Dangerous nonsense: Socialism

 

by Craig Willms

When the Revolutionary War broke out it was all but inevitable the locals - the Americans would prevail. Britain was a three month trip one away, resupply was difficult. And so the war was won. By the time the next big war came along this ragtag country spread from sea to shining sea. All countries in proximity to America were small and weak. The population was a broad mix of disaffected expatriates from Europe. They came to be free, free to succeed and build a better life in a country that codified such freedoms in it's founding documents. The American Dream was born.

This is all to say that it's obvious that free people would succeed in such a system, and were destined to be citizens of a great and powerful nation. America is the most powerful nation in the world because of those freedoms. So why is socialism, which is the opposite of freedom, ascending? Do people really equate free stuff with freedom, individual freedom? 

I honestly can't understand how anyone could favor government controlling EVERYTHING over individual personal freedom. Someone should explain it to me, explain socialism on it's own merits. Explain it as if the next question is always "what is the incentive for that".

Simply put, human nature is based on incentive, 'what's in it for me?' We are individuals, we are not a hive. We work for ourselves. Anything short of that is slavery. Why would people be voting for slavery? 

If you really look at world history, you'll find most of the innovation that has enhanced human condition in the past two centuries has come out of the West. These innovations have raised the world out of abject poverty. Increasingly innovation is coming out of only one country, the United States of America. Why is that? Could it be that as Europe slides deeper into the abyss there's no incentive to create or innovate there. The exceptional people move to America as do the exceptional people from Asia. They thrive in America, their ideas thrive. They go on to become billionaires because they can, they are free to earn as much as they can in America. That's why they move to America. 

Other countries, particularly Japan have succeeded in refining and perfecting many of those innovations, and still other countries have taken those innovations and streamlined them to achieve maximum efficiency and maximum profit. All of this is based on the incentive to increase individual or national wealth. Where would China be without American and Western innovations? 

It's simple, innovation and progress does not come out of slavery or collectivist societies, it comes from free people. 

Are people entertaining socialism because the current form of crony capitalism practiced in the world today is grotesquely unfair? Yes, probably. However, you can't just hand the control over all enterprises to the government. The incompetence alone will remove not only incentive, but also all accountability. Where do you go to petition for change when the egregious party is the government? Private businesses and conglomerates are eventually accountable to their customers and the 'government' to some degree. Government is supposed to be a backstop; it's supposed to level the playing field. In today's world it's not doing that - and it never will under socialism because the government is the playing field. (I use the word socialism to categorize all collectivist forms of government including communism, authoritarianism and fascism etc, etc). 

The only solution that would preserve individualism and freedom and the incentive to be a high achiever is to pry the crony from the capitalism. The solution is most definitely not socialism. Socialism has failed in theory and in practice over and over. Why is it still around? It is dangerous nonsense. 

So, as Europe gets closer and closer to nanny state socialist slavery the worse their economies perform and the worse their societies become. Nearly 50% of what they earn as individuals is taken by the government. Taken from the productive and given to foreign loafers. It has lowered living standards all across Europe. That's approaching anti-freedom, I dare say it's approaching government slavery. The native populations in most European countries are becoming irate, and they have every right to.

I would ask Americans, "is that what you want?" I certainly don't. Perversely the crony system won't change until there is an incentive for that to happen. The current masters of this cronyized form of capitalism have every incentive to keep things the way they are. 

I don't know the answers, not all of them. The first thing that has to happen in my estimation is for someone to come along with the courage to challenge the system. By system I mean the cozy system that keeps our elected officials rich, fat and happy. We have to get corporate and special interest money out of politics, to stop allowing them to buy off politicians and write their own legislation. I've heard this all my life and it has never been more true.

The U.S. congress is utterly dysfunctional, and thus completely ineffectual. It has been for decades. They are incompetent grifters. Sure, they all go to Washington DC with all the piss and vinegar their high and mighty egos can muster, but soon they become puppets, very, very rich puppets. It's so lucrative they won't rock the boat; they can't rock the boat. It's frustrating for the rest of us. We all see it and yet there's nothing we can do about it.

It is this frustration that drives dissatisfaction, combined with the stupidity of the average ill-informed citizen it fuels the favor toward socialism. Yes, I said it, stupidity, or ignorance if you will... Our schools, universities and the dominant left-leaning media do not show us the truth about socialism and thus frustrated people are swayed by the bogus promises of collectivism. No one, not a one of them can point to a successful socialist country. They simply don't exist. Socialism is dangerous nonsense.

Errata: Sept 2026

 

by Craig Willms

1.) So, the President who rallied us against the forever wars has entered the perpetual fray in Iran. I suspect the president was so pumped about how well the Maduro capture went, he thought he could take out the Irani regime in less than two weeks. That's not what he got. What he's got here is a stalemate. He is mired down by the fact that his military can't decimate the regime without hurting the average Irani in the streets. Trump does not want to kill the innocent. 

Obviously, there are many aspects of this 'action' that we the general public are unaware of. It's becoming increasingly clear that Iran - the IRGC - is holding out for the American midterms hoping Trump will lose congress and will be forced to end this war. It's also increasingly clear that the Iran 'action' is but one thrust in Trump's grand plan. That plan is to end British control of the world economic order that has been in place since the end of WWII. America has been London's attack dog and a hedge against the current Russian oligarchy and the Soviets before them. Not anymore. Venezuela and Iran are (were) key to the control of middle east oil and the vast narco money laundering scheme. There's a deep dive going on here, and don't think the Greenland acquisition is not part of it. The American media is so complicit in the globalist world order and/or so unsophisticated they can't and won't explore it credibly.

Back home life just seems to go on, but these rising energy costs are stinging everyone. Record high prices at the pump is not winning by any stretch of the imagination. It's a mess. Does Iran possess nuclear weapons? Probably not - that's one good thing about this.

2.) It's hard for me to square with the criminal-as-victim narrative in this country. I know there have always been women who fall for confessed murderers and profess their love for the criminal convict. The speculation is these women have a mental disorder and some weird, misplaced compassion for a man locked (safely) behind bars. But when it becomes an increasing segment of society that rallies for these obvious murderers before the trial even begins - it all becomes truly unfathomable.

Lindsey Clancy murdered her 3 children in cold blood and 11 of 12 jurors voted to exonerate her. The claim was she was the victim, a victim of post partum depression. The jury wasn't done, they began a very public campaign against the one hold out juror. I wouldn't even have given this trial a second's notice if it had been 11-1 for a conviction. That I could have understood. This travesty following on the heels of the Luigi Mangione affair exemplifies this truly bizarre cultural trend. Mangione murdered the CEO of a health insurance company in cold blood on camera and admitted it. Still thousands of women have expressed their support for him. They show up at his court dates by the hundreds as if to worship Saint Luigi. 

These things are indefensible. One can fairly examine both sides of an issue, and they should, but to fervently rally behind an admitted killer is a sickness, a cultural sickness. There I said it, someone had to. We've sunk so low. In the past the idea of killing children was so abhorrent that no one would ever seek a reason to condone it. How has it come to this? Killing children is now being celebrated. Ruminate on that for a while.

3.) It's a women's world! At least in the West it is. How many of you realize that women now outnumber men in employment? Women outnumber men in college and university. Women completely control the publishing industry, including authors and male-oriented genres like SciFi. Large cities and increasingly state and federal governments are being controlled by women. In my city, a capitol city we are ruled by an all-women city council and a female mayor. Men need not apply. 

With all this so-called progress for women you'd think the fairer sex would be ecstatic, right? Nope. Women report being more unhappy than they've ever been. That doesn't even make sense. Why, you might ask, well, that would be men's fault too. Obviously.

Men have been so beaten down in this society by a culture that paints all men with the same brush. It's a tiny percentage of men who perpetuate crime and practice sexism, but it gets applied to all men. This modern notion that men, all men, are toxic, just by the mere fact they are men is simply ruinous. So, men are checking out. Millions of men are giving up on women and marriage and fatherhood. Unless they are 6' 2" or taller, make more than six figure salaries and have six-pack abs women don't seem to be interested in them. Fine, they say, have a shot at Chad, good luck getting him or keeping him.

This is not good for the West; this is not good for the world. Men without good jobs don't marry and don't have children. Women either become single mothers or have no kids at all. The declining birth rate is proof of that. Yes, it may be some odious grand plan to decrease world population to "save" the planet. The fact that without men to maintain and build our infrastructure and do the hard things they've always done, it can and probably will doom civilization. Or worse, allow masculine foreign men to overrun the West. We can see it happening all around us. It's time to open our eyes.

America Love: Europeans open their eyes and their hearts

 by Craig Willms

I have been blown away by the sentiments coming from foreigners, especially Europeans upon visiting the USA for the first time. I can't be the only one scratching my head over this...

When the soccer (football) World Cup was slated to take place in North America I barely took notice. I'm not a soccer fan. I may be in the minority, but the generation born in America in the 1960s was not exposed to soccer at all. It just wasn't on the radar. Therefore I never understood the game nor the fanaticism for it. Fast forward to the 2020's and soccer is everywhere in the USA. Still, when the tournament started here 2026 I didn't care at all. The highlight reels didn't attract my attention - because - I didn't care at all. For me the World Cup could have come and gone with barely a thought. It was the hundreds of YouTube videos made by Europeans that made me take notice.

I began seeing these videos in my YouTube feed within weeks of the opening of the World Cup tournament. The titles would draw me in because I'm not used to ANY praise for America, especially in the Trump era. These videos showered high praise on some rather unremarkable aspects of American life. I began to wonder how "modern" Europe actually is. They constantly remarked about how huge America is. They marveled at how big our stores are and how beautiful the stadiums are.  They were amazed by the utter scale of our infrastructure. It was fun to see the things of our everyday lives through the eyes of strangers.

The constant refrain that revealed the biggest surprise of their American experience was our friendliness. It was genuine friendliness, they insisted, not a put on. Strangers would just strike up conversations and ask questions of the obvious foreigner. Offering advice or directions with a smile, Americans treated the visitor with respect and curiosity. Apparently Europeans were not expecting this. The folks from northern Europe were most surprised by this as they are unaccustomed to open public friendliness. They expressed some disbelief at first, but it happened all the time, day after day. Americans truly are friendly. In particular the visitors would comment on customer service, how great it was, how unexpected it was. The servers at the restaurants were attentive, genuinely friendly and helpful. Apparently you can expect a different experience in a European eatery. 

The reason any of this is surprising is because the picture painted of America in the eyes the the European media and intelligentsia was that America was an awful place, a dangerous place, a place to be avoided at all costs. Alas, the draw of football, World Cup football, was too great and Europeans came to America anyway. They were blown away. 

It is sickening to me that the media and the elites in these other countries would paint this awful picture of everyday life in America. But then, I thought, our own media and elites do the same thing everyday and in so many ways. America, like anywhere else, has it's dangerous places and should avoid areas, no argument there. To portray the whole country, every city and town as a wild west shoot'em up is unconscionable. Europeans visitors felt safe when they were here, often commenting on things they would do here that they would never do in their own countries for safety reasons. The fact that the 'news' media lives by the old adage that if it bleeds it leads can explain the perception of violence and disfunction in our streets, but it's far from the real everyday experience of life in the United States.

The likelihood that this brief encounter here in America by Europeans will have any lasting effect on perceptions overseas is low, but the real America will stick with these visitors as they watch their slanted news programs. I have already seen backlash by European podcasters (the ones who haven't moved to the U.S. already) that the friendliness of our servers in our restaurants is because they have to rely on tips for their wages. In oh so perfect Europe they pay the waitresses and waiters so much better than Americans do. Yeah, and they get terrible or indifferent, even unpleasant service every day. In the U.S. a good, attentive server can double their pay in many circumstances, and thanks to President Trump they are not taxed on their tip money - a secondary bonus. Not to mention most sit-down restaurant meals are a pleasant experience for us patrons. 

Across Europe there was also an expectation that millions of Americans were milling about the hospital doors because they didn't have universal health care. The the dying and indigent are piling up, wailing and gnashing, denied entry into hospitals, while the rest of us stepped over them to get inside. Yes, of course it's ridiculous, but that truly is the perception Europeans and Canadians (Australians too) have of American health care. The system here is far from perfect, I concede that, but no one is turned away at an American ER. Lost is the fact there are numerous systems and avenues for those uninsured through their employers to get publicly backed insurance, people are not dying on the hospital steps here. Canada is a perfect example of a great public health care system. Except for the fact that just over the border in the United States an entire health care system has been built to serve Canadians who need health care in a timely fashion because they can't get it in Canada. Not to mention - hell, I will mention it - the solution the Canadian government has for expensive public health care is to offer to kill its suffering citizens for free. MAID, medical assistance in dying is not just some end of life 'service' for the terminally ill, it is the first move suggested when someone calls a suicide prevention hotline. Oh you're depressed, let me connect you with MAID. Oh, I'm sure there are nuances I'm papering over but it is not far from the truth, and it's sickening. I'm assuming Europeans and Australians have some similar aspect of their wonderful health systems.  

All in all, it was a very pleasant surprise to watch hundreds of videos of Europeans singing the praises of their American experience. It was a rare feel good viewing window into our own country that we are not used to seeing. Maybe it will have some lasting effect in Europe on the false representation of America, it's hard to say. What is telling is the dozens of Europeans who declared that they didn't want to go back, that they wanted to stay in America. That should make us feel a little better about the country we live in.