We're on The Road...

I loaned out my copy of The Road to Serfdom several years ago, & never got it back. It's a shame, because I hadn't read the whole thing, but read bits & pieces... enough to say to a U of M economics student I worked with that he really needed to read that book. That was the last I saw of it. It's a real shame because we all need to read it today.

The one chapter I read entirely was chapter 12: The Socialist roots of Nazism. I had to read it first. I think of myself as a history buff with a pretty good memory for these things, & never had I heard such a claim. I always heard that Hitler hated the Marxists, & only tenuously tolerated the Socialist-Democrats. But Friedrich Hayek, an Austrian economist who left his mother country in 1931 to teach at The London School of Economics then became a British citizen in 1938 after Hitler annexed his homeland, was now telling me that Fascism, as well as Marxism, was merely a step in the logical progression of Socialism.

Indeed, Hitler did punish the Marxists eventually, but it was more of a getting rid of the competition sort of punishment, rather than a strong difference of ideals. More like Spacely's Space Sprockets trying to destroy Cogswell's Cogs, than Gandalf the Gray defeating Saruman the White.

But Nazism is but one variant of fascism. Benito Mussolini started as a socialist before creating fascism. His rise to power in Italy came more than 10 years before Hitler's, & unlike his Nazi counterparts Mussolini had no issue with Jews & no plans for genocide. It seems Hitler's "Final Solution" gave fascism a bad name, when fascism could have earned a bad name based on its own merits.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute has an illustrated synopsis of The Road to Serfdom that was originally published in Look Magazine, It's worth a look. It breaks "The Road" down to 18 chilling steps. The way I see it, we are at step 8: "The gullible do find agreement... Meanwhile, growing national confusion leads to protest meetings. The least educated, thrilled & convinced by fiery oratory, form a party."

Now, unlike post WWI Germany or Italy, the US already has a major party, the Democrat Party, filled with progressives, and holy cow, is Barack Obama one hell of an orator! What does he offer? Plans...

The "Issues" category on Obama's web site tells us:

Senator Obama has been able to develop innovative approaches to challenge the status quo and get results. Americans are tired of divisive ideological politics, which is why Senator Obama has reached out to Republicans to find areas of common ground. He has tried to break partisan logjams and take on seemingly intractable problems. During his tenure in Washington and in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama has accumulated a record of bipartisan success.

This quote alone takes us through steps 3, & 5-7! Step 4 has been superceeded, a topic for my next post. So how many plans? Here is a list of his plans. I did my best to avoid duplication, how many versions of utopia can you find?

Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement, Combat Employment Discrimination, Expand Hate Crimes Statutes, End Deceptive Voting Practices, End Racial Profiling, Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support, Eliminate Sentencing Disparities, Expand Use of Drug Courts, provide Americans with disabilities with the educational opportunities they need to succeed, end discrimination and promote equal opportunity, increase the employment rate of workers with disabilities, support independent, community-based living for Americans with disabilities, Provide a Tax Cut for Working Families, Simplify Tax Filings for Middle Class Americans, Fight for Fair Trade, Amend the North American Free Trade Agreement, Improve Transition Assistance, Support Job Creation, Invest in U.S. Manufacturing, Create New Job Training Programs for Clean Technologies, Boost the Renewable Energy Sector and Create New Jobs, Deploy Next-Generation Broadband, Protect the Openness of the Internet, Invest in Rural Areas, Ensure Freedom to Unionize, Fight Attacks on Workers' Right to Organize, Protect Striking Workers, Raise the Minimum Wage, Create a Universal Mortgage Credit, Ensure More Accountability in the Subprime Mortgage Industry, Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure, Create Fund to Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosures, Close Bankruptcy Loophole for Mortgage Companies, Create a Credit Card Rating System to Improve Disclosure, Establish a Credit Card Bill of Rights to Protect Consumers, Cap Outlandish Interest Rates on Payday Loans and Improve Disclosure, Encourage Responsible Lending Institutions to Make Small Consumer Loans, Reform Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Families Facing a Medical Crisis, Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act, Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave, Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities, Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination, Expand Flexible Work Arrangements, create Early Learning Challenge Grants to promote state "zero to five" efforts and help states move toward voluntary, universal pre-school, Expand Early Head Start and Head Start, Affordable, High-Quality Child Care, Reform No Child Left Behind, Make Math and Science Education a National Priority, Address the Dropout Crisis, Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities, Expand Summer Learning Opportunities, Support College Outreach Programs, Support English Language Learners, Recruit Teachers, Prepare Teachers, Retain Teachers, Reward Teachers, Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit, Simplify the Application Process for Financial Aid, Cap and Trade, Confront Deforestation and Promote Carbon Sequestration, Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy, Double Energy Research and Development Funding, Invest in a Skilled Clean Technologies Workforce, Convert our Manufacturing Centers into Clean Technology Leaders, Clean Technologies Deployment Venture Capital Fund, Require 25 Percent of Renewable Electricity by 2025, Develop and Deploy Clean Coal Technology, Deploy Cellulosic Ethanol, Expand Locally-Owned Biofuel Refineries, Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard, Increase Renewable Fuel Standard, Increase Fuel Economy Standards, Set National Building Efficiency Goals, Establish a Grant Program for Early Adopters, Invest in a Digital Smart Grid, Create New Forum of Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitters, Re-Engage with the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, Centralize Ethics and Lobbying Information for Voters, Require Independent Monitoring of Lobbying Laws and Ethics Rules, Support Campaign Finance Reform, Create a Public “Contracts and Influence” Database, Expose Special Interest Tax Breaks to Public Scrutiny, End Abuse of No-Bid Contracts, Sunlight Before Signing, Shine Light on Earmarks and Pork Barrel Spending, Hold 21st Century Fireside Chats, Make White House Communications Public, Conduct Regulatory Agency Business in Public, Release Presidential Records, Close the Revolving Door on Former and Future Employers, Free Career Officials from the Influence of Politics, Reform the Political Appointee Process, Reconciling Faith and Politics, Provide a "Making Work Pay Tax Cut" for America's Working Families, Provide a Living Wage, Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, Expand Paid Sick Days, Expand the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Encourage States to Adopt Paid Leave, Expand High-Quality Afterschool Opportunities, Expand the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, Protect Against Caregiver Discrimination, Expand Flexible Work Arrangements, Provide Universal Health Care and Lower Health Costs, Create a Universal Mortgage Credit, Mandate Accurate Loan Disclosure, Strengthen Fatherhood and Families, Support Parents with Young Children, Create Automatic Workplace Pensions, Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families, Reinstate PAYGO Rules, Reverse Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy, Cut Pork Barrel Spending, Make Government Spending More Accountable and Efficient, End Wasteful Government Spending, End Tax Haven Abuse, Close Special Interest Corporate Loopholes, Bring Our Troops Home, Press Iraq's leaders to reconcile, Regional Diplomacy, Humanitarian Initiative, Diplomacy [with Iran], Renewing American Diplomacy, Talk to our Foes and Friends, Make Israeli-Palestinian Conflict a priority, Expand our Diplomatic Presence, Fight Global Poverty, Strengthen NATO, Seek New Partnerships in Asia, Secure Loose Nuclear Materials from Terrorists, Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Toward a Nuclear Free World, Rebuild Trust [with military], Expand the Military, New [military] Capabilities, Strengthen Guard and Reserve, Bringing People Together, convene a bipartisan Consultative Group of leading members of Congress to foster better executive-legislative relations and bipartisan unity on foreign policy, Getting Politics out of Intelligence, Change the Culture of Secrecy, Engaging the American People on Foreign Policy, Ensure a Strong U.S.-Israel Partnership, Support Israel's Right to Self Defense, Support Foreign Assistance to Israel, Cover Uninsured Americans, National Health Insurance Exchange, Employer Contribution [to national health plan], Mandatory Coverage of Children, Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP, Flexibility for State Plans, Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and Their Employees, Support disease management programs, Coordinate and integrate care, Require full transparency about quality and costs, Promote patient safety, Align incentives for excellence, establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, Tackle disparities in health care, Insurance reform, Lowering Costs Through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems, Lowering Costs by Increasing Competition in the Insurance and Drug Markets, Advance the Biomedical Research Field, Fight AIDS Worldwide, Improve Mental Health Care, Protect Our Children from Lead Poisoning, Reduce Risks of Mercury Pollution, Support Americans with Autism, Protecting Our Chemical Plants, Keeping Track of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Evacuating Special Needs Population in Emergencies, Reuniting Families After Emergencies, Keeping Our Drinking Water Safe, Protecting the Public from Radioactive Releases, Create Secure Borders, Improve Our Immigration System, Remove Incentives to Enter Illegally, Bring People Out of the Shadows, Work with Mexico, Help Americans Grab a Hold of and Climb the Job Ladder, Create a Green Jobs Corps, Improve Transportation Access to Jobs, Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Supports, Create an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Fully Fund the Community Development Block Grant, Establish 20 Promise Neighborhoods, Ensure Community-Based Investment Resources in Every Urban Community, Invest in Rural Areas, Strong Safety Net for Family Farmers, Prevent Anticompetitive Behavior Against Family Farms, Regulate CAFOs, Establish Country of Origin Labeling, Encourage Organic and Local Agriculture, Encourage Young People to Become Farmers, Partner with Landowners to Conserve Private Lands, Support Small Business Development, Connect Rural America, Combat Methamphetamine, Improve [rural] Health Care, Improve Rural Education, Upgrade Rural Infrastructure, Expand Corporation for National and Community Service, Engage Retiring Americans in Service on a Large Scale, Expand the Peace Corps, set up an America's Voice Initiative, Expand Service-Learning in Our Nation's Schools, Expand YouthBuild Program, Require 100 Hours of Service in College, Promote College Serve-Study, create a Social Investment Fund Network to use federal seed money to leverage private sector funding to improve local innovation, test the impact of new ideas and expand successful programs to scale, Social Entrepreneurship Agency for Nonprofits, Protect Social Security (as it is), Reform Corporate Bankruptcy Laws to Protect Workers and Retirees, Require Full Disclosure of Company Pension Investments, Eliminate Income Taxes for Seniors Making Less Than $50,000, Create Automatic Workplace Pensions, Expand Retirement Savings Incentives for Working Families, Prevent Age Discrimination, Provide Cheaper Prescription Drugs, Protect and Strengthen Medicare, Provide Transparency to Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, Strengthen Long-Term Care Options, Ensure Heating Assistance, Support Senior Volunteer Efforts, Protect the Openness of the Internet, Encourage Diversity in Media Ownership, Protect Our Children While Preserving the First Amendment, Safeguard our Right to Privacy, Bring Government into the 21st Century, Modernize Public Safety Networks, Invest in the Sciences, Make the R&D Tax Credit Permanent, Promote American Businesses Abroad, Ensure Competitive Markets, Protect American Intellectual Property Abroad, Protect Intellectual Property at Home, Reform the Patent System, Allow All Veterans Back into the VA, Strengthen VA Care, Combat Homelessness among Our Nation's Veterans, Fight Veterans Employment Discrimination, provide a seamless transition from active duty to civilian life, Fully Fund VA Medical Care, Fix the Benefits Bureaucracy, Improve Care for Traumatic Brain Injury, Expand Vet Centers