VIEW from behind the plow

Socialism is sort of like Santa Claus: It makes a good story but there’s no truth to it.

The “free” gifts depend on someone working for them.

Free college, free health care and free whatever the dishonest politician offers to get votes from ignorant people all come with a price tag – your freedom and self-respect .

Offers of free stuff are sheer subterfuge, false dreams designed to control people and – at the end – to increase the wealth and power of those making the fictitious offers.

Who really thinks billionaire George Soros spends millions of dollars to affect the outcome of political elections and government policies out of the goodness of his heart?

Free markets, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, have done more to lift people out of poverty and into financial independence than all the well-intentioned socialist programs the Left can dream up. It’s no coincidence that we reached a “global tipping point” last fall where more than half the world’s population qualifies as middle class or wealthier at the same time that former socialist monoliths like China are increasingly embracing a capitalist economic structure.

The American system of government is an innovation that began with the founding of the United States.

Before that time, there was little hope for common people to pursue their own dreams and make their own way in the world, reaping the rewards for their efforts and decisions. They were subject to a king or lord who had control of their actions and in most cases their very lives.

The very best ideas that came from thinkers of the past –  from Jerusalem, Athens, Rome and London – came together in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1776 and later in 1787 to draft first the Declaration of Independence and later the U.S. Constitution.

Our founders had a much greater comprehension of the Bible and the classics than any current politician who comes to mind.

The founders pulled together the best concepts of western civilization to create a system of government that relied on the acceptance of the common man to make it work.

And it did work, creating the freest, most prosperous people the world has ever known.

Now a cluster of elitists educators (supposed intellectuals) is attempting to tell the younger generation that everything America accomplished in the past was wrong.

Columnist Dennis Prager points out that American colleges and universities – and even down to grade school – have become leftist seminaries. Sending your child to them risks returning them alienated from you, from western civilization, from America and from whatever expression of Bible-based religion in which your child was raised.

Intrigue is often at the center of any movement that attempts to usurp a system of government. Who knows why? Maybe the elitists think they will end up among the rulers, or maybe they’re just naive in their arrogance.

America was built on four basic elements: liberty, freedom of religion, the rule of law and freedom to succeed or fail on one’s own merits.

Liberty encompasses the ability of individuals to live their lives without abuses by a government.

That’s why the founders instituted a strictly limited government with divided powers so that one branch could control the excesses of another.

Freedom of religion means that citizens may worship God as they see fit – or not at all, just as long as they don’t infringe on another’s right to do so. Our founding documents reflect a great reverence for the Bible, including comments like men are endowed by their “creator” with certain rights and mention a “supreme judge of the world.”

Rule of law requires the laws of a nation (and there has to be law for a system to operate) apply equally to all.

Free enterprise and the right of individuals to own property is a concept that has made America unique in its success.

While modern naysayers insist that America is not a “Christian nation,” Christianity has been the continuing essence that created a virtuous people, generally.

Could that be the reason Freedom of Religion is the first amendment in the Bill of Rights?