Next Draft.

Finally...

              This is it Double spaced.

Socialism in Our Homeland

Daniel Hipps 6/16/07

               The scorching heat of the sun pours down with relentless power on the inhabitants of our planet. For thousands of years its constant force has been applied to the backs of men, and like a silent witness it has watched over our labors. Its watchful eye has missed nothing from the day it came into being until now, and its tireless, and decomposing, power has done its work. Great works of art and grandeur, set in place across the centuries slowly crumble and pass away. Kings and nations have run their course and then disappeared into lost chronicles of time gone by. Monarchies, dictatorships, democracies and republics have all risen and fallen under the constant watch of the sun, worn into the dust by the always steady march of time.

               As we, the inhabitants of the twenty-first century, look back on the lost governments of days gone by, we try to draw on the wisdom of their experiences. We try to avoid their mistakes and mimic their successes.  The steady rise and fall of kings and nations has continued until now; when the evolution of government finds us in the here in the 2000’s.  In our day there are many different types of government in the world, and I would like to direct our attention to a form of modern government known as “Socialism”.          Socialism is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as, “A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” This definition, though not complete, does give a basic idea of the word’s meaning. Socialists are therefore people who advocate or attempt to live by the principals of socialism.

               In a word the socialist form of government could be defined as “controlling”. It is an attempt to make our lives better, or more “fool proof”, to make sure everyone has food and clothes; that no one has too much and no one has to little. In a socialist government everyone has their place, their job given to them by the system, everyone follows the beat of the same drum. Ideally a socialist nation could wear the motto, “One for all, all for one”.  People labor in silence, the government makes the laws and enforces them regardless of public opinion.  There is no freedom.  There are national curfews and a drafted police force. There are no worries or cares for the working person; if he works for the system the system will work for him. Happiness and joy are goals pronounced within reach, and a law imposed form of environmentalism keeps Mother Nature running strong.

               Though the idea of a socialist nation could be pleasing, the system is plagued with difficulties. If the great socialist dreamers could realize their dreams, we would live in a world with no war, no hunger and no crime. Yet socialists have been attempting to create social forms government for hundreds of years, and these vises still plague the human race at an ever growing rate. Of all the technical difficulties faced by socialism the greatest is simply this: The human race is by nature not inclined toward following the commands of another human. People are always craving for independence, always looking for some way advance themselves in society. Socialism offers the average working man no such chance. Since the victims of social governments do not naturally comply with the demands of the system, authorities attempt to strong-arm them into compliance by using a well-known tool called, “Law”.

               For centuries kings and peoples, wise men and astrologers have either pondered or intentionally  ignored several great questions: Is it right to use law and federal discipline to rob men and women of their God-given rights if such is done for the good of all humanity?  Is it right for one poor pauper who has ambition to be able to rise above another who has none? Should men be able to steal and kill so that they might act upon their God-given right and be free?

               A French writer and philosopher by the name of Frederic Basait wrote a book entitled “The Law” in which he attempted to answer these great questions.  The book was first written in the late 1800's and was translated to English in 1962. In his book Frederic speaks of government and law as he felt God ordained it to be. He discusses the role of law and leaders and the human race as it is, corrupted beyond ability to function in the selfless manner demanded by socialism.

               The goal and purpose of this paper is to take some of the principals introduced by Mr. Basait and apply them to a very real problem in our county today. It is to analyze the signs and affects of a subtle socialism in our own country.  I have chosen a topic to demonstrate my point and will start by asking the question, has our government overstepped its bounds on the issue of public prayer?

               On June 25^th, 1962, the United States Supreme Court passed a law banning corporate verbal prayer in public schools throughout our nation. Almost one year later on June 17^th, 1963, this law was considered, reaffirmed and stiffened by the court, deciding that no public prayer in schools would be tolerated. Since the founding of our nation, this was the first time that the judicial authorities made a ruling that directly infringed on the American’s freedom of religion. This ruling is also something that we can look back on and see clearly the way in which socialism has slowly been impregnating our nation and government.

               Socialist do not believe in freedom of religion. They feel that all people must think alike, and that either they must all worship the same deity or they must all worship none at all. Sometime in the past the system chose that all Americans must worship no one. So they set out to realize this dream, thus, in time, the Supreme Court decision. Still the question holds, is it morally right for the court to make a ruling that is designed to better humanity in the long run, even though it infringes on our God-given rites.

               Also one must consider this question, “Has this ruling of the court stood to better mankind over the course of the last forty-five years?” Or in other words, “Has the deprivation of our God-given rites really served to better humanity in the long run or not?”

               A book entitled America: To Pray or Not To Pray by David Barton addresses this question from a very statistical point of view.  Using over forty graphs and bar charts compiled by national government studies, David attempts to show a somewhat shocking link between the moral downfall of our society and the removal of prayer from the school systems. Using such topics as drug use, illiteracy, abortion, SAT scores and much more Barton’s collection of charts and graphs show almost a direct link between a social down fall and the mid 1960's.  This decline in national morality has continued until now in the early 2000's we are faced with tragedies like Virginia Tech and other school shootings.

               Clearly it is easy to conclude that in this one area of corporate school prayer the socialists have not helped to better our society.  Rather their efforts have dealt a harmful blow to the safety, morality and education of today’s students. Before we jump to conclusions, though, we must consider, are the American socialists really to blame for this drastic social downturn, or is this simply the natural result of a continually evolving society? This question is answerable only by speculation and no concrete answer is known, still the question deserves to be considered.

                In, The Law, Frederic raises a very applicable point: Human nature looks not only for freedom but also for security. True freedom offers no security at all. The truly independent individual is reliant on no one but himself. If he were to stumble no one would be there to help him. He relies on his own hands to feed and clothe him, and knows no security beyond himself and his own abilities.  On the other hand a slave who knows no freedom and has a dependence on his master has the security of his master. A slave has no need to worry if he will have food because his master provides it for him. All a slave need do is work for his master and all else is provided for him in return. 

               We in America today should be seeing this as a rapidly developing problem in our society. Americans want to feel the security offered by a socialist government, but they still want to think for themselves as in a democracy. In the past, the American spirit has been known as one of self-reliance and independence regardless of the cost. But, about the time of the great depression the minds and hearts of Americans began to change and we began to crave the security offered by a more evolved form of government. Americans became more and more willing to trade their costly freedoms for a promise of social and economical security. This could be seen as a fair trade but as our greedy politicians continue to swindle us out of our freedoms we must stop and ask, “Are we the people actually receiving this promised security in return?”

               In answer to this question let us take a quick look at the topic of gun control. Laws that were supposedly designed to protect the general public by banning fire arms in certain cities, public places and states have been instituted in recent years. We are required to obtain hand gun licenses and carry permits just to own or carry a hand gun. In the state of New York it is not legal for a civilian to carry a hand gun under any circumstances. Slowly but surely our right to keep and bear arms is being swindled away and in return we are promised increased safety and minimized crime. Unfortunately, criminals are not law-abiding  people; and they tend to acquire, carry, and use these weapons regardless of the law. Rather than an improvement in the crime rate, we continue to watch as the rate of violent crime steadily rises. The law-abiding citizen is robbed of his ability to protect himself against bodily harm, and the killers, thieves and drug dealers continue purchase and use illegal weapons with little or no difficultly.

               Similarly, this question is answered with the issue of school prayer.  The complete removal of school prayer, and thus in part our freedom to practice religion, came with expectations too, expectations to create a more unified and stable environment for students. To raise educational standards to a new height by forsaking religious jargon and focusing on science. Once more though, the promises and expectations were unmet, and we the people are left to deal with school shootings and grad students that have never heard of the Civil War.

               The final conclusion then is no, we are not and will not receive compensation for the freedoms lost to socialist activists. There is, in fact, no true compensation for freedom. Freedom is bought with blood and its cost is the life breath of its purchaser. Freedom is never enjoyed by its buyer for its buyer pays for it with his life. We then who have been given the gift of freedom by forefathers and fellow countrymen must do all within our power to preserve it. Let us not trade that which has been purchased at such a high price for the empty promises of socialist politicians. We, the people of America, must stand up against socialism. We must watch for its subtle hand in every aspect of our day to day life. We must learn to identify its workings, and most importantly, we must learn how to combat this enemy called socialism before it is too late.

Final Assignment

“My friends,” he announced in a voice clear and keen, “my name is Sylvester McMoncky McBean.” Complex

Seuss, Dr, The Sneetches (and other stories). New York: Random House, 1961.  64.

Simple, Compound, Complex and Compound-Complex sentences