Ronald R. Cherry
Marxism - deconstructed
By Ronald R. Cherry
In its essence Marxism, the core ideology of modern Socialism, is an irrational, utopian and coercive perversion of human equality. Marxism seeks equality where equality does not exist, demanding legal enforcement of equal social outcomes, including those related to economics, higher education, athletics, religion and human sexuality. This ideology even extends to international relationships whereby no nation is allowed to excessively prosper or achieve greatness, i.e.: all nations must be "equal." Never mind that when people are free their human nature leads to inequality of outcomes – some are hard-working and some are lazy – some are more intelligent and some are less intelligent – some are stronger and some are weaker – some are tall and some are short. Unequal results occur naturally without force when people possess rightful liberty. Based on their degree of truly Free Enterprise nations similarly divide themselves unequally into various degrees of prosperity or depravity.
Under the guiding hand of intellectuals and mass media Marxist ideas are slowly and silently transforming the mental attitudes of Americas. For example, we fail to recognize Marxist equality at work when elementary schools do not keep score during athletic events – we must not hurt little Johnny's feelings when another team scores more goals or points – that is inequality. Never mind that athletic competition results in a form of natural and healthy inequality which leads to an appreciation for success and an acknowledgement of failure. Collegiate Title IX rules are a form of Cultural Marxism since equal numbers of men's and women's athletic programs are unnaturally enforced instead of a natural program of equal liberty for men and women students to create athletic teams. This form of Marxist thinking is called "gender equity," but Marxist thinking is dysfunctional in the real world, frustrating the natural liberty and the equal rights of students to freely pursue athletic recreation. Under a natural system of equal rights men and women would take turns forming teams until the athletic budget was exhausted. Let's say the women at a certain university ended up creating ten athletic programs, and taking turns the men also created ten. Let's say there was still sufficient money in the university's athletic budget for two more athletic programs, and since the men wanted two more programs but the women didn't, the men would end up with twelve athletic programs and the women ten. This inequality of result would occur naturally under an equality of rights, but under the cultural Marxism of Title IX, despite the unequal demand, there will be ten and ten – the natural desire for the guys to have two more athletic programs must be crushed – equal rights sacrificed on the altar of equal outcome. Of course it could turn out the other way around, where the women ended up with twelve programs and the men ten – who cares as long as equal rights is the rule? Marxists care – they aim to unnaturally force equal outcome in every aspect of life – because they are attracted to the use of force – because they crave an animal-like "will to power" over others – wrongful liberty "to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor."
Affirmative Action is also a form of Cultural Marxism since these laws unnaturally force equal ethnic or racial outcomes in graduate school admission instead of a natural enforcement of equal academic standards for all. Under Cultural Marxism the values of American Judeo-Christian Culture must be seen as equal to that of Totalitarian Political Islam, and by unnaturally slicing open the Gordian Knot of human nature, the value of homosexuality must be made equal – by force – to that of heterosexual marriage. Like gods walking the earth, the Marxist "Priests of Power" – in their perverted minds – believe they can "create human nature."
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake... The object of power is power... Always there will be the intoxication of power... We are the Priests of Power... We'll cut the links between child and parent... and between man and woman... You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do, and will turn against us; but we create human nature." George Orwell – 1984
Economic Marxism occurs when government seeks to force equal property outcome among the people, doing so through "despotic inroads on the rights of property" – i.e.: government expropriation of property from the laboring middle class – the so-called bourgeoisie – which is "re-distributed" – first to themselves – and then to the labor-challenged so-called proletariat class in return for votes. Marxists call such economic social engineering "Social Equity" – Orwellian Newspeak for unequal property rights and unequal tax law – or it is called "Social Justice" – Orwellian Newspeak for social injustice. Karl Marx understood that forced equal property outcome required the tyranny of unequal property rights and inequality before the law. Together, the labor-challenged tax-eating Marxist and so-called proletariat classes possess superior rights to property compared to the laboring tax-paying middle class. The inequity of forced equal outcome is the tyranny of unequal rights.
"In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend [in order to equalize the proletariat and bourgeoisie]... The proletariat [lazy, tax-eating, non-disabled government-dependents] will use its political [democratic] supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital [property] from the bourgeoisie [laboring, tax-paying middle class and entrepreneurs], to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state [self-serving Marxist Government and intellectuals]... Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property." Karl Marx
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln must have anticipated the likes of Karl Marx – a man hell-bent on re-establishing despotic government domination of the individual – where unnatural government-derived unequal "rights" trump natural God-given equal rights.
"To take from one [according to his ability] because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to others [according to his need], who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association – the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." Thomas Jefferson
"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless ["proletariat"] pull down the house of another [middle class "bourgeoisie"]; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." Abraham Lincoln
Under economic Marxism the bourgeoisie and the proletariat must be unnaturally forced into economic equality regardless of creativity, effort and labor. The laboring middle class will be gradually reduced and thereby made equal to the level of existing "proletarian" poverty – this occurs when enough of a population, under the burden of excessive taxation &/or inflation, goes over to the proletariat side – with outstretched hands – voting for the Party which will rob the remaining middle class on their behalf. The property outcome of the laboring middle class, in their natural creative pursuit of happiness, must be unnaturally and forcefully made equal, i.e.: reduced, to that of destructive proletarian laziness. Under economic Marxism the middle class is gradually worn down and finally extinguished.
"You must, therefore, confess that by "individual" you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner of property. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the way, and made impossible... And the abolition of this state of things is called by the bourgeois, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightly so. The abolition of bourgeois [middle class] individuality, bourgeois independence, and bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at." Karl Marx
"The way to crush the bourgeoisie [middle class] is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation." Vladimir Lenin
Karl Marx conceived an irrational and unnatural form of human equality – equal social and economic outcomes achieved by pushing people down. Marx preached this perverted version of "social justice" which he likely picked up from Plato and French Revolutionaries such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and Gracchus Babeuf.
"We claim to live and die equal, the way we were born: we want this real equality or death; that's what we need. And we'll have this real equality, at whatever price. Unhappy will be those who stand between it and us!...We need not only that equality of rights written into the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen; we want it in our midst, under the roofs of our houses... The French Revolution was nothing but a precursor of another revolution, one that will be bigger, more solemn, and which will be the last." Gracchus Babeuf
Of course, enforcement of "real" equality can only occur under the tyranny of unequal rights – where people are unjustly treated differently by the law.
"From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other..." F. A. Hayek
Marxist economic class struggle aims to unnaturally and unjustly equalize, i.e.: reduce, the middle class down to the level of the so-called proletariat class, which in practice, under a system of Free Enterprise, turns out to be the non-disabled non-workers and the government employed or supported make-workers. Yes, the proletariat class is an oppressed class under Feudal, Fascist or Crony Capitalist systems where self-serving laws favor the enterprises of a few – forcefully and unnaturally elevating a wealthy class above the little people, who, despite creativity and hard labor, cannot attain the high economic or social level reserved for such a government-enabled elite class. Under these unjust economic and social systems the oppressed proletariat class is not free to "do as they please with themselves, and the product of their labor." However, under true Free Enterprise the poor (proletariat) class mainly turns out to be the criminals and lazy bums of society – those non-disabled individuals who refuse to honestly strive with Mother Nature to create their own property – the class of people, along with their Marxist superiors, who say "you work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." The true proletarians, oppressed under Feudal or Fascist systems, possess a natural right to overthrow their oppressors, but the pretended proletarians under Free Enterprise are not oppressed, because they are free to "do as they please with themselves, and the product of their labor." This Marxist myth is further unraveled here:
"The history of all existing society," he [Marx] and Engels declared, "is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf ... oppressor and oppressed, stood in sharp opposition to each other." They were quite right to note the political castes and resulting clashes of the pre-liberal era. The expositors of [classic] liberalism (Spencer, Maine) saw their ethic, by establishing the political equality of all (e.g., the abolition of slavery, serfdom, and inequality of rights)... Alas, Marx the Prophet could not accept that the classless millennium had arrived before he did. Thus, he revealed to a benighted humanity that [classic] liberalism was in fact merely another stage of History's class struggle – "capitalism" – with its own combatants: the "proletariat" and the "bourgeoisie." The former were manual laborers, the latter professionals and business owners. Marx's "classes" were not political castes but occupations. Today the terms have broadened to mean essentially income brackets. If Smith can make a nice living from his writing, he's a bourgeois; if Jones is reciting poetry for coins in a subway terminal, he's a proletarian." Barry Loberfeld
When Karl Marx advocated government-managed economic class struggle, "From each according to his abilities [middle class], to each according to his needs [proletariat class]," he failed – I believe intentionally – to account for the facts of lower human nature – the greedy aspect of human nature. The ordinary man desires to labor creatively for his property in his natural pursuit of happiness. The laboring man who desires and is satisfied with the fruit of his own labor is not a greedy man; his happiness is a natural sign of self-ownership and earned self-esteem. The proletariat class, and the Marxist ruling class, do not desire to labor – they desire the fruit of labor of the laboring man – that is greed. Karl Marx ignored or concealed the fact that under a system of Free Enterprise the proletariat class becomes the lazy and greedy class – why work if you don't have to? Of course the Marxist ruling class is also greedy for the labored-for property of the hard-working middle class. When the non-disabled man fails in his sacred duty to labor creatively he becomes needy for property, and must either beg or steal property to satisfy his need – or he can vote for a Marxist-type government to do the dirty deed through unjust excessive taxation of the laboring man. The needs of the lazy "proletariat" man are manifold – so under Marxism the laboring "bourgeoisie" man must pay according to his ability – he must be forced to pay – he must pay without limits – because the lazy man has unlimited needs.
Forced equality of economic outcome requires the tyranny of suppressed property rights for the worker, and corresponding enhancement of property rights for the lazy, through unequal tax law, in order to reduce the gap which naturally occurs – under equal property rights – between rich and poor. We have a moral obligation to help the disabled poor as taught in the Old and New Testaments, but that Judeo-Christian duty is a non-self-serving individual obligation, not a self-serving collectivist government obligation. Our Founding Fathers did not include charity as an enumerated power of Federal Government in our Constitution because they knew that government – a small group of people after all – is prone to greed and corruption on a far greater scale than that of individuals, most of whom are naturally compassionate and charitable toward their disabled neighbor. Under our 10th Amendment family, private individuals, private groups and – as a last resort – state governments are responsible for helping the elderly and disabled who are in need.
Free people are naturally prosperous because they bring home the fruit of their own labor and thereby possess a natural incentive to labor. An unnatural state of serfdom and poverty occurs when Marxist government forcefully robs and then "collectivizes" the fruit of other people's labor – in violation of Natural Law. The temptation to pig out on collectivized property and to use it for bribing people and buying votes is an irresistible force in Marxist government. Serfdom and poverty are inevitable in a Marxist society because the people comprising collectivist government, and their proletarian allies, invariably become greedy for fruit of other men's labor. It follows that the work ethic of the laboring middle class is destroyed as they eventually become exhausted and demoralized by the burden of excessive taxation of their labor on behalf of the parasitic proletariat class in alliance with the parasitic Marxist ruling class. The work ethic of the non-disabled proletariat class is also destroyed because they are not required to labor for property – the Marxist ruling class supplies them with the fruit of middle class labor. In the end a nation where the natural work ethic of its people is universally destroyed – where there are no longer enough people in the laboring middle class – is a nation on the Road to Serfdom. At the end of Marxist economic class struggle, when the middle class finally succumbs, there will be a dramatic fall off in production of food and other goods and services. Envision a cruise ship where more and more passengers run over to the left side looking for "free stuff" from government – of course the "free stuff" is the fruit of other men's labor – the laboring men still slogging it out on the right side. Eventually there will not be enough laborers and entrepreneurs on the right side of the ship to prevent it from capsizing. Crisis and possible anarchy inevitably ensues under Marxism – and who "comes to the rescue" – with dictatorial martial law – but the Marxists themselves. Marxist "Social Justice" ends in poverty and a "dictatorship of the proletariat" – code for dictatorship of the Marxist ruling class, thus the terminal phase of Marxism is indistinguishable from Fascism. Marxist Socialism is not the cure for injustice and poverty in this world – it is one of the chief causes of injustice and poverty in the modern world – an organized crime against humanity.
Marxists say that a private employer "appropriates" a worker's labor which "alienates them from, their fundamental nature." That may be true under a Fascist system of Crony Capitalism where government-connected employers take advantage of workers, but under true Free Enterprise workers are paid by non-government-connected employers in free exchange for their labor which anchors both to their fundamental nature. A multiplicity of these employers naturally find themselves competing for good workers via higher pay and benefits, and non-government-connected employers also naturally compete for customers by improving their products and services, thus the natural competition of real Free Enterprise is the self-limiting force – the invisible hand – which provides real justice to all three – the worker, the customer and the employer. Marxists also say that "Equality in ownership and control of the means of production is a necessary prerequisite for freedom," when in fact, as the twentieth Century has shown, Marxist enforcement of "equality in ownership and control" requires government collectivization of the people's property, and thereby a concentration of the people's property into their hands, and thereby an excessive concentration of power and control into their hands. "Making everyone equal" via "equality in ownership and control" is thus a necessary prerequisite for Marxist tyranny and the destruction of freedom, because as Lord Acton observed, "Power [via the people's property] tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
"By bringing the whole of life under the control of the State [via the people's property], Socialism necessarily gives power to an inner ring of bureaucrats, who in almost every case will be men who want power for its own sake and will stick at nothing in order to retain it... It cannot be said too often – at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough – that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamed of." George Orwell
"A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers." F.A. Hayek
Marxism, as a pre-requisite to irrational government-enforced equal outcome, always demands rules and laws which restrict freedom. Envision a sprinter unnaturally weighed down by leaded shoes and required to dodge tripwires; since his competitor has no such burden one achieves the Marxist injustice of enforced equal outcome – or engineered defeat – by holding someone back. Ordinary hard-working, tax-paying, government-supporting middle-class Americans are the impeded runner under an increasingly Marxist economic system – the new "bourgeoisie," and their burden is excessive taxation earmarked for un-Declarational and un-Constitutional redistribution to government-supported intellectuals and the new government-dependent "proletariat."
Equality of economic outcome under Marxism always entails the use of excessive government force, and is thus incompatible with human liberty. Force will be used to unnaturally bring down hard-working middle class individuals and high-achieving entrepreneurs to the level of the self-centered so-called proletariat class. Force must be used to unnaturally bring down a high-achieving nation to the level of the socialist hell-holes of the world. Yes, equal property rights leads to economic inequality which is natural and un-forced, but Marxism, in Orwellian fashion, leads to even greater economic inequality which is unnatural since it requires property-violating laws, gun-clinging government agents, courts and prisons. The only government power required to ensure truly Free Enterprise is just that amount of law and force needed to ensure equality of our natural rights – a minimum of law and force.
"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." Thomas Jefferson
Bear in mind that an unnatural use of force requires a superior class of not-to-be-equalized Marxist equalizers – a class superior in rights – superior before law – and superior themselves in social and economic (property) outcome. When Marxists and Socialists speak of equality (of outcome) you should understand its meaning in an Orwellian way – it is a lie – because the Marxists who forcefully collectivize property – in the name of property equality – always end up with a lion's share of property. In reality the dystopian Marxist dream of equal outcome turns out to be a nightmare of equal serfdom for everyone below the Marxists – and a self-serving utopia for the Marxist elite and their cronies. So, in the end, in Orwellian fashion, Marxist equality results in inequality. The Orwellian paradox of forced equal outcome is unequal outcome.
"It had long been realized that the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism. Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly. The so-called "abolition of private property" [Communist Manifesto] meant in effect the concentration of property in far fewer hands than before... In the years following the Revolution it [The Socialist Party of Oceania] was able to step into this commanding position almost un-opposed because the whole process was represented as an act of collectivization... It had always been assumed that if the Capitalist Class were expropriated Socialism must follow; and unquestionably the Capitalists had been expropriated. Factories, mines, land, houses, transport, everything had been taken away from them; and since these things were no longer private property it followed that they must be public property. Ingsoc [Socialist Principles of Oceania], which grew out of the earlier Socialist movement and inherited its phraseology, has in fact carried out the main item in the Socialist program with the result; foreseen and intended beforehand, that economic inequality has been made permanent." George Orwell – 1984
Marxist "equality" was carefully analyzed by Igor Shafarevich, a Soviet dissident who directly witnessed the unjust Marxist system. Shafarevich knew the smell of a corpse – he understood that Marxist equality is a lie. Shafarevich figured out that Marxist "equality" only applied to those below the Marxists – those who would form a vast underclass of forced labor – identical peons – leaving the Marxists themselves looming over the mass of mankind in a Marxist Oligarchy – the ultimate totalitarian system of social and property inequality.
"The revolutionaries who drew up the Conspiracy of Equals understood equality in such a way that they alone formed the government, while others were to obey implicitly – and those who did not were to be exiled to certain islands for forced labor. In the most popular work of Marxism, the Communist Manifesto, one of the first measures of the new socialist system to be proposed is the introduction of compulsory labor... From this point of view, a puzzling and at first sight contradictory property of socialist doctrines becomes apparent. They proclaim the greatest possible equality, the destruction of hierarchy in society and at the same time a strict regimentation of all of life, which would be impossible without absolute control and an all-powerful bureaucracy which would engender an incomparably greater inequality." Igor Shafarevich
C.S. Lewis also understood the tyranny of perverted (forced) equality of human outcomes – because someone very powerful – like a King or a Dictator – or a Marxist Oligarchy – must exist to unnaturally enforce equal outcome. Marxists have always been willing and eager to "snick off" with their canes the more hard-working and successful – in order to force equality among the masses of inferior subjects.
"Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose... You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated [equality before law which secures equal rights]. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal [in outcome – regardless of creativity and labor]... You remember how one of the Greek Dictators...sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy into a field of grain, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no preeminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser or better or more famous or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level: all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals." C.S. Lewis – Screwtape Proposes a Toast
As George Orwell observed, Marxists are metaphorically the Pigs of Animal Farm – individuals who consider themselves "more equal than others." The Marxist Pigs are enthralled with the idea of government (themselves) owning the fruit of the laboring "little animals" where all their eggs, apples, corn, etc. is collected – their property collectivized by the Pigs. The fruit of the lesser animal's labor is placed into a communal pot under exclusive control of the Marxist Pigs. The Pigs are in charge of the commune – and the communal property – they are the commune-ists. The Marxist Pigs, after gorging themselves with a lion's share of communal food, require all the equalized little animals to approach their communal pot, tails wagging, in order to receive leftover rations. The "little animals" must lick the hand that feeds them. Pig (Marxist) government encourages the lazy proletariat animals to relax in the barn while the others work in the fields – yet they all receive an equal measure of leftover corn. The Pigs control all the property in the communal pot, so they are in a position to in effect steal property from the laboring animals ("from each according to his abilities") and give to the lazy ("to each according to his needs") in return for votes. The labor-challenged proletariat animals have unlimited needs, so the laboring middle class animals may be taxed without limit according to their ability. The Marxist Pigs are the managers of this struggle between the working and lazy classes, and through vote-purchasing (votes purchased with stolen property) set up a self-perpetuating perverted form of "democracy" which keeps them in power.
Karl Marx understood that a democracy can be perverted into serfdom under totalitarian government – no doubt Marx also understood it would be much more difficult to subvert a Constitutional Republic – where there might be limits on government collectivization – limits on taxation. Karl Marx termed victory of the Marxist and proletariat classes over the middle class as winning "the battle of democracy."
"We have seen above that the first step in the revolution by the [non] working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy." Karl Marx
As with the Pigs of Animal Farm, Marxism sets up an elite ruling class of self-serving, social-engineering "Philosopher Kings," an unjust, tyranny-tilted governing system of unequal rights, whose features, along with Monarchy, Oligarchy or Fascism, our Founding Fathers have warned:
"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." Thomas Jefferson
"When the [proletariat] people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Benjamin Franklin
Karl Marx agitated for totalitarian government power over the individual – where government – a small group of people after all – possesses a "right" to the fruit of the individual's labor in the government's pursuit of happiness – in violation of the Natural Law embedded in our Declaration of Independence. Marxist government empowered with this so-called "collectivist right" to individual property is reminiscent of the so-called "divine right" of Medieval Kings. Marxist Socialism is simply a modern form of Medieval Feudalism where Marxist collectivization of property (and thereby power) replaces the same collectivization by Medieval Kings, Princes and Bishops. Karl Marx did not believe in equality before life, liberty and property-securing law; that is the real social justice of equal unalienable human rights endowed to us by our Creator. Marxist "economic equality" requires a government immorally and unnaturally empowered to forcefully take possession of individual private property through excessive taxation – unnaturally and tyrannically infringing on the American individual's unalienable right to the fruit of his labor in a natural and creative pursuit of happiness – in violation of the law of nature and nature's God.
"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for ours." John Locke
"Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men..." John Locke
Thomas Jefferson and our other Founding Fathers understood, as John Locke before them, that each individual is naturally and morally entitled to keep the fruit of his/her own labor in creative pursuit of happiness.
"Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can." Samuel Adams
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln understood that Natural Law is embedded in our American Declaration of Independence – he understood economic justice and acknowledged the self-evident moral truth that each individual equally possess a natural right to liberty and to the fruit of his own labor in creative pursuit of happiness. Abraham Lincoln believed in the natural freedom "for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor," not an unnatural, un-American, European Marxist system "for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor;" the same system that says "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it."
"With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor [Free Enterprise]; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor [Economic Marxism]. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny." Abraham Lincoln
"That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles – right and wrong – throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil [middle class] and earn bread, and I'll eat it [Marxist and proletariat classes].' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king [or a Marxist] who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race [or class] of men as an apology for enslaving another race [or class], it is the same tyrannical principle." Abraham Lincoln
Marxist forced equal outcome – for the little people – requires the tyranny of unequal rights and leads to the Orwellian paradox of unequal outcome, thus Marxism is a wolf in sheep's clothing – a self-serving immorality posing as morality – a forward retreat into despotism. Saul Alinsky, in reference to Marxist community organizing of the proletariat, advocated this immoral inversion of morality. Forced equal outcome is the Marxist passport of morality.
"Moral rationalization is indispensable to all kinds of action... All great [despotic] leaders invoked 'moral principles' to cover naked self-interest in the clothing of 'freedom,' 'equality of mankind,' 'a law higher than man-made law,' and so on... All effective [despotic] actions require the passport of morality." Saul Alinsky
Ultimately Marxism demands that truth must unnaturally equal untruth by means of Orwellian "Newspeak" and "Doublethink," or through the "Big Lie," and in the end Theophobic Marxism unnaturally demands the equalization of good and evil – because that is the ultimate natural inequality.
"There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality." Karl Marx
"Communism has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality. It scoffs at any consideration of "good" and "evil" as indisputable categories. Communism considers morality to be relative, to be a class matter. Depending upon circumstances and the political situation, any act, including murder, even the killing of thousands, could be good or could be bad." Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Karl Marx was wrong about the system of Free Enterprise, but I don't think he really cared. It appears to me that Marx was primarily interested in the destruction of good, just, free and prosperous human societies such as the United States – replacing rightful human liberty with a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" – code for Dictatorship of the Marxists.
"And still, you personified mankind. I may take you by the power of my mighty hands and crush with fierce force. In the meantime, as the abyss gapes before me and you in the darkness, You will fall in it and I'll follow you, Laughing and whispering into your ear: "Come down with me, friend!" Karl Marx
Marxism requires an unnatural and despotic enforcement of equal outcomes – and is thereby in violation of the American Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution which lay out and ensure the natural enforcement of equal rights; thus Marxism is an anti-individual, anti-American system in all respects, and Karl Marx was the anti-Abraham Lincoln, the anti-Thomas Jefferson and the anti-John Locke. Our founding fathers understood that human liberty naturally results in economic inequality, and also results in unequal numbers of sports teams at school, and unequal scores in games and on tests, because that is simply our human nature at work. What our founders desired and struggled for during the American Revolution, and what they devised with our Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights, was a system of government, not to despotically force economic or social equality, but to provide equality before the law – law which secures rather than destroys our unalienable equal rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness. There are those among us, primarily leaders of the Democratic Party (with some Republicans in tow – the RINOs), who aim for our transition from American Equality (equal natural rights protected by equality before law) to Marxist Equality (forced equal outcome). This transition is already occurring, and if allowed to continue it will lead to economic ruin and further infringement and eventual destruction of our sacred human liberty and pursuit of happiness. Here in the United States this process may not transpire exactly as it occurred in the Soviet Union, but the end result could be similar.
The time has come for all liberty-loving states to nullify Federal laws and regulations which violate our Constitution – Federal laws and regulations which are not in pursuance thereof. State nullification is the overthrowing of un-Constitutional Federal laws and regulations within a particular state – it is not the overthrowing of Constitution-compliant Federal laws and regulations. Federal laws and regulations which are un-Constitutional represent Federal nullification of the Constitution, so state nullification of Federal nullification represents state affirmation of the Constitution. The time has also come for "We the People" to amend our Constitution with anti-Marxist law in order to prevent the American Revolution from devolving further into an American Marxist counter-revolution, because without a liberty-securing amendment liberty-loving Americans may end up losing the Marxist "Battle of Democracy." We are actually a Declarational/Constitutional Republic, so if we amend our Constitution with something along these lines we will become empowered to win the Battle of the Republic.
Amendment XXVIII
Section 1. The Declaration of Independence is the supreme un-amendable natural law of the United States of America
Section 2. Term limits for Congress (shorter) and the Supreme Court (longer)
Section 3. Amendments XVI and XVII are hereby revoked
Section 4. Supreme Court decisions shall be revoked by Congress with 2/3 or greater vote in both houses
Section 5. Federal taxation shall not exceed 10% for any individual, nor shall Federal taxation exceed 10% of the nation's GDP. Federal taxation shall be a national sales tax
Section 6. Federal income shall only consist of a maximum 10% domestic taxation as per Section 5 of this amendment, plus foreign tariffs, plus the donations of U.S. citizens, plus the sale of domestically purchased U.S. bonds by U.S. Citizens during wars declared by Congress. Federal income shall not occur through borrowing, except for the sale of domestically purchased U.S. bonds by U.S. citizens during wars declared by Congress; nor shall Federal income derive by fiat creation of money
Section 7. Federal spending shall not exceed federal income.
Section 8. This section of Article 1, Section 8 shall be changed to: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States, and all provisions for general welfare shall be uniform throughout the United States and enumerated herein this Constitution; To borrow money on the credit of the United States as per Section 6 of this amendment; To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and to regulate disputes of commerce among the several states..."
Section 9. This section of Article II, Section 1 shall be changed to: "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. Natural born citizen shall mean any person born within one of the states of the United States or upon the territorial waters of the United States, of parents who are both citizens of the United States."
Section 10. This section of Article VI shall be changed to: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made not in violation thereof, or which shall be made not in violation thereof, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme amendable secular law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Section 11. Article III, Section 3 shall be changed to: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them or against this Constitution, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason except for cases of treason involving the President of the United States, members of the National Congress, or the Supreme Court, where in those cases the States shall have the power to try and declare the punishment of treason within their respective borders, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
Section 12. Section 1 of Amendment XIV shall be changed to: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Neither Congress, nor Presidential executive regulation, nor Supreme Court decisions, nor any state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall Congress, nor Presidential executive regulation, nor Supreme Court decision, nor any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
© Ronald R. Cherry
January 14, 2015
In its essence Marxism, the core ideology of modern Socialism, is an irrational, utopian and coercive perversion of human equality. Marxism seeks equality where equality does not exist, demanding legal enforcement of equal social outcomes, including those related to economics, higher education, athletics, religion and human sexuality. This ideology even extends to international relationships whereby no nation is allowed to excessively prosper or achieve greatness, i.e.: all nations must be "equal." Never mind that when people are free their human nature leads to inequality of outcomes – some are hard-working and some are lazy – some are more intelligent and some are less intelligent – some are stronger and some are weaker – some are tall and some are short. Unequal results occur naturally without force when people possess rightful liberty. Based on their degree of truly Free Enterprise nations similarly divide themselves unequally into various degrees of prosperity or depravity.
Under the guiding hand of intellectuals and mass media Marxist ideas are slowly and silently transforming the mental attitudes of Americas. For example, we fail to recognize Marxist equality at work when elementary schools do not keep score during athletic events – we must not hurt little Johnny's feelings when another team scores more goals or points – that is inequality. Never mind that athletic competition results in a form of natural and healthy inequality which leads to an appreciation for success and an acknowledgement of failure. Collegiate Title IX rules are a form of Cultural Marxism since equal numbers of men's and women's athletic programs are unnaturally enforced instead of a natural program of equal liberty for men and women students to create athletic teams. This form of Marxist thinking is called "gender equity," but Marxist thinking is dysfunctional in the real world, frustrating the natural liberty and the equal rights of students to freely pursue athletic recreation. Under a natural system of equal rights men and women would take turns forming teams until the athletic budget was exhausted. Let's say the women at a certain university ended up creating ten athletic programs, and taking turns the men also created ten. Let's say there was still sufficient money in the university's athletic budget for two more athletic programs, and since the men wanted two more programs but the women didn't, the men would end up with twelve athletic programs and the women ten. This inequality of result would occur naturally under an equality of rights, but under the cultural Marxism of Title IX, despite the unequal demand, there will be ten and ten – the natural desire for the guys to have two more athletic programs must be crushed – equal rights sacrificed on the altar of equal outcome. Of course it could turn out the other way around, where the women ended up with twelve programs and the men ten – who cares as long as equal rights is the rule? Marxists care – they aim to unnaturally force equal outcome in every aspect of life – because they are attracted to the use of force – because they crave an animal-like "will to power" over others – wrongful liberty "to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor."
Affirmative Action is also a form of Cultural Marxism since these laws unnaturally force equal ethnic or racial outcomes in graduate school admission instead of a natural enforcement of equal academic standards for all. Under Cultural Marxism the values of American Judeo-Christian Culture must be seen as equal to that of Totalitarian Political Islam, and by unnaturally slicing open the Gordian Knot of human nature, the value of homosexuality must be made equal – by force – to that of heterosexual marriage. Like gods walking the earth, the Marxist "Priests of Power" – in their perverted minds – believe they can "create human nature."
"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake... The object of power is power... Always there will be the intoxication of power... We are the Priests of Power... We'll cut the links between child and parent... and between man and woman... You are imagining that there is something called human nature which will be outraged by what we do, and will turn against us; but we create human nature." George Orwell – 1984
Economic Marxism occurs when government seeks to force equal property outcome among the people, doing so through "despotic inroads on the rights of property" – i.e.: government expropriation of property from the laboring middle class – the so-called bourgeoisie – which is "re-distributed" – first to themselves – and then to the labor-challenged so-called proletariat class in return for votes. Marxists call such economic social engineering "Social Equity" – Orwellian Newspeak for unequal property rights and unequal tax law – or it is called "Social Justice" – Orwellian Newspeak for social injustice. Karl Marx understood that forced equal property outcome required the tyranny of unequal property rights and inequality before the law. Together, the labor-challenged tax-eating Marxist and so-called proletariat classes possess superior rights to property compared to the laboring tax-paying middle class. The inequity of forced equal outcome is the tyranny of unequal rights.
"In one word, you reproach us with intending to do away with your property. Precisely so; that is just what we intend [in order to equalize the proletariat and bourgeoisie]... The proletariat [lazy, tax-eating, non-disabled government-dependents] will use its political [democratic] supremacy to wrest, by degree, all capital [property] from the bourgeoisie [laboring, tax-paying middle class and entrepreneurs], to centralize all instruments of production in the hands of the state [self-serving Marxist Government and intellectuals]... Of course, in the beginning, this cannot be effected except by means of despotic inroads on the rights of property." Karl Marx
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln must have anticipated the likes of Karl Marx – a man hell-bent on re-establishing despotic government domination of the individual – where unnatural government-derived unequal "rights" trump natural God-given equal rights.
"To take from one [according to his ability] because it is thought that his own industry and that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to others [according to his need], who, or whose fathers have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association – the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." Thomas Jefferson
"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless ["proletariat"] pull down the house of another [middle class "bourgeoisie"]; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built." Abraham Lincoln
Under economic Marxism the bourgeoisie and the proletariat must be unnaturally forced into economic equality regardless of creativity, effort and labor. The laboring middle class will be gradually reduced and thereby made equal to the level of existing "proletarian" poverty – this occurs when enough of a population, under the burden of excessive taxation &/or inflation, goes over to the proletariat side – with outstretched hands – voting for the Party which will rob the remaining middle class on their behalf. The property outcome of the laboring middle class, in their natural creative pursuit of happiness, must be unnaturally and forcefully made equal, i.e.: reduced, to that of destructive proletarian laziness. Under economic Marxism the middle class is gradually worn down and finally extinguished.
"You must, therefore, confess that by "individual" you mean no other person than the bourgeois, than the middle-class owner of property. This person must, indeed, be swept out of the way, and made impossible... And the abolition of this state of things is called by the bourgeois, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightly so. The abolition of bourgeois [middle class] individuality, bourgeois independence, and bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at." Karl Marx
"The way to crush the bourgeoisie [middle class] is to grind them between the millstones of taxation and inflation." Vladimir Lenin
Karl Marx conceived an irrational and unnatural form of human equality – equal social and economic outcomes achieved by pushing people down. Marx preached this perverted version of "social justice" which he likely picked up from Plato and French Revolutionaries such as Jean Jacques Rousseau and Gracchus Babeuf.
"We claim to live and die equal, the way we were born: we want this real equality or death; that's what we need. And we'll have this real equality, at whatever price. Unhappy will be those who stand between it and us!...We need not only that equality of rights written into the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen; we want it in our midst, under the roofs of our houses... The French Revolution was nothing but a precursor of another revolution, one that will be bigger, more solemn, and which will be the last." Gracchus Babeuf
Of course, enforcement of "real" equality can only occur under the tyranny of unequal rights – where people are unjustly treated differently by the law.
"From the fact that people are very different it follows that, if we treat them equally, the result must be inequality in their actual position, and that the only way to place them in an equal position would be to treat them differently. Equality before the law and material equality are therefore not only different but are in conflict with each other..." F. A. Hayek
Marxist economic class struggle aims to unnaturally and unjustly equalize, i.e.: reduce, the middle class down to the level of the so-called proletariat class, which in practice, under a system of Free Enterprise, turns out to be the non-disabled non-workers and the government employed or supported make-workers. Yes, the proletariat class is an oppressed class under Feudal, Fascist or Crony Capitalist systems where self-serving laws favor the enterprises of a few – forcefully and unnaturally elevating a wealthy class above the little people, who, despite creativity and hard labor, cannot attain the high economic or social level reserved for such a government-enabled elite class. Under these unjust economic and social systems the oppressed proletariat class is not free to "do as they please with themselves, and the product of their labor." However, under true Free Enterprise the poor (proletariat) class mainly turns out to be the criminals and lazy bums of society – those non-disabled individuals who refuse to honestly strive with Mother Nature to create their own property – the class of people, along with their Marxist superiors, who say "you work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." The true proletarians, oppressed under Feudal or Fascist systems, possess a natural right to overthrow their oppressors, but the pretended proletarians under Free Enterprise are not oppressed, because they are free to "do as they please with themselves, and the product of their labor." This Marxist myth is further unraveled here:
"The history of all existing society," he [Marx] and Engels declared, "is the history of class struggles. Freeman and slave, patrician and plebian, lord and serf ... oppressor and oppressed, stood in sharp opposition to each other." They were quite right to note the political castes and resulting clashes of the pre-liberal era. The expositors of [classic] liberalism (Spencer, Maine) saw their ethic, by establishing the political equality of all (e.g., the abolition of slavery, serfdom, and inequality of rights)... Alas, Marx the Prophet could not accept that the classless millennium had arrived before he did. Thus, he revealed to a benighted humanity that [classic] liberalism was in fact merely another stage of History's class struggle – "capitalism" – with its own combatants: the "proletariat" and the "bourgeoisie." The former were manual laborers, the latter professionals and business owners. Marx's "classes" were not political castes but occupations. Today the terms have broadened to mean essentially income brackets. If Smith can make a nice living from his writing, he's a bourgeois; if Jones is reciting poetry for coins in a subway terminal, he's a proletarian." Barry Loberfeld
When Karl Marx advocated government-managed economic class struggle, "From each according to his abilities [middle class], to each according to his needs [proletariat class]," he failed – I believe intentionally – to account for the facts of lower human nature – the greedy aspect of human nature. The ordinary man desires to labor creatively for his property in his natural pursuit of happiness. The laboring man who desires and is satisfied with the fruit of his own labor is not a greedy man; his happiness is a natural sign of self-ownership and earned self-esteem. The proletariat class, and the Marxist ruling class, do not desire to labor – they desire the fruit of labor of the laboring man – that is greed. Karl Marx ignored or concealed the fact that under a system of Free Enterprise the proletariat class becomes the lazy and greedy class – why work if you don't have to? Of course the Marxist ruling class is also greedy for the labored-for property of the hard-working middle class. When the non-disabled man fails in his sacred duty to labor creatively he becomes needy for property, and must either beg or steal property to satisfy his need – or he can vote for a Marxist-type government to do the dirty deed through unjust excessive taxation of the laboring man. The needs of the lazy "proletariat" man are manifold – so under Marxism the laboring "bourgeoisie" man must pay according to his ability – he must be forced to pay – he must pay without limits – because the lazy man has unlimited needs.
Forced equality of economic outcome requires the tyranny of suppressed property rights for the worker, and corresponding enhancement of property rights for the lazy, through unequal tax law, in order to reduce the gap which naturally occurs – under equal property rights – between rich and poor. We have a moral obligation to help the disabled poor as taught in the Old and New Testaments, but that Judeo-Christian duty is a non-self-serving individual obligation, not a self-serving collectivist government obligation. Our Founding Fathers did not include charity as an enumerated power of Federal Government in our Constitution because they knew that government – a small group of people after all – is prone to greed and corruption on a far greater scale than that of individuals, most of whom are naturally compassionate and charitable toward their disabled neighbor. Under our 10th Amendment family, private individuals, private groups and – as a last resort – state governments are responsible for helping the elderly and disabled who are in need.
Free people are naturally prosperous because they bring home the fruit of their own labor and thereby possess a natural incentive to labor. An unnatural state of serfdom and poverty occurs when Marxist government forcefully robs and then "collectivizes" the fruit of other people's labor – in violation of Natural Law. The temptation to pig out on collectivized property and to use it for bribing people and buying votes is an irresistible force in Marxist government. Serfdom and poverty are inevitable in a Marxist society because the people comprising collectivist government, and their proletarian allies, invariably become greedy for fruit of other men's labor. It follows that the work ethic of the laboring middle class is destroyed as they eventually become exhausted and demoralized by the burden of excessive taxation of their labor on behalf of the parasitic proletariat class in alliance with the parasitic Marxist ruling class. The work ethic of the non-disabled proletariat class is also destroyed because they are not required to labor for property – the Marxist ruling class supplies them with the fruit of middle class labor. In the end a nation where the natural work ethic of its people is universally destroyed – where there are no longer enough people in the laboring middle class – is a nation on the Road to Serfdom. At the end of Marxist economic class struggle, when the middle class finally succumbs, there will be a dramatic fall off in production of food and other goods and services. Envision a cruise ship where more and more passengers run over to the left side looking for "free stuff" from government – of course the "free stuff" is the fruit of other men's labor – the laboring men still slogging it out on the right side. Eventually there will not be enough laborers and entrepreneurs on the right side of the ship to prevent it from capsizing. Crisis and possible anarchy inevitably ensues under Marxism – and who "comes to the rescue" – with dictatorial martial law – but the Marxists themselves. Marxist "Social Justice" ends in poverty and a "dictatorship of the proletariat" – code for dictatorship of the Marxist ruling class, thus the terminal phase of Marxism is indistinguishable from Fascism. Marxist Socialism is not the cure for injustice and poverty in this world – it is one of the chief causes of injustice and poverty in the modern world – an organized crime against humanity.
Marxists say that a private employer "appropriates" a worker's labor which "alienates them from, their fundamental nature." That may be true under a Fascist system of Crony Capitalism where government-connected employers take advantage of workers, but under true Free Enterprise workers are paid by non-government-connected employers in free exchange for their labor which anchors both to their fundamental nature. A multiplicity of these employers naturally find themselves competing for good workers via higher pay and benefits, and non-government-connected employers also naturally compete for customers by improving their products and services, thus the natural competition of real Free Enterprise is the self-limiting force – the invisible hand – which provides real justice to all three – the worker, the customer and the employer. Marxists also say that "Equality in ownership and control of the means of production is a necessary prerequisite for freedom," when in fact, as the twentieth Century has shown, Marxist enforcement of "equality in ownership and control" requires government collectivization of the people's property, and thereby a concentration of the people's property into their hands, and thereby an excessive concentration of power and control into their hands. "Making everyone equal" via "equality in ownership and control" is thus a necessary prerequisite for Marxist tyranny and the destruction of freedom, because as Lord Acton observed, "Power [via the people's property] tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
"By bringing the whole of life under the control of the State [via the people's property], Socialism necessarily gives power to an inner ring of bureaucrats, who in almost every case will be men who want power for its own sake and will stick at nothing in order to retain it... It cannot be said too often – at any rate, it is not being said nearly often enough – that collectivism is not inherently democratic, but, on the contrary, gives to a tyrannical minority such powers as the Spanish Inquisitors never dreamed of." George Orwell
"A claim for equality of material position can be met only by a government with totalitarian powers." F.A. Hayek
Marxism, as a pre-requisite to irrational government-enforced equal outcome, always demands rules and laws which restrict freedom. Envision a sprinter unnaturally weighed down by leaded shoes and required to dodge tripwires; since his competitor has no such burden one achieves the Marxist injustice of enforced equal outcome – or engineered defeat – by holding someone back. Ordinary hard-working, tax-paying, government-supporting middle-class Americans are the impeded runner under an increasingly Marxist economic system – the new "bourgeoisie," and their burden is excessive taxation earmarked for un-Declarational and un-Constitutional redistribution to government-supported intellectuals and the new government-dependent "proletariat."
Equality of economic outcome under Marxism always entails the use of excessive government force, and is thus incompatible with human liberty. Force will be used to unnaturally bring down hard-working middle class individuals and high-achieving entrepreneurs to the level of the self-centered so-called proletariat class. Force must be used to unnaturally bring down a high-achieving nation to the level of the socialist hell-holes of the world. Yes, equal property rights leads to economic inequality which is natural and un-forced, but Marxism, in Orwellian fashion, leads to even greater economic inequality which is unnatural since it requires property-violating laws, gun-clinging government agents, courts and prisons. The only government power required to ensure truly Free Enterprise is just that amount of law and force needed to ensure equality of our natural rights – a minimum of law and force.
"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain him." Thomas Jefferson
Bear in mind that an unnatural use of force requires a superior class of not-to-be-equalized Marxist equalizers – a class superior in rights – superior before law – and superior themselves in social and economic (property) outcome. When Marxists and Socialists speak of equality (of outcome) you should understand its meaning in an Orwellian way – it is a lie – because the Marxists who forcefully collectivize property – in the name of property equality – always end up with a lion's share of property. In reality the dystopian Marxist dream of equal outcome turns out to be a nightmare of equal serfdom for everyone below the Marxists – and a self-serving utopia for the Marxist elite and their cronies. So, in the end, in Orwellian fashion, Marxist equality results in inequality. The Orwellian paradox of forced equal outcome is unequal outcome.
"It had long been realized that the only secure basis for oligarchy is collectivism. Wealth and privilege are most easily defended when they are possessed jointly. The so-called "abolition of private property" [Communist Manifesto] meant in effect the concentration of property in far fewer hands than before... In the years following the Revolution it [The Socialist Party of Oceania] was able to step into this commanding position almost un-opposed because the whole process was represented as an act of collectivization... It had always been assumed that if the Capitalist Class were expropriated Socialism must follow; and unquestionably the Capitalists had been expropriated. Factories, mines, land, houses, transport, everything had been taken away from them; and since these things were no longer private property it followed that they must be public property. Ingsoc [Socialist Principles of Oceania], which grew out of the earlier Socialist movement and inherited its phraseology, has in fact carried out the main item in the Socialist program with the result; foreseen and intended beforehand, that economic inequality has been made permanent." George Orwell – 1984
Marxist "equality" was carefully analyzed by Igor Shafarevich, a Soviet dissident who directly witnessed the unjust Marxist system. Shafarevich knew the smell of a corpse – he understood that Marxist equality is a lie. Shafarevich figured out that Marxist "equality" only applied to those below the Marxists – those who would form a vast underclass of forced labor – identical peons – leaving the Marxists themselves looming over the mass of mankind in a Marxist Oligarchy – the ultimate totalitarian system of social and property inequality.
"The revolutionaries who drew up the Conspiracy of Equals understood equality in such a way that they alone formed the government, while others were to obey implicitly – and those who did not were to be exiled to certain islands for forced labor. In the most popular work of Marxism, the Communist Manifesto, one of the first measures of the new socialist system to be proposed is the introduction of compulsory labor... From this point of view, a puzzling and at first sight contradictory property of socialist doctrines becomes apparent. They proclaim the greatest possible equality, the destruction of hierarchy in society and at the same time a strict regimentation of all of life, which would be impossible without absolute control and an all-powerful bureaucracy which would engender an incomparably greater inequality." Igor Shafarevich
C.S. Lewis also understood the tyranny of perverted (forced) equality of human outcomes – because someone very powerful – like a King or a Dictator – or a Marxist Oligarchy – must exist to unnaturally enforce equal outcome. Marxists have always been willing and eager to "snick off" with their canes the more hard-working and successful – in order to force equality among the masses of inferior subjects.
"Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose... You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course it is connected with the political ideal that men should be equally treated [equality before law which secures equal rights]. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political ideal to a factual belief that all men are equal [in outcome – regardless of creativity and labor]... You remember how one of the Greek Dictators...sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy into a field of grain, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no preeminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser or better or more famous or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level: all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals." C.S. Lewis – Screwtape Proposes a Toast
As George Orwell observed, Marxists are metaphorically the Pigs of Animal Farm – individuals who consider themselves "more equal than others." The Marxist Pigs are enthralled with the idea of government (themselves) owning the fruit of the laboring "little animals" where all their eggs, apples, corn, etc. is collected – their property collectivized by the Pigs. The fruit of the lesser animal's labor is placed into a communal pot under exclusive control of the Marxist Pigs. The Pigs are in charge of the commune – and the communal property – they are the commune-ists. The Marxist Pigs, after gorging themselves with a lion's share of communal food, require all the equalized little animals to approach their communal pot, tails wagging, in order to receive leftover rations. The "little animals" must lick the hand that feeds them. Pig (Marxist) government encourages the lazy proletariat animals to relax in the barn while the others work in the fields – yet they all receive an equal measure of leftover corn. The Pigs control all the property in the communal pot, so they are in a position to in effect steal property from the laboring animals ("from each according to his abilities") and give to the lazy ("to each according to his needs") in return for votes. The labor-challenged proletariat animals have unlimited needs, so the laboring middle class animals may be taxed without limit according to their ability. The Marxist Pigs are the managers of this struggle between the working and lazy classes, and through vote-purchasing (votes purchased with stolen property) set up a self-perpetuating perverted form of "democracy" which keeps them in power.
Karl Marx understood that a democracy can be perverted into serfdom under totalitarian government – no doubt Marx also understood it would be much more difficult to subvert a Constitutional Republic – where there might be limits on government collectivization – limits on taxation. Karl Marx termed victory of the Marxist and proletariat classes over the middle class as winning "the battle of democracy."
"We have seen above that the first step in the revolution by the [non] working class is to raise the proletariat to the position of ruling class to win the battle of democracy." Karl Marx
As with the Pigs of Animal Farm, Marxism sets up an elite ruling class of self-serving, social-engineering "Philosopher Kings," an unjust, tyranny-tilted governing system of unequal rights, whose features, along with Monarchy, Oligarchy or Fascism, our Founding Fathers have warned:
"The issue today is the same as it has been throughout all history, whether man shall be allowed to govern himself or be ruled by a small elite." Thomas Jefferson
"When the [proletariat] people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." Benjamin Franklin
Karl Marx agitated for totalitarian government power over the individual – where government – a small group of people after all – possesses a "right" to the fruit of the individual's labor in the government's pursuit of happiness – in violation of the Natural Law embedded in our Declaration of Independence. Marxist government empowered with this so-called "collectivist right" to individual property is reminiscent of the so-called "divine right" of Medieval Kings. Marxist Socialism is simply a modern form of Medieval Feudalism where Marxist collectivization of property (and thereby power) replaces the same collectivization by Medieval Kings, Princes and Bishops. Karl Marx did not believe in equality before life, liberty and property-securing law; that is the real social justice of equal unalienable human rights endowed to us by our Creator. Marxist "economic equality" requires a government immorally and unnaturally empowered to forcefully take possession of individual private property through excessive taxation – unnaturally and tyrannically infringing on the American individual's unalienable right to the fruit of his labor in a natural and creative pursuit of happiness – in violation of the law of nature and nature's God.
"The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for ours." John Locke
"Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of his body, and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature hath placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it, that excludes the common right of other men..." John Locke
Thomas Jefferson and our other Founding Fathers understood, as John Locke before them, that each individual is naturally and morally entitled to keep the fruit of his/her own labor in creative pursuit of happiness.
"Among the natural rights of the Colonists are these: First, a right to life; Secondly, to liberty; Thirdly, to property; together with the right to support and defend them in the best manner they can." Samuel Adams
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Thomas Jefferson
Abraham Lincoln understood that Natural Law is embedded in our American Declaration of Independence – he understood economic justice and acknowledged the self-evident moral truth that each individual equally possess a natural right to liberty and to the fruit of his own labor in creative pursuit of happiness. Abraham Lincoln believed in the natural freedom "for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor," not an unnatural, un-American, European Marxist system "for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor;" the same system that says "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it."
"With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor [Free Enterprise]; while with others, the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor [Economic Marxism]. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name – liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names – liberty and tyranny." Abraham Lincoln
"That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles – right and wrong – throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, 'You work and toil [middle class] and earn bread, and I'll eat it [Marxist and proletariat classes].' No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king [or a Marxist] who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race [or class] of men as an apology for enslaving another race [or class], it is the same tyrannical principle." Abraham Lincoln
Marxist forced equal outcome – for the little people – requires the tyranny of unequal rights and leads to the Orwellian paradox of unequal outcome, thus Marxism is a wolf in sheep's clothing – a self-serving immorality posing as morality – a forward retreat into despotism. Saul Alinsky, in reference to Marxist community organizing of the proletariat, advocated this immoral inversion of morality. Forced equal outcome is the Marxist passport of morality.
"Moral rationalization is indispensable to all kinds of action... All great [despotic] leaders invoked 'moral principles' to cover naked self-interest in the clothing of 'freedom,' 'equality of mankind,' 'a law higher than man-made law,' and so on... All effective [despotic] actions require the passport of morality." Saul Alinsky
Ultimately Marxism demands that truth must unnaturally equal untruth by means of Orwellian "Newspeak" and "Doublethink," or through the "Big Lie," and in the end Theophobic Marxism unnaturally demands the equalization of good and evil – because that is the ultimate natural inequality.
"There are, besides, eternal truths, such as Freedom, Justice, etc., that are common to all states of society. But communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality." Karl Marx
"Communism has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality. It scoffs at any consideration of "good" and "evil" as indisputable categories. Communism considers morality to be relative, to be a class matter. Depending upon circumstances and the political situation, any act, including murder, even the killing of thousands, could be good or could be bad." Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Karl Marx was wrong about the system of Free Enterprise, but I don't think he really cared. It appears to me that Marx was primarily interested in the destruction of good, just, free and prosperous human societies such as the United States – replacing rightful human liberty with a "Dictatorship of the Proletariat" – code for Dictatorship of the Marxists.
"And still, you personified mankind. I may take you by the power of my mighty hands and crush with fierce force. In the meantime, as the abyss gapes before me and you in the darkness, You will fall in it and I'll follow you, Laughing and whispering into your ear: "Come down with me, friend!" Karl Marx
Marxism requires an unnatural and despotic enforcement of equal outcomes – and is thereby in violation of the American Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution which lay out and ensure the natural enforcement of equal rights; thus Marxism is an anti-individual, anti-American system in all respects, and Karl Marx was the anti-Abraham Lincoln, the anti-Thomas Jefferson and the anti-John Locke. Our founding fathers understood that human liberty naturally results in economic inequality, and also results in unequal numbers of sports teams at school, and unequal scores in games and on tests, because that is simply our human nature at work. What our founders desired and struggled for during the American Revolution, and what they devised with our Declaration, Constitution and Bill of Rights, was a system of government, not to despotically force economic or social equality, but to provide equality before the law – law which secures rather than destroys our unalienable equal rights to life, liberty and fruit of labor in pursuit of happiness. There are those among us, primarily leaders of the Democratic Party (with some Republicans in tow – the RINOs), who aim for our transition from American Equality (equal natural rights protected by equality before law) to Marxist Equality (forced equal outcome). This transition is already occurring, and if allowed to continue it will lead to economic ruin and further infringement and eventual destruction of our sacred human liberty and pursuit of happiness. Here in the United States this process may not transpire exactly as it occurred in the Soviet Union, but the end result could be similar.
The time has come for all liberty-loving states to nullify Federal laws and regulations which violate our Constitution – Federal laws and regulations which are not in pursuance thereof. State nullification is the overthrowing of un-Constitutional Federal laws and regulations within a particular state – it is not the overthrowing of Constitution-compliant Federal laws and regulations. Federal laws and regulations which are un-Constitutional represent Federal nullification of the Constitution, so state nullification of Federal nullification represents state affirmation of the Constitution. The time has also come for "We the People" to amend our Constitution with anti-Marxist law in order to prevent the American Revolution from devolving further into an American Marxist counter-revolution, because without a liberty-securing amendment liberty-loving Americans may end up losing the Marxist "Battle of Democracy." We are actually a Declarational/Constitutional Republic, so if we amend our Constitution with something along these lines we will become empowered to win the Battle of the Republic.
Amendment XXVIII
Section 1. The Declaration of Independence is the supreme un-amendable natural law of the United States of America
Section 2. Term limits for Congress (shorter) and the Supreme Court (longer)
Section 3. Amendments XVI and XVII are hereby revoked
Section 4. Supreme Court decisions shall be revoked by Congress with 2/3 or greater vote in both houses
Section 5. Federal taxation shall not exceed 10% for any individual, nor shall Federal taxation exceed 10% of the nation's GDP. Federal taxation shall be a national sales tax
Section 6. Federal income shall only consist of a maximum 10% domestic taxation as per Section 5 of this amendment, plus foreign tariffs, plus the donations of U.S. citizens, plus the sale of domestically purchased U.S. bonds by U.S. Citizens during wars declared by Congress. Federal income shall not occur through borrowing, except for the sale of domestically purchased U.S. bonds by U.S. citizens during wars declared by Congress; nor shall Federal income derive by fiat creation of money
Section 7. Federal spending shall not exceed federal income.
Section 8. This section of Article 1, Section 8 shall be changed to: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States, and all provisions for general welfare shall be uniform throughout the United States and enumerated herein this Constitution; To borrow money on the credit of the United States as per Section 6 of this amendment; To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and to regulate disputes of commerce among the several states..."
Section 9. This section of Article II, Section 1 shall be changed to: "No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. Natural born citizen shall mean any person born within one of the states of the United States or upon the territorial waters of the United States, of parents who are both citizens of the United States."
Section 10. This section of Article VI shall be changed to: "This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made not in violation thereof, or which shall be made not in violation thereof, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme amendable secular law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Section 11. Article III, Section 3 shall be changed to: "Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying war against them or against this Constitution, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason except for cases of treason involving the President of the United States, members of the National Congress, or the Supreme Court, where in those cases the States shall have the power to try and declare the punishment of treason within their respective borders, but no attainder of treason shall work corruption of blood, or forfeiture except during the life of the person attainted.
Section 12. Section 1 of Amendment XIV shall be changed to: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. Neither Congress, nor Presidential executive regulation, nor Supreme Court decisions, nor any state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall Congress, nor Presidential executive regulation, nor Supreme Court decision, nor any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
© Ronald R. Cherry
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
