Communist Planks in America
- posted by Elmo on 2000-11-06 00:00:00
Hello Everyone,
Welcome to the pre-election edition of Elmo's Weekly Rant. I decided to put it out a bit early this week because I had a few points I wanted to bring up before everyone runs out to the polls tomorrow. This is going to be a long one, so I think I'll dispense with the formalities and get straight to the Rant. Let's start with the answer to my open question from last week's Mail Bag... Just how many of the 10 planks of the Communist Manifesto have been implemented in this country? I told you guys to be ready for a shocker, and I wasn't kidding....
For over 10 years now, virtually everyone in the "free world" has gleefully extolled the death of Communism. However, there are a few of us who believe that the rumors of the great hammer-and-sickle's demise have been greatly exaggerated. In fact, if Karl Marx, the inventor of communism, could return from the grave, he would undoubtedly be shocked to find that almost all of the 10 planks of his Communist Manifesto, issued in 1848 in collaboration with Frederick Engels, have been happily adopted or are at least supported by a large group of Americans. Let's have a look at those 10 planks:
1. "Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes."
They're working on this one. Just look at what happened to the land owners in Kentucky's Land Between the Lakes about 40 years ago. Like countless others, my grandmother's family was run off of their farm they had lived on for generations, and the entire town of Eddyville where they had grown up was plowed under in the name of "imminent domain". Even though they talk about privatizing LBL now because they can supposedly no longer afford to keep it up, they are still trying to do the same thing today to an area a little further north with the Clark's River Wildlife Reserve.
Don't think for a moment that this is just a Kentucky problem. The federal government owns huge amounts of land and is rapidly acquiring more. Private property rights are being eroded deliberately in the name of protecting the environment. Clinton and Gore were pushing for the funding of billions of dollars more of this through Congress with the CARA bill, which was thankfully defeated for the moment. But only for the moment.
2. "A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."
The Constitution explicitly prohibited such a thing, but we had the income tax rammed down our throats with the 16th amendment--even though the Supreme Court ruled that it didn't actually give the federal government any new taxing power. And in fact, there is an abundance of evidence to prove that this amendment was never even properly ratified. Also, when it was passed, everyone was promised that no one who made under $100,000 a year (equivalent to over a million a year adjusted for today's inflation) would ever have to pay anything. That lasted about a year until virtually everyone was burdened with the insidious thing. There is but one more example of lying politicians selling us all down the river.
Despite all of this, and many shallow attempts to reform their abuses, the IRS continues to be the number one most feared and most abusive agency in the United States. Few people even realize that it isn't a real government agency, but a private corporation chartered in Delaware. It has merely been empowered as the government's collection agency, and does such a good job at it that the head of the Soviet KGB once expressed his admiration for its efficiency.
Nevertheless, many Americans support the idea of taxing the rich to a far greater degree than the less-rich. Did anyone else hear Al Gore call every one of Bush's tax cut proposals "aimed at the very rich" because they would minimize this effect? That's why I'm voting Libertarian this year--they are the only party who have consistently called for an end to income tax, the IRS, and every other unconstitutional agency and policy that are terrorizing the people today.
3. "Abolition of all rights of inheritance."
John Marshall said it best: "The power to tax is the power to destroy."
Estate taxes are purely punitive because they are taxes levied on assets on which have already been taxed many times over. It is utterly insane that anyone would have to pay a heavy tax just to die in any country, let alone America the supposed "land of the free." Wasn't this country founded on objection to oppressive taxes?
While Bush to his credit wants to eliminate this for everyone, Gore still wants to keep a good part of it for that "Wealthiest 20%".
4. "Confiscation of the property of emigrants and rebels."
This goes back even further than Marx and Engles... Our forefathers confiscated the property of those who supported the British during the Revolution. But it has been stretched to a ridiculous level in the 1990's--under the RICO Act and other civil statutes, property is being confiscated right and left in the name of the war on drugs. Under the Clinton Administration, it is an understatement to day that Civil Asset Forfeiture laws have been taken to the extreme and threaten the prosperity of all freedom-loving Americans.
5. "Centralization of credit in the hands of the state..."
Can't blame the Clintonistas for this one--the Federal Reserve Act was railroaded through Congress by powerful International Bankers back in 1913. I hate to delve into conspiracy theory, but it is kind of funny how the only modern President to oppose the Fed ended up getting shot in Dallas 6 weeks later.
6. "Centralization of the means of communications and transport in the hands of the state."
Seen a private road or bridge lately? Who licenses all radio and television? Only the First Amendment saves the print press from federal licensing, but the highly un-American but increasingly pervasive notion of "Political Correction" has become a powerful unofficial censor. And I suspect that hate-speech laws will soon follow hate-crime laws, which are nothing but a transparent attempt to subvert the First Amendment and make political incorrection punishable by law.
7. "Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state..."
The government runs many industries and a lot of people would like to see it run a lot more. No sooner does one government-controlled industry get deregulated, than they stick their nose into another one. I'm not overly fond of the way Microsoft does business--you guys read my endorsement for the Linux-driven open-source movement the week before last--but the government's anti-trust case against them literally scares the pants off of me, because of what it could mean for the software industry if they get their big stinky foot in that door.
8. "Equal obligation to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture."
The only thing saving us from this one has been mechanization, and I'd also have to say the Second Amendment. But I believe the whole "School-To-Work" concept is a dangerous first step in that direction.
9. "Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of distinction between town and country."
The self-sufficient family farm has become all but a memory as big corporations have come to dominate what's left of the agriculture industry.
Does anyone else here think it is criminally absurd that our government spends our precious tax dollars to pay farmers NOT TO GROW FOOD, when there are millions of people starving in the world? That's almost as bad as when FDR destroyed countless crops and drowned countless livestock during the Great Depression, p--sing in the face of countless million starving Americans. It may have brought prices back up, but it would have been far more humane and achieved the same result to donate that food to soup kitchens and homeless shelters. Both now and then, government-induced price controls strike at the very heart of the free market ideal our nation was founded upon.
As for the last part of this plank, mass communications have more or less erased cultural differences. Internet access is available to even the most remote location today, and is more available to rural areas in the year 2000 than electricity was as late as 1950. Everyone today speaks the net lingo: *LOL* ***ROTFLMAO*** BRB :-)
I'm not trying to imply that this last part is a bad thing, but I felt I should point out that it is part of the 9th plank.
10. "Free education of all children in public schools. Abolition of child factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production."
Done. And thanks to the Department of Education, curriculum content is now completely centralized in Washington D.C. What that means, for the uninitiated, is that every child in public school receives the same indoctrination by the state. Small wonder so few people know what their Constitutional Rights are. I read in recent article in the local paper that about 80% of Americans polled couldn't name even one of the freedoms protected by the First Amendment. Pathetic!!! I don't know how much plainer I can put this: if you don't know your rights people, you don't have any!
So we've covered the Communist Manifesto. Speaking of the First Amendment, let's take a look at another top ten list--the one that's SUPPOSED to be the law of the land in this country. Let's see just how well the Bill of Rights has held up over the years.**
**For those of you who care, much of this information was provided by 'The Rape of the American Constitution', by Chuck Shiver, published by Loompanics Unlimited.**
First Amendment:
- free exercise of religion: 80% dead
Employment Division v. Smith allows government to regulate religion to enforce a compelling state interest.
We also have prayer, the Bible and the Ten Commandments being increasingly banned from many government and public buildings, including courthouses, sporting events, and all schools.
- free speech: 70% dead
5 major areas of exceptions now exist; as well as time, place and manner rules; and special context rules.
- right to assemble/petition: 70% dead
HUD Housing efforts.
Second Amendment:
- individual right to bear arms: 90% dead
Crime Bill of 1994 banned 19 types of semi- automatic rifles.
Brady Bill calls for instant checks and centralized registration of all handgun purchases.
HCI Insiders claim all gun control measures are mere baby steps toward the ultimate goal of complete firearm confiscation.
[Full Rant on Gun Control is still coming...]
Third Amendment:
- no quartering of soldiers: 0% dead
One of the only two Amendments in the Bill of Rights that hasn't been limited in scope or otherwise perverted away from its original intent.
Fourth Amendment:
- no searches without warrants: 100% dead
Limited by definition of reasonable expectation of privacy; 11 exceptions to warrant requirement; and United States v. Leon good faith rule.
*In 1995, Congress completely obliterated this Amendment. It no longer has any force and effect.
Fifth Amendment:
- Grand jury indictment required: 0% dead*
* 0%, but grand juries are now usually stacked with pro-prosecution regulars who do not know how to exercise their rolls as grand jurists.
- no double jeopardy: 80% dead
The Wheeler and Heath cases allow prosecution by the Feds and multiple states while the Blockburger line of cases allows multiple prosecutions resulting from the same conduct.
- privilege against self-incrimination: 40% dead
The Schmerber and Muniz cases have reduced this protection to only the extremely limited category of testimonial evidence.
Try pleading the 5th in a tax evasion case, or during an audit for that matter! It does you no good in areas where you are "guilty until proven innocent".
- due process: 100% dead
Expanded way beyond original intent to create bureaucratic nightmare. * Made more evident when in 1996, the Supreme Court allowed all regions of government to seize property without any due process and allowed the ignorance of the 'can not take private property without compensation' clause.
Sixth Amendment:
- speedy trial: 90% dead
Under Barker v. Wingo Test defendants have been made to wait as long as seven years before trial takes place.
- right to jury (criminal case): 30% dead
Batson line of cases places rights of jurors over the fair trial rights of defendants.
- confrontation by witnesses: 100% dead
Maryland v. Craig allows witnesses to testify from other rooms or even on videotape without any chance to cross examine.
- right to counsel: 10% dead
Applies only in cases where actual incarceration is imposed.
Seventh Amendment:
- right to jury (civil case): 0% dead
The other one of the only two Amendments in the Bill of Rights that hasn't been limited in scope or otherwise perverted away from its original intent.
Eighth Amendment:
- no cruel or unusual punishment: 100% dead
Expanded by bleeding-hearts well beyond its intended meaning, which has resulted in codling criminals.
- no excessive bail or fines: 100% dead
Both excessive fines and bail are regularly used now.
Ninth Amendment:
- nondisparagement clause: 100% dead
Has also been expanded well beyond its intended meaning.
Tenth Amendment:
- reserved powers clause: 100% dead
Garcia v. San Antonio Metro Transit Authority killed the 10th Amendment, and all hopes for control over congressional power.
OK, so after a quick tally we find that the foundation of our freedom, the Bill of Rights, is about 80% dead. But the foundation of some of the most Totalitarian regimes of the 20th century, the Communist Manifesto, has been about 90% implemented. I don't know about the rest of you guys, but that scares the be-Jesus out of me. You must all understand that what communism was driving toward wasn't the economic utopia for the people that it advertised, but total power in the hands of the state.
Note, for example, the manifesto does not advocate education for children per se--home schooling and private schools weren't mentioned--but education in public schools where they can be under the control of and indoctrinated by the state. The hatred for property and for farmers was based on the knowledge that people who are economically independent of the state can assert their political freedom from state control. Communism is just another form of slavery in which the slave is provided work, housing, food, education, medical care and retirement -- but at the price of freedom.
You can see countless Americans advocating the very same system today, and most of them, because of their poor education in government schools, don't have the foggiest notion that they are advocating Marxist ideas.
I may have been a little hard on the Clinton Administration up there, but the truth of the matter is that these ideas have been furthered by Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of the most destructive legislation in the history of our nation has come from a Republican-led Congress, and signed into effect by President Bill Clinton. Here are just a few of the laws that our on our books today, gleaned from an article by Claire Wolfe of WorldNetDaily fame:
- A national database of employed people.
- 100 pages of new "health care crimes," for which the penalty is (among other things) seizure of assets from both doctors and patients.
- Confiscation of assets from any American who establishes foreign citizenship.
- The largest gun confiscation act in U.S. history -- which is also an unconstitutional ex postfacto law and the first law ever to remove people's constitutional rights for committing a misdemeanor.
- A law banning guns in ill-defined school zones; random roadblocks may be used for enforcement; gun-bearing residents could become federal criminals just by stepping outside their doors or getting into vehicles.
- Increased funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, an agency infamous for its brutality, dishonesty and ineptitude. [Note: Al Gore wants to put 10,000 more of these goons on the street]
- A law enabling the executive branch to declare various groups "Terrorists" -- without stating any reason and without the possibility of appeal. Once a group has been so declared, its mailing and membership lists must be turned over to the gov't.
- A law authorizing secret trials with secret evidence for certain classes of people.
- A law requiring that all states begin issuing drivers licenses carrying Social Security numbers and "security features" (such as magnetically coded fingerprints and personal records) by October 1, 2000. By October 1, 2006, "Neither the Social Security Administration or the Passport Office or any other Federal agency or any State or local government agency may accept for any evidentiary purpose a State driver's license or identification document in a form other than [one issued with a verified Social Security number and 'security features']."
- And here's a real gem -- a national database, now being constructed, that will contain every exchange and observation that takes place in your doctor's office. This includes records of your prescriptions, your hemorrhoids and your mental illness. It also includes -- by law -- any statements you make ("Doc, I'm worried my kid may be on drugs. Doc, I've been so stressed out lately I feel about ready to go postal.") and any observations your doctor makes about your mental or physical condition, whether accurate or not, whether made with your knowledge or not. For the time being, there will be zero (count 'em, zero) privacy safeguards on this data. But don't worry, your government will protect you with some undefined "privacy standards" in a few years.
All of the above items are the law of the land. They're all Federal law. They're all unconstitutional. They all suck. But the saddest and most telling thing of all is: They were all the product of the 104th Congress. Every one of the horrors above was imposed upon you by the Congress of the Republican Revolution -- the Congress that pledged to "get government off your back."
I maintain that choosing between those two parties is like choosing between a broken leg and a sharp kick to the genitalia. Both maim you in different ways, but either way you're left in a world of hurt. In the end, that choice is for each of you to make. I pray you all choose wisely.
TTYL,
Elmo
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