Honoring Stalin at the D-Day Memorial

In Bedford, Virginia, the United States honors her brave soldiers who stormed Omaha beach on D-Day. This memorial commemorates her valiant efforts to rid the world of Nazism, that heinous doctrine of uber-statism and tyranny. Yet on this 66th anniversary the memorial board quietly erected a monument to an even greater evil, a tyrant who murdered even more innocent people than ever the Third Reich and Herr Hitler.

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Yes, Stalin and the Russians were a critical component of the Second World War, keeping a third front open against Germany (The U.S. and Britain opened the Southern (Italian and African) front and invaded Normandy). But the Russians were not present at Normandy, and there is no reason to erect a bust of Joseph Stalin in the National D-Day Memorial. FDR and Churchill certainly deserve to be there, and there is nothing wrong with putting Harry Truman's mug on a dais, but Stalin? According to John Fund at the Wall Street Journal:

"Lee Edwards, chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, minced no words about what he regards as an inexplicable addition: "Since the fall of the Soviet Union, statues of Joseph Stalin have been torn down all over Europe. The world is closer than ever before to a consensus on the evils of communism and Stalin's primary role in the worst crimes of the last century." Added Karl Altau, head of the Baltic American National Committee: "No matter what they do to explain [Stalin's presence], it's still going to put him on the same kind of level as the other leaders and their troops who were there at D-Day." A last-minute plaque was added noting Stalin's crimes as well as his role as a WWII ally, but critics still wonder what can justify the presence of a tyrant whose troops didn't even play a role in the D-Day landings. William McIntosh, president of the D-Day Memorial Foundation, hasn't been returning calls from reporters, but previously said his group merely wanted to note Stalin's role in winning the war. That answer is not likely to quiet the furor."

That Stalin should be added THIS YEAR should come as no surprise; America has forgotten what it was we resisted, has in fact rehabilitated the ideas of Socialism and Marxism. How many college students wear Che Guevera t-shirts these days? Che was a bloody killer and tyrant. In fact, a Rasmussen survey found that just 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism, with 20% (one in FIVE!) believing \socialism is better and 27% unsure! Adults under thirty are even worse, with 37% preferring capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% undecided. We resisted a foreign power bent on a missionaristic expansion of "scientific socialism" and triumphed - only to lose the war at home. The softer socialists quietly came to dominate our schools, our churches, our media and publishing houses. The labored diligently to convince our young that the system of free enterprise - which is the cornerstone of any rational concept of freedom - was evil and corrupt. They did this by the most astonishing method imaginable; they passed laws and regulations to restrict capitalism, then blamed the failures of the market on "laissez Fairez" capitalism when in fact they had created a system much more akin to what the Nazis possessed. Crony capitalism stems from government regulation and control. Government policy, lawyers, and lobbyists have soured the system, and they are only there because the government, courtesy of the Progressive Movement of the early twentieth century, can strangle any business that does not play ball. Fascist economic theory worked in much the same way; private citizens could run and nominally own businesses, but the State held authority and the market served at the pleasure of the central authority. This, our fine Fabian friends convinced America, is the end result of "capitalism"; corruption and dirty dealings. By socializing America's markets the "progressives" corrupted them, and by corrupting them they convinced many people that the only way to reform them is to socialize them. Quite an amazing feat, but only possible because they had wormed their way into control of the instruments of information - the schools, the universities, the media.

The end result is Obama. Obamism has eaten the core out of the American experiment

The end result is Obama. Obamism has eaten the core out of the American experiment. While it is true that large numbers of Americans opposed Obama's health care reform, the sad fact is that large numbers were equally in favor of it, or at least open to the concept of government control of one sixth of the U.S. economy - despite historical failures of the same style of system throughout the world. Socialism is on the ascendancy in America. The Cold War Victory appears to be pyrrhic. Which is why it should not surprise us that America is honoring one of the world's most evil men. We are all socialists now; why not? What Stalin did to his own people (and the people he enslaved worldwide) is not qualitatively different than what Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid did in the healthcare reform law. If people can be compelled by force to purchase approved health insurance, they can be compelled to do anything. Uncle Joe's compulsions were only different in a measure of degree. A people cannot survive without knowing who they are. America has forgotten her soul.