The Road to Serfdom

The Road to Serfdom
By Bruce Bialosky
10/25/2010

As you may know, The Road to Serfdom is the classic book written in the early 1940’s by Friedrich Von Hayek that defined the threat imposed by the unchecked growth of central government and the resulting loss of individual freedom and liberty. Folks, we are headed in that direction. This election will determine whether we surrender to the Washington oligarchy and the media elites or we reassert the values that have been the shining hallmark of this great country for over 200 years.

We have repeatedly been told that the next election is the most important of our lifetime. This time it's the truth. In fact, it may be the most critical election in America since 1860. In 2008, the nation elected a President and Congress committed to the wholesale expansion of government and the commensurate reduction in individual freedom. That may not be what people thought they were voting for, but that’s what they got. Any vote that leaves Congress in the hands of the Pelosi-Reid Democrats endorses that path. But a vote against the Democrats will repudiate their policies of invasive government and limitation of individual choice.

This simple belief was the catalyst of a popular movement that is now known as the Tea Party. These people didn’t have a strong political affiliation; they were just fed up with the expansion of government at every level – by both parties. The real legacy of this election, a reaction to the insults, abuse, and baseless attacks on the Tea Party by the left and its media allies, is how its members were driven into the arms of the Republican Party, who welcomed them with a renewed faith in fiscal conservatism. The whole scenario speaks volumes about what constitutes both parties.

Tom Friedman, columnist for The New York Times, has for years been an intellectual guru for the left. In his September 28th column, he wrote: “Leadership today is about how the U.S. government attracts and educates more of that talent and then enacts the laws, regulations and budgets that empower that talent to take its products and services to scale, sell them around the world – and create jobs here in the process.” There is almost no consideration of the individual in this stunning statement, and yet it’s the fundamental basis of what they believe – that government is the central point of any job creation.

Contrast that with what was said in the debate between Democrat Richard Blumenthal and Republican Linda McMahon, candidates for the Senate seat from Connecticut. When asked by Mrs. McMahon “How do you create a job?” Mr. Blumenthal blabbered a 193-word answer. Mrs. McMahon responded “Government, government, government. Government does not create jobs. It’s very simple how you create jobs. An entrepreneur takes a risk. He or she believes that he can create a good or service that can be sold for more than it costs to make it. If an entrepreneur thinks he can do that, he creates a job.” Wow.

This is what the upcoming election is about, and the American people must hand the Democrats a crushing defeat – something more than loss of the House of Representatives. To demonstrate the resolve of the people, the Democrats need to be mercilessly crushed. The American people need to make clear that they will not accept the job-killing agenda that was thrust upon them. We need to tell the Democrats that when we most needed government to get out of the way so that we could create jobs, you were radicalizing America with a leftist agenda that we will not allow to stand.

We cannot fall for desperate pitches by Democrats who swear that they’re going to stand up to Reid or Pelosi. No matter what they say, they will vote for Reid as majority leader or Pelosi as Speaker. So when a good man like Joe Manchin of West Virginia says he is against the Obama agenda, he will still vote for Democratic leadership that burdens us with big-spending liberals like Chuck Schumer, Tom Harkin and Patrick Leahy. When Democrat Bobby Bright of Alabama says that he won't vote for Nancy Pelosi, he’ll still vote for a Democratic Speaker – which means that House committee chairmen like Henry Waxman, Barney Frank and John Conyers will still be drafting their free- enterprise-killing bills that control more and more aspects of every American’s life.

This is truly a national election -- a historic election. The leftist agenda has to be completely repudiated by the American people. The Congress and the President have to be explicitly told that what we earn is our money, and anything we pay to you is by our good graces. They have to be firmly told that we are sick of our governmental employees making more than twice what we earn in the private sector. That we don’t accept their backroom deals that have put our national government and more than half our states on the fast track to bankruptcy. Ultimately, they have to learn that government must live within its means – and that we determine the means.

Unless we do this now, at this moment in history, we will truly be on the road to serfdom and there will be no redemption.
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To read another article by Bruce Bialosky, click here.