Over here, Kim talks about a reader who found himself amidst a group of jackals. People who decided that preparedness was a public trust, though that preparedness was arranged by a private individual, and for himself and his family alone.

One of the commenters suggested that this was a symptom of the mental illness liberalism.

Mental illness may be a bit harsh. I prefer to think of it as “social immaturity”.

There’s a lot to suggest socialism is a kind of arrested development. When we are babes in arms, everything is given to us. Our every need is catered to- to the extent that we can communicate our needs. The more we communicate our needs, though, the more we are expected to deal with them ourselves. Potty training is probably the first harsh reality we have to encounter- which brings with it, the first time we have to plan in advance, the first time we have to recognize the signals of an impending event and react to them in time.

As we become adults, we take ever more responsibiliuty for ourselves, to the point where we provide all our basic necessities.

The socialist attitude is that those who are less fortunate be provided for by those who are more fortunate. When you’re six, this sounds liek a great idea, doesn’t it?Let’s take a look at that concept, the idea of being more or less fortunate.

Sure, fortune smiles upon us. With the exception of thje lottery, however, that fortune comes in the way of opportunity, and those opportunities are mostly, only opportunities. Only hard work turns them into “good fortune”. a LOT of people have excellent opportunities, and a lot of people fumble when handed that ball. Sometimes out of ignorance, sometimes out of inability, sometimes because they have no incentive.

If you are taught from youth that you must make the best of every opportunity you get, if you are taught that your life is in your hands and nowhere else, if you believe that you control your destiny, you will latch onto that opportunity with raptor claws, and sink your teeth in and drain every drop of it’s ability to enrich your life. If, on the other hand, you believe that the government is there to catch you when you fall, and to take care of you when you stumble, those opportunities have less meaning, have less value, are more easily let go.

broad made a comment in a previous entry about college- it is true, that when you’re a college student, you haven’t developed that awareness that life is what you make it- or you know the words but fail to carry their true impact in your gut. I think the same is true of military service, but when you enter military service, unlike when you enter college, failure has more extreme consequences. For this reason, I feel more kids should enter the military, specifically because of the focus it imparts in you. I never knew a boy who entered the military that didn’t come out a man. But I digress.

At some point in your life, you are brought to the awareness that your life is in your hands- that is, unless you have an arrested social development. When we’re young and idealistic, we think that if everyone just worked together for a common goal we’d all be in nirvana, and anyone who didn’t want to work for the common good should be forced to do so- for their OWN good. Except there is nobody who can apply a “common good” fairly to all men. Except that anytime a government agency is involved fully 1/3 (if not dramatically more) of the money is lost to corruption and graft. Except that everyone’s “common good” is different from everyone else’s . Common isn’t so common. When we begin to understand that people are different, when we start being aware of the fact that some jobs pay more, that some jobs pay less, that there are balances between power, income and responsibility, we begin to direct our own lives.

Consider the real story of thanksgiving. William Bradford and the pilgrims discovered that the socialist experiment, frankly didn’t work. The colony was established on such a small scale, without any outside assistance, and when the socialist model fell flat on it’s face, Bradford had the good sense to introduce a small free market, which allowed the colony to survive- and prosper.

THe socialist model is used in Christianity almost everywhere. Christians are encouraged to reach out and help their neighbors, and that’s a good thing. It’s an especially good thing when those Christians who do so understand that they are not to judge those they help. Everyone deserves a helping hand, once in a while. It is up to us as Christians to provide it if it is within our power. This is the place for helping, for working together. Far more from a spiritual standpoint than from a monetary one, though that is also often required.

At the core of Christianity, however, it is solely capitalistic. The credits and debits accounted to your soul are yours and yours alone, and nobody can bail you out but The One Man.

I digress again.

John Smith and William Bradford saw the socialist social experiment fail, right before their eyes.

Since then, millions of people have made excuses for the failure of socialism every single time it has failed. “there was nobody to help”. “Too many people interfered”. “Not enough people worked hard enough”. “the officials were too corrupt”. Always excuses.

Capitalisim is robust. It works despite interference from all corners. Socialism is not. THe only reason for believing socialism can work is an arrested social development.

Conservative capitalism is robust in this country, and it has survived all attempts to regulate, litigate, duty, asses, and tax it out of existence. Conservative capitalism is the poles holding up the tent- and as there are a lot of poles, it’s hard to see the tent collapsing until they’re all gone. The pilgrim colony could not absorb the failure of social experimentation. the United States Economy can- for a time. After it has absorbed so much, it could reach a point of unstoppable decay. Where is that line? I have no idea. I’d rather not cross it at all.

I’d rather just potty-train the socialists among us, so they understand that the idea is fundamentally flawed and can never work.