Big Dogs Weblog

Are Republicans The Real Socialists?

by Big Dog on Dec 19, 2020 at 10:53 Political

A guy named Steven Strauss wrote an opinion piece in USA Today (the paper whose interns are hired out to Fakebook to “fact check” and flag stories that get their panties in a wad) saying Republicans were really the party of Socialism. He discusses things like farm subsidies and indicates that the reason those subsidies exist is because most farmers are white and vote Republican. He also points out the debunked story that red states take more and blue states give more with regard to federal dollars.

Strauss is a professor someplace and all I can say is I am glad he was never my professor. I encourage you to ensure your children do not have him as a teacher.

This fine fellow discusses farm subsidies. These subsidies have existed in some form since before the turn of the last century and we really in full swing during the Great Depression. This was put in place to keep farms producing and feeding the country during those dire times. Farm subsidies, theoretically, are there to protect farms from drought, disease and many other things that can reduce their production and affect the food supply in the country.

There are, however, many things that should be changed. Farmers in Texas get subsidies for their cotton which is shipped to China and made into cheap clothing by low cost labor and then sold in the US. There are subsidies on corn to either have more or less grown to keep steady price. It is worthy to note that the worry about the food supply is strange when a lot of corn is used to make ethanol for gasoline.

There should be a revision of subsidies to farmers. If they are cut completely that would be fine. I am one for eliminating ALL subsidies in all industries. However, if we eliminate these subsidies the consumer will be at the mercy of the market and economics. In other words, you might pay a huge sum for corn or other farm products if there is a drought or if farmers decide to grow less so that they can reap higher prices. And if we do eliminate the subsidies the government cannot, under any circumstances, tell farmers what they must grow or confiscate their “excess” food for the good of the nation as was done during the Great Depression. I wonder if Strauss is willing to pay more for his food (FWIW I am).

While the farm subsidy program has morphed into something it was not intended to be I think it is ridiculous to call it socialism. But whatever one calls it there is no doubt that the reason it is a mess is because members of Congress fiddle with it. But Strauss must know this is true for every state but with different items. I am sure the federal money that goes to colleges or the student loan program are OK with him. Then again, 95% of those receiving the federal money at colleges are not whites who vote Republican, Strauss’ big argument as to why farmers get subsidies.

Strauss takes exception to the National Flood Insurance Program. That program is run by FEMA and it has insurance companies underwrite policies for people who have homes in flood prone areas. The people who own the property pay the premiums but federal money is used in the program. Up until about 2004 the premiums covered all the costs but several hurricanes placed the program in debt, debt that was partially forgiven by the federal government. Strauss would have these things cancelled because he says progressives THINK that climate change is responsible and people should do things to reverse that and oh, don’t live where it might flood. Most of the debt was the result of STORMS that caused the flooding. Though I am sure Strauss and the rest of his ilk would say hurricanes are caused by climate change there is no evidence of this and denying people insurance because you don’t like where they live is probably a violation of the Constitution. In any event, would he have insurance cancelled or not pay for tornado damage or ice and snowstorm damage? How about earthquake coverage in California (You know, don’t live where earthquakes can happen)? We pay insurance premiums to cover these things. If the NFIP is losing money then do what all insurance companies do, raise the premiums.

Strauss goes on to tell us the fable of red states consuming more federal money than blue states (and the blue ones paying in more). States that are either color have people from the other party in them. Any red state with a huge federal dollar intake for welfare, for example, has that money going to the part of the state where most of the Democrats live. It is like crime, it is concentrated in the parts of states inhabited (and run) by Democrats.

These two (here and here) articles debunk this tired claim and should put an end to the nonsense.

Strauss wants a bigger IRS investigative force to audit wealthy people (he claims Republicans reduced the size of the IRS and it has hurt the enforcement side at the same time scoffing at defund the police efforts) to squeeze more tax dollars out of them. The wealthy pay the most federal income tax in the nation. However, I believe we should eliminate the IRS and while taxes are theft, if we have to pay them we should all pay a flat tax of 10%. It is more complicated than that but a flat tax is a fair tax. That means each and every earner no mater what level of income pays 10%. Joe Biden calls it having skin in the game. And we should not forget that when the wealthy pay less it is because of a law they are following. True tax cheats end up in jail (one of the things they are lookin at for Hunter Biden is if he declared his China income and paid taxes).

Strauss did not scream to end Obamacare (or any other government run health system). They are absolutely Socialist and enslave people to government. How about Social Security? That was a big lefty plan and it has SOCIAL right in the name. The government has used the money it confiscated from us for a slush fund and now wants to tax us more to make up for the malfeasance. Our government would be skewering any private business CEO who did this.

I have long believed that the left and the right were different wings of the same bird. No matter who has power they continue to work with each other and against the citizen. This is why they had such a massive cheating operation. They had to get rid of Trump because he pulled back the curtain. He was showing you all the swamp creatures no matter what party they dwelled in.

The article was written by a person desperate for the Democrats to win the two runoff elections in Georgia. He wrote the piece to counter the claims of Socialism by the Republicans. Those claims are, unlike Strauss’ piece, accurate. The left is driving us toward Socialism and has been pushing us in that direction for more than 100 years.

I think that it is a nice bit of projection but nothing more.

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: Democrats, lies, socialism