In looking back on comments that have been made to my posts, I note that socialism has been a topic of interest. I admit to being somewhat surprised. If socialism can be correctly defined as a political system in which there is a great degree of government control, that movement did not begin with the naming of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House or the election of President Obama. That movement began many years ago, perhaps as far back as the 1950's. Did no one notice?
Did no one notice the cultural revolution of the 1960's? I was part of it, but not on the winning side. I was one of the dullards serving in Vietnam. Perhaps I truly was a dullard. I thought I was doing the right thing. The results of our engagement in Vietnam were not good; still, perhaps they might have been had different decisions been made by Johnson or McNamara or Nixon. Perhaps 50,000 American soldiers would not have died for nothing at all.
I did notice that when I arrived back in San Francisco after my second tour in Vietnam, and after having been out of the United States for the better part of six years, that I no longer identified with my country and certainly not with the throng of Hippies and protesters who paraded about outside the airline terminal harassing returning veterans who wanted nothing more than to go home for a few weeks, see their families, and recuperate.
I was told that the Hippies preached make love not war, that they were liberally inclined, and so on and so on. They did not impress me as liberal thinkers. They did not ask me what my point of view might be having actually served two years in Vietnam. They did not ask me then, and they have never asked me in all these intervening years. Of course the Hippies were not Socialists. They were anarchists, or nihilists, or they were nothing at all but a myriad of young people who wanted change of some kind, preferably a change that allowed them to smoke dope, listen to music, write bad poetry and have sex. I really have no problem with three of those activities; still, I didn't get to take part.
The government that confronted the Hippies was starting its march to Socialism. How? More taxes, greater and larger government, more government intrusion into the lives of American citizens. Want proof? Simply compare the tax burden in 1968 to the tax burden now. The goverment did not support such things then as million dollar research studies into the sex lives of fruit flies. They built some bridges, but most of them went somewhere. Pork always exists in government budgets, but back then it might have been a chop or a loin but not the entire pig.
What does it all mean? I'm not sure. I do know that I believe I fought in a useless war, a war that I was told was important to the country, a war that was worth dying for. It might have been, but we were not allowed to win. I would have liked to have come home from two tours in Vietnam with my head head high, thinking and believing that I had helped my country and the South Vietnamese. Instead, I am ashamed that we left so many to be imprisioned and tortured by the NVA. We, as a country, did not keep our promise. That's bad for us, but worse for the Vietnamese who believed our lies. They died, or lived lives of misery for the next ten years.
What will happen when we leave Iraq and break our promise again. Those who believed our promises will die or lead lives of misery for many years to come. Perhaps we should not have gone to Iraq or Vietnam, but we did. We made promises that we did not and will not keep. How can an American be proud of that record?
And what about our government? It is much bigger than it was in 1968. Our country is much worse off economically. Our schools are in shambles. The crime rate has increased. Taxes have increased but representation has not. The roads, bridges, public buildings, public services, etc., are must less efficient, not more so. What has big government done for Americans?
I suppose I have made up my mind. I want less government. At the same time I want corporate America to somehow be placed in the hands of persons who are not demonstrable crooks. I want those who robbed the country blind punished. I want people to help their neighbors. I do not want the poor, the elderly, or the young to suffer when all of us can come together to help. The government is not supposed to be in charge of good works to our fellow men. We are. I don't know how to do it, other than at the community level. I don't want to pay the government to do good works. Government is not good at doing good works. I want us to do it.
Is that not possible?
Comments