As the Democratic party hardens its control over the federal government, one of the biggest concerns is whether the nation will be guided toward a path of socialism. We are, of course, already socialistic in many aspects, but this nation continues to perceive itself as a capitalist bastion. Would the Obama administration and congressional Democrats, unshackled, push the United States more clearly into the ranks of socialist nations?
Yup.
The international financial crisis has allowed the government to assume broad powers for which in normal circumstances it would be castigated. Lenders, for example, do not ordinarily have the power to hire and fire the executives of borrower companies. Nor do shareholders, unless they literally control a company’s board of directors. None of that stopped the federal government from firing the chairman of General Motors. That move might have felt satisfying to many, but that doesn’t make it any more legal than it would have been two years ago.
The Democrat-controlled Congress is also busy pushing through “foreclosure relief” legislation that would strip secured mortgage holders of their legal, preferred position. The legislation would reward loan servicers for modifying mortgages, immunize them from lawsuits from the first mortgage investors they’re supposed to be representing and grant additional money to second-position lenders (at the expense of the first-position lenders). This is designed to aid borrowers, but its impact is to discard the property rights of investors in favor of bolstering the financial fortunes of the masses.
Massachusetts’ most blustery congressman, Barney Frank, was extolling a House vote last week that would force mortgage origination companies to keep at least a 5 percent stake in mortgages they make and sell to investors. The idea is that such legislation will ensure mortgage-makers have a vested interest in the long-term health of the loans they make.
But why is that the federal government’s business? That should be the concern – or not – of the investors who are buying the loans. Should the federal government order consumers to keep a 5 percent stake in their house when they sell it, to make sure they’re transferring it to qualified buyers?
Last week, word leaked out that the Obama administration isn’t content with puttering around with pay levels at banks that have taken TARP money. Now the president’s team wants to put compensation curbs in place at financial companies across the board.
Like with many of these proposals, the idea generates a visceral “way to go!” with many who have been kicked around in the current financial debacle. But these plans are not temporary, and not aimed to get us through this current problem. They’re far reaching in terms of their scope and in terms of the potential philosophical damage they may do to a nation that has been built on the notion of free enterprise.
When the Republicans were running amok in D.C., their agenda steamrollered right through the Bill of Rights, inflicting deep scars on this nation’s civil liberties. And while it might be extreme to paint the entire Republican party with a fascist label, certainly there is no doubt that many of their seemingly unopposed social policies implemented under the guise of “protection” were alarmingly close to being exactly that: fascist.
And now the Democrats run a similar risk. While stopping short of declaring all Democrats red-blooded socialists, it is an inescapable truth (an inconvenient truth?) that many of their policies to date do indeed have a socialist shine to them, their apparent political popularity notwithstanding.
But whether we’re trying to recover from an unwary slide into fascism, or trying to prevent a tip over to outright socialism, it’s more important than ever to recognize the value of the only “ism” that is really going to pull us out of this mess.
Socialism is not the answer. Fear mongering got us nowhere. Only the freedom that capitalism brings will save us.
