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Winston Churchill once said, "Any man [or woman] who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man [or woman] who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." Well after watching Sean Hannity's interview with a couple of G20 protesters I hope he is correct. The naivete of these students is a little bit troubling, maybe even scary. If this is what our university system is pumping out we have a lot more to worry about than "mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack Husein Obama." It is amazing that they do not even condemn the violence that occurred in Pittsburgh last weak. They justify it by saying "they just want their voices heard." Well I remember being ten miles away from a group of Islamic extremists who "just wanted their voices heard," back in 2001, and we can sure do without that kind of communication.
That being said, let's look at some of the students’ answers to the questions. "Why are you against capitalism?" They believe in "people run" distribution of wealth. Well, as correctly stated by Mr. Hannity you cannot do that without government coercion. The other agrees with her friend and says you can "tax" the people. Now, I understand this answer, if our President also doesn't know that a tax is confiscation of an individual’s wealth through government coercion, how are our students expected to understand?
Next one student states that, "there should be a limit on corporate pay." So what makes someone want to aspire to be the best at what they do? Who set's the limit? Is it unions? Is it Van Jones? How about me, can I set the limits? Maybe we could ask Muomar Qaddafi if he'll do it. Who is going to set the limit on the people who set the limit? They say capitalism hasn't worked for the poor children in Pittsburgh. Well the parents of those “poor children” had the chance to aspire to be more than what they are, but government intervention into various local industries, has helped to hinder their potential growth. Under capitalism they could still be more than they are. One asks, "Why would anyone need to make more than $500,000 a year?" Well my question to all those people who believe this, "why would someone need to spend upwards of $50,000 a year to get an education at Harvard?" The answer to both questions is because they are supposedly better at what they do than anybody else, and we place a value on that. They do not place a value on things like that in a country like Cuba, a nanny state that has a shortage of toilet paper.
They later blame the poverty in Pittsburgh on the loss of the steel industry and the loss of the steel industry on capitalism. They believe labor over seas is cheaper due to capitalistic policies. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, the steel industry our country is dismal because of anti-capitalist policies. The price of American steel, since the inception of the industry, has been artificially inflated due to government intervention with protective tariffs. Thomas DiLorenzo, points this out in an article titled "The 'Buy American' Myth": "totally unaware of the truth that import quotas or tariffs can only, at best, "help" some Americans by harming other Americans. There is nothing inherently just or patriotic about that. Indeed, protectionism is the quintessential example of the kind of special-interest policy that James Madison railed against ("the violence of faction") in his famous Federalist #10 essay." John Taylor points this out about all industries in "Tyranny Unmasked." Our founding fathers understood this and yet they have been continually ignored.
Another anti-capitalist policy that brought ruin to the great steel industry in Pittsburgh is the monopoly the unions have on labor. Consumers buy products that cost less, that's a fact. When prices of products become artificially inflated, by inflicting a high cost of labor through a union monopoly, the industry will fail. Many people do not grasp the concept that our labor is a product, and if we allow a monopoly to set the price of our product, I ask, is it really a "free market?"
They then go into health care. I'm sick of hearing and discussing health care. To keep this short, they complain about health insurance companies spending money on marketing. I did not hear them complaining about the government, which also spends money to market its policies and products. What about the signs that tell people their "porkulus" (stimulus) money is being spent to fill the pot holes?
If free market capitalism was actually taught and understood as the solution to, not wrongly blamed for the nation’s problems, they might STOP BLAMING CAPITALISM and we, as a nation, might enjoy the prosperity capitalism will lead us to. Again to quote Winston Churchill, "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened." Those of you in Academia, the next time you stumble don’t be embarrassed, become enlightened and teach the truth.