Time to declare independence from liberalism

To today’s liberal leftists, equality means taking from those who have abundance and transferring it to those in lack. But it fails to factor in the economic consequences of this transfer of wealth. The abundance they are drawing from begins to shrink as economic development is stifled by government policies. Communism and socialism promise equality but bring equality of poverty except for a privileged government bureaucracy and their crony business bureaucrats. Government policies and directives take precedence over economic development. The only way there can be economic development under these types of government is for a certain amount of free enterprise capitalism to be at work.

Rather than being different types of economic systems than capitalism, communism and socialism are political systems that attempt to control economic development, which is, by definition, capitalism. They shouldn’t be considered economic systems to be contrasted with capitalism. Limited government, not capitalism, is the political system we need to be contrasting with the political systems of socialism and communism. Capitalism is simply the economic system of modern society under which all political systems function. An historical look at capitalism shows us that as it began to emerge in the 18th century from feudal imperialism, a new type of political system was required. The British colonies in North America, it turned out, were to create this new political system to accommodate capitalist development. However, it would mean a clean break from the British monarchy. American independence from the British did not require the British to fundamentally change their lives to accommodate our freedom. Sure, the prices of things like cotton, lumber, and textiles would rise, since there would no longer be the monopolistic mercantilist colonial control over American resources. But the lifestyles of the British were not qualitatively diminished. Our Founding Fathers did not seek equality with the British. They weren't out to take wealth away from the British Empire. They were in a fight for liberty - a fight for freedom from British tyranny so they could create wealth themselves, unhindered by mercantilist ties to the British.

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Americans were not fighting to have a share of the wealth of the British. The Declaration of Independence said to the British, leave us alone so we can grow. Independence from the British Empire allowed Americans to eventually become as wealthy as, and even wealthier than, the richest Britons, once the burdens of British taxation and mercantilist regulation of American commerce were removed. The French Revolution was based on dispossessing the wealth of the ruling class so others could have it, in other words, socialism. This process was improperly seen by Karl Marx and others as a principle for economic development rather than a simple transfer of wealth. This process of transfer of wealth has no regard, though, for the effects it actually has on economic development. Capitalism is an economic system that promises equality of opportunity, not equality of income and assets. If we define democracy as citizen participation in government, then the American system of government, our political system, is one of representative democracy. As long as democracy is at work and the peoples’ representatives are held accountable by their constituency, there can be equality under the law, with no special advantages to people of privilege or wealth. Citizen participation in government is now at a crossroads in America. Government in Washington, D.C. is more and more becoming centralized under the Executive Branch, with the Legislative Branch becoming subservient to the agencies and departments they have created and provide funding to. There is less and less citizen participation in our federal government. Our 50 states and we the people who populate them are now subjects of a federal monarchy.

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Barack Obama’s policy of fundamental transformation does not help to return federal control to the states and the people. Rather, it seeks to centralize government and take it out of the hands of the people even more. This fundamental transformation approach to government does not credit or acknowledge the incredible forces that were at work to make America unique in its application of limited government to free enterprise capitalism. While the French were fighting for what turned out to be a false equality through government control, Americans were fighting to obtain and hold on to unrestricted opportunity and freedom from government control.