How Freedom Dies

Vilification of someone or something is a requisite step on the road to authoritarianism.
No free and content person would allow the usurpation of his personal liberties by another unless there is an offense, either real or imagined, that must be defended against. Freedom and liberty are ideal conditions under which to live but when one feels aggrieved, victimized, or defenseless, he may relinquish some measure of freedom or liberty to protect against such offense. The shrewd oppressor is a master at conjuring such feelings. Those people born to freedom, who did not personally have to sacrifice for it, are most likely to trade it cheaply.

Stalin’s nationalization of agriculture caused between 5 and 10 million deaths from famine. Stalin withheld grain and starved his people. He exported Soviet grain that should have fed his people, and instituted draconian collective-farm theft laws to prevent hording. Wealthier farmers who opposed these laws were vilified, and many were ultimately murdered. This was a centrally planned effort to maximize the financial and social benefit of agriculture, a mild blight on the collectivist scorecard.

Hitler vilified Jews and Marxists because he was insane and was raised to dislike them. They were not the architects of the Versailles treaty or of any other injustice inflicted on the German people. They were simply popular targets to demonize, even though there were few current or relevant social reasons to do so. By creating an illusion that Germans were under attack from Marxists and Jews, Hitler was able to unify the German people under his control.

Never has a superpower such as ours witnessed vilification of our own institutions, by our own government, as we are today. Vilification of auto executives, banking executives, insurance companies, energy executives, automotive bondholders, town hall speakers, talk radio personalities, and even the internet and our high tech industry is occurring constantly. The din of class warfare, and the need to “spread the wealth around” under the auspices of public interest, grows ever louder. Surely we must reform and grant the government the power to protect us from such thieves and vultures.

A dogmatic liberal reaction to such statements may be flat out rejection, or to dismiss them as “extreme”. I assure you that the only thing extreme here is the federal government’s overreach of its constitutional power. In an effort to take control of the operations and assets of some of our most productive and innovative institutions, and of our personal property, the legislative and executive branch have conjured all manner of imaginary devils. The wealthy are not paying their “fair share” despite the fact that the wealthiest 1% of citizens pays 40% of federal taxes. President Obama labeled GM bondholders, many of whom were retirees living on fixed income, as “money people” when they resisted government imposed terms for debt repayment, which was far below fair value. The president claims we are “held hostage” by health insurance companies. Congressman Barney Frank would like to assume control of compensation for private enterprise, asking rhetorically "Why do you need bonuses? Can't we just give you good salaries?”. I find his use of the word “we” to be particularly chilling. In a recent attack on the very engine of our economic growth the president berated the technology industry, and Apple’s products, saying that “information is a distraction”. In a frontal assault on free speech and the First Amendment, Obama has appointed Mark Loyd to the FCC as “Chief Diversity Officer”, or “Content Czar”. This is antecedent to tyranny.

Never will one find a more resolute defender of liberty and personal freedom than someone previously ruled under the heavy hand of a centrally planned economy and authoritarianism. Such people understand that once the government becomes the sole provider of transportation, medical care, food, shelter, media, and education, that the governed can quickly be made slaves of the government. If allowed, the government will break the legs of its citizens and then offer a pair of rickety crutches in exchange for personal independence and humble gratitude. Following is an excerpt from Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, a woman raised under the plight of a centrally planned economy, and who witnessed the first ever communist government take over her father’s business after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

“There is no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What’s there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted – and you create a nation of law breakers – and then you cash in on guilt.”