than any other president to stop wide spread sex trafficking, especially with underaged girls.
Those who value the Constitution love him because he protects it as written, with two appointments to the Supreme Court and 214 Article III judge confirmations. He is viewed as most likely to hold to the restraints of the Constitution, especially the 2nd Amendment and 1st Amendment rights of free speech, assembly, and religion. Also he is most likely to do away with the double standard in justice including the probability of treason in high places.
Most Christians love him because, more than any predecessor for a lifetime, he values and protects religion. He is the most “Right to Life” president in American history. Stopping the annual killing of hundreds of thousands of America’s unborn babies is widely supported by Christians.
Americans love him because he is perceived as being the most likely to stop the spread of socialism in the United States now fully embraced by the Democrat Party. Historically it has brought only universal poverty and misery.
Americans love him because he is most likely to deal with anarchists in our cities and arsonists in our forests. Most view these as insurrectionist attempting to remove their president and destroy the greatest most prosperous, for those willing to work, nation on earth. Safety is a human right.
But mostly he is loved because they trust him and believe that he really cares about them. He is the only second term president in decades that can run on “Promises Made, Promises Kept.”
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Mar 23, 2020 | Constitution, Economy, Globalism, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
This is my 551st column on liberty and the Constitution, I know no-one more published on this topic. I lived under 13 presidents of the United States, all gave lip service to the Constitution but none followed it closely. Of these I voted for only two Republicans. Those who least followed it were Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama. I spent a lifetime lecturing on these and the presidents before them. I dislike political factions (parties) as did George Washington. Readers know I call things as they are and defend the Constitution as written.
So with this background I am qualified to say, “Trump haters,” (Bushites, Clintonites, Romneyites, Holywood misfits, secret combinations in both majors political parties, coup conspirators in the FBI and CIA and finally fake news outlets notably MSNBC, NBC, New York Times and the Washington Post) who have conspired to take out Donald Trump. “Isn’t is time to lay down your arms?”
Four Congressional investigations, the Mueller and Horowitz Reports, and the US Senate Impeachment trial exonerated and indeed acquitted this man. Trump has endured more unjustified opposition/persecution than all presidents combined.
In the upcoming 2020 presidential election you offer only hate Trump rhetoric and freedom and prosperity destroying socialism. You are destroying the Democratic Party, perhaps America. You make Democratic President John F. Kennedy look far right. You offer nothing to build, strengthen or edify this country. Republicans before Trump were awful but you are much worse.
Please cease inspiring the crazies in our society to intimidate MAGA haters, innocent Catholic high school kids visiting DC, or worse, driving vehicles into tents housing Republican campaigners or shooting Congressman Steve Scalise while playing baseball with fellow congressmen and staffers. Cease supporting Antifa and MS-13 gang violence by not condemning them.
So what has Trump done for you that should command your respect? The list is extensive but let me identify in order my favorite six.
He defends the Constitution as written. Unfortunately Trump is a conservative, not a constitutionalist, but he follows the Constitution more closely than any president since Calvin Coolidge. He adamantly defends the 1st (religious and free speech freedoms), 2nd (freedom to protect oneself and neighbors—even from the government), and 10th amendments (states’ rights). No president has defended the rights of the unborn more than he. He nominated two supreme court justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, that appear to follow it and has placed, with Senate confirmation, 187 judicial nominees on the Federal bench who attest that they too will follow the Constitution as written. This is monumental as the Constitution is the reason we are free.
He opposes the globalist plan to first create regional governments of all nations, through trade deals that transfer economic, then political sovereignty, such as the European Union, then merge them into world government. He has made speeches to that end, on the campaign trail and even in the United Nations, which are never covered by the establishment (globalist) medias. His opposition to world government is, and always has been, why he is so hated by them. We have published on this before. Finally, the U.S. is first consideration in his “America First” pledge.. We are no longer nation builders or the world’s policemen. He wants to cut foreign aid (foreign welfare) spending it in the U.S. instead.
He stimulated the economy as no president has in decades. Manufacturing companies have and are returning to America. Almost 4 million new jobs have been created since his election. Reportedly, unemployment claims have now hit a 49-year low. African, Hispanic, and Asian American unemployment are at the lowest rates for decades or ever recorded, as are women and youth unemployment. He promised to dump two regulations for every new regulation but instead dumped eight. This returned companies to America, freed and stimulated the economy as never before resulting in an energy boom placing the U.S. as number one oil and natural gas producer in the world. Fifty-seven percent of Americans say they are better off financially since Trump took office.
He is securing our southern border. New agreements with Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras required them to stop the flood of illegal immigration through their countries, or face higher tariffs. Now deadly drugs and violent criminals are not flowing as easily across our borders and into our communities. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics 976 alien gang members were apprehended at the border in FY 2019, including 464 aliens affiliated with MS-13. ICE arrested 143,099 aliens in FY 2019, 86 percent of whom had criminal records.
He has done more than all presidents combined to expose and stop child sex trafficking. By executive order Trump declared it a national emergency Dec. 21, 2017. Just last year ICE arrested 2,197 criminals associated with human trafficking and freed 428 victims. To encourage other countries to meet more strident standards eliminating trafficking, he signed the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act.
He destroyed 100% of ISIS caliphate.
So Trump haters, you have been wrong on most everything the last three years. I too criticize Trump in print occasionally but isn’t it time to notice that he has been one of our best presidents and lay down your hate and arms? Others think so, his rallies now comprise 20% Democrats.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org
Sep 30, 2019 | Economy, Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
Under the traditional definition of socialism that requires government ownership and distribution of the means of production, the Scandinavian countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are not socialist as Democratic presidential contenders insist.
All are free market economies. None have government mandated minimum wage laws. These are set by unions. The Fraser Institute which ranks countries of the world on economic freedom based upon limited government, property rights, and sound money value, not socialist attributes, ranked Denmark 14, Finland 20, Norway 26 and Sweden 19. The United States was12. Socialist countries normally take the bottom of the 180 countries ranked (Economic Freedom of the World Index).
As to rankings with respect to the ease of doing business, all four countries ranked in the top 17 countries out of 191on the planet: (Denmark 3, Norway 7, Sweden 12 and Finland 17). The United States is ranked 8 (The World Bank, DoingBusiness Measuring Business Regulations). Socialist countries do not rank high on this index either.
Yes these countries, after becoming comparatively wealthy through the free market system at the end of the 19th Century and most of the 20th, did become welfare states in the 1970’s. As Nima Sanandaji, the Swedish author of Debunking Utopia: Exposing the Myth of Nordic Socialism, wrote in 2015: “Many of the desirable features of Scandinavian societies, such as low income inequality, low levels of poverty and high levels of economic growth predated the development of the welfare state. These and other indicators began to deteriorate after the expansion of the welfare state and the increase in taxes to fund it” (Jim Geraghty, “Ten Reasons We Can’t, and Shouldn’t, Be Nordic,” National Review, March 12, 2018).
By the definition above defining socialism, it may be possible to be a welfare country without the government ownership of the means of production—the Nordic Model. But if they gather the wealth through confiscatory taxes and redistribute it through gift-giving to those who had not created the wealth, how can they escape the charge of socialism?
In the seventies the Swedish government “instituted a scheme to confiscate corporate profits and hand them over to labor union.” The socialist “golden years” of the next two decades “weren’t so golden for economic performance. Entrepreneurship plummeted. Job creation and wages sputtered” (Rich Lowry, “Sorry, Bernie — Scandinavia is no socialist paradise after all,” New York Post, Oct. 19, 2015). The Nordic model crushed startups and the growth of new companies. As of 2000, Johan Norberg wrote: “just one of the 50 biggest Swedish companies had been founded after 1970” (“Ten Reasons We Can’t, and Shouldn’t, Be Nordic”).
The Scandinavian story since the late eighties “has been a turn against socialism. Taxes have fallen and markets liberalized.” A backlash “against welfare dependency in Denmark” followed (“Sorry, Bernie — Scandinavia is no socialist paradise after all”).
In countries which already have wealth because of a free market philosophy, evidence of which is the existence of a the middle class which spawns economic equality for all who choose to work for it. They can afford the free college, healthcare, welfare and etc. so long as immigration, also wanting everything for free, is very limited.
These four countries, because of the presence of the free market socialists seek to destroy, apparently could afford to expanded their “free” offerings. Because they did, and entitlements and free stuff is a favorite lure for reeling in the industrialized world, made rich through the capitalist philosophy, socialists world-wide look to the “Nordic Model” to emulate. But socialists ignore how they got their wealth. This did not happen by nationalizing industries (like General Motors) and subsidizing favored ones (like Solyndra) as we did under George W. Bush and Barack Obama. So the lessons of the Scandinavian countries is to keep the government out of managing the economy—thus away from socialism.
While Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are pushing America to embrace socialism these four countries are pulling back from the free stuff philosophy. In the 1990’s Sweden adopted a universal school choice system “allowing families to use public funds, in the form of vouchers, to finance their child’s education at a private school, including schools run by the dreaded for-profit corporation” (Corey Iacono, “The Myth of Scandinavian Socialism,” Foundation for Economic Education, February 25, 2016).
Nima Sanandaji, observed: “In recent years, they’ve tempered the damage of their big-government policies by scaling back their welfare states and setting limits on their fiscal burdens. Their governments have adopted more work incentives, lowered taxes and allowed for more flexibility when hiring and firing workers. They’ve opened their public schools and health care to more competition, and Sweden partially privatized its pension system. They may not be free market quite yet, but they’re no socialist—or even liberal—utopia, either” (Veronique De Rugy, “Does Socialism Work for Sweden? That’s the Wrong Question,” Reason, Sept. 1, 2016).
The welfare state is not sustainable over time, in any country in any time. Inevitably it will attract immigrants who also want the free stuff without having contributed to the foundation that made this possible before implemented, as had the Scandinavians. It is impossible to have open borders and a welfare state without eventually impoverishing all. This is what all the leading democratic presidential contenders offer in the election of 2020.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org
Apr 21, 2019 | Immigration, Liberty Articles
By Harold Pease, Ph. D
As a young man I observed that those who saw racism in everything were usually the most racist. That analysis has proven itself over time. Today the accusation is so frequently made on Democratic Party media outlets, very recently by Beto O’Rourke against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that it’s now difficult to know who is not a racist. If a Jew, the most persecuted race in modern world history, is racist as O’Rourke says, then who is exempt? But the term is used several times a night on MSNBC, NBC, CBS, and ABC news outlets. Presumably everyone is racists except Democrats who decry everyone else as such.
As a result white Democratic presidential contenders are apologizing for and fleeing from their whiteness. Joe Bidden and Bernie Sanders, are “old white men,” we are told. The party seems intent on purging the stain of whiteness from itself. Sanders, thus far ignores it while instead apologizing for his great wealth and use of “tax breaks.” Biden recently apologized to Anita Hill for the “whiteness” of the Senate Judiciary Committee he once chaired.
Beto O’Rourke, formerly Robert Morris, (name changed allegedly to attract hispanic voters) recently admitted having benefited from what he called “white privilege.” He told a group, “Absolutely undeniable. I have been arrested twice. But that didn’t come to define me or narrow my options in life. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I’m a white man.”
Democrats also see everywhere “white nationalism,” a form of racism, and attempt to attach the label to anyone who wishes to enforce existing, longstanding, immigration law, the same law enforced by Barack Obama. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar recently tweeted, “Stephen Miller is a white nationalist. The fact that he still has influence on policy and political appointments is an outrage.” This, coming from probably the most anti-jewish (and therefore racist) member of congress. Unable to show clear documentation for the charge, supporters acknowledged that although they could not X-ray for “racist bones,” even so, Miller (and by extension President Donald Trump his boss) is still guilty of “soft-core” white nationalism. In other words, they are white nationalists because they are white, the majority, and in power.
Since whites participated in slavery in our early history thirteen Democratic Presidential hopefuls attending the Al Sharpton founded National Action Network’s annual conference April 3, committed to sign Congresswoman Jackson Lee’s recently introduced bill creating a commission to study reparations for African-Americans. Most saw it as a way of addressing the persistence of racism and white supremacy today. Cory Booker said, “It will begin to right the economic scales of past harms.”
Senator Kamala Harris, “Justice means recognizing domestic terrorism, including white nationalist extremism,” which she noted, “should be considered a national security priority.” Senator Bernie Sanders said he would sign, then returned to his racist central theme, “We have a president who is a racist, who is a sexist, who is a homophobe, who is a xenophobe, and who is a religious bigot.”
Senators Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand would sign as would Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Governor John Hickenlooper and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Indeed no presidential candidate at the gathering opposed it. All supported “racial restitution,” whatever that means.
The problem with such legislation is no white person now living had anything to do with slavery 154 years ago. Even then, it was almost entirely the whites of the north that gave their lives to free the slaves. It was whites that established and maintained the Underground Railroad at considerable risk to themselves and it was white author Harriet Beecher Stow in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, who brought attention to the moral issue of slavery. Even today, race baiters need to be reminded that it was whites that elected the first half-black president, Barack Obama.
Of course, there were abuses of the past. Indians, Chinese, Germans, Japanese, Quakers, Jews and Mormons can all make cases. Race baiters want whites to acknowledge that they are racist and oppressive by nature and should have what they call “white guilt.” The only remedy they seem to accept is compensation, but this is never enough.
But their focus is almost entirely on the blacks and slavery and the then perpetrators and victims are dead and today’s descendants, many generations later, were not wronged. How do they make the case for their receiving compensation for wrongs committed to their ancestors without committing an injustice to those now living—even if it were their ancestors who committed the injustices mentioned? Would they not be the source of new injustice?
Why should I pay for the injustices of my ancestors, even worse, when they may not have been the perpetrators? And why should my black neighbor receive a benefit forced from me without creating an injustice to me? Under this logic his posterity will need to atone to my posterity. Could not the same arguments be used against them in a later century?
Today most white Americans are of many races and not racist. Insisting that all whites should have “white guilt “ because of presumed ancestral injustices or confederate association only exacerbates racism, the very thing race baiters insist they wish to end. Then, are not race baiters the “real” racists? That the news gives their racism so much attention should be objectionable to everyone.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
Mar 5, 2019 | Immigration, Liberty Articles, Taxes
By Harold Pease, Ph. D.
Most think that the 2020 presidential election is almost two years away. Not so!! The first vote, the vote of the billionaires who choose our candidates, is happening right now. It happens every four years and Democrats and Republicans simply change places. This time it is the Democrats lining up with alms bowl in hand—not to their constituents or the little donors that used to be their base long ago, but the super rich who they pretend to be against.
Candidates each take their “dance” before the billionaire club and are picked by one or more of them. Almost everyone has noticed the dramatic shift to socialism made by the Democratic Party presidential candidates, not because their constituents necessarily demand such, but because their real bosses, the moneyed elite, do. Their moneyed sponsors, primarily George Soros , the leading funder of far-left causes and elections the past two decades, who is said to have spent $25 million on Hilary Clinton and other democratic candidates in 2016 and another $15 million in the recent midterms, and Tom Steyer, who “promised to spend at least $30 million to elect progressives this campaign season,” making him the “most important Democratic donor in the United States.”
Tucker Carlson reported last week on Fox News, “This coming Saturday, Sen. Cory Booker is attending a Silicon Valley fundraiser. It is hosted by Gary and Laura Lauder. They are heirs to the $14 billion Estee Lauder fortune. Kamala Harris just had a fundraiser in Beverly Hills that was attended by an army of wealthy studio execs. Kristin Gillibrand did not even start her campaign for president before asking the permission of Wall Street.”
Yes, Republicans do something similar when it is their turn to oppose a seated Democrat president. Trump was the exception as he financed his own primary making him the only presidential candidate since William McKinley that is not largely purchased by wealthy donors. There are more Democrat political billionaire activists than Republican, taken together Soros money and organizations, and now, Steyer’s money, easily dwarf that of the Koch brothers, said to be funding most of the right side of the political spectrum.
The billionaire club easily favors the Democratic Party and the far-left side of the political spectrum. What is far worse is that Soros and Steyer seem not to be promoting rank and file Democrats but instead radicals who want to upend our political system. It appears that the rich who initially controlled the Republican Party, then both major parties for over 100 years, now has much greater dominance over the Democratic Party. Should they succeed, we will become a socialist country.
So why are the super rich overwhelmingly progressive—code for socialist. Tucker Carlson argues “They love mass immigration — it brings them servants. They support federally-mandated snobbery, masquerading as environmentalism. Abortion is essentially a sacrament to them, especially when practiced in poor neighborhoods” (February 21, 2019).
What is certain is that essentially socialism allows them to command society with their money, to right all wrongs. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortex is now wondering if society should limit its number of children. Everything is managed from cradle to grave. Other forms of government deny them this kind of control.
So if most of the billionaire club are progressives and Democrat why do they overwhelmingly fund the party and philosophy that purports to seize their wealth and control? Have not Democrats identified the enemy as “old white men,” which most billionaires are? Taxing is their favorite instrument of control and Democrats have been for higher taxes on the “rich” for decades. Cortez advocates 70%, Elizabeth Warren even higher.
Don’t they pay more taxes because they make more? Yes, but only to a point. The secret is that the rich will never pay more than 24% no matter how much they make. And they, being the financiers of the presidential candidates, will never be required to.
Carlson explains how it works“The top federal income tax rate stops at about 500 grand. So what’s the difference between someone making $500,000 a year and someone making $50 million a year? The answer: The richer one can much more easily evade paying full freight, and they do.”
The rich that the Democrats want to tax are not the “real rich,” only those who make less than $500,000 per year. Those making more are locked in to no more than 27% and the richest of the rich only 24%. “According to the IRS, the top 1 percent of Americans pay about 27 percent of their income in taxes. But the top tenth of 1 percent — that’s people who make $35 million a year — pay less than 26 percent. And the top thousandth of a percent — the absolute richest — pay less than 24 percent. In other words, past a certain point, the richer you are, the less you pay. That’s why billionaires back socialism. It doesn’t cost them much.
The first election is theirs as they fund the candidates who share their socialist views and get a tax cut as well. The show part of the election, the one acknowledged by everyone, does come in two years but well after their candidates are safely placed to win. The masses then salivate over which one of of the anointed the moneyed elite have preselected for us.
Dr. Harold Pease is a syndicated columnist and an expert on the United States Constitution. He has dedicated his career to studying the writings of the Founding Fathers and applying that knowledge to current events. He taught history and political science from this perspective for over 30 years at Taft College. Newspapers have permission to publish this column. To read more of his weekly articles, please visit www.LibertyUnderFire.org.
