News & Commentary - The NSO Blog

Is Obama a Socialist?

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Why fascism rather than socialism is a more accurate description of President Obama.

John Allison to Appear in Spartanburg on April 15 - Admission Limited but Available

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 04:00:00 GMT

John Allison, chairman of BB&T Corp., will speak on leadership next month at the University of South Carolina Upstate's George Dean Johnson Jr. College of Business and Economics.

According to the Greenville News, the event will be held April 15 at 4 p.m. at the Chapman Cultural Center on St. John Street in Spartanburg. The event is free but admission must be obtained in advance from Darrell Parker, dean of the business school, at 864-503-5312.

Updated Information about the program Original link for information

John Allison To Appear in Clemson SC on March 2, 2009

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Mr. Allison's topic will be "Values and Leadership"

No Fireman In Sight

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

"Capitalism the Unknown Ideal" contains a section entitled "Are Periodic Depressions Inevitable in a System of Laissez-Faire Capitalism?" That article refers to an analogy that was described then as "an invaluable metaphor from Alan Greenspan." According to Greenspan, "if under laissez-faire, the banking system and the principles controlling the availability of funds act as a fuse that prevents a blowout in the economy -- then the government, through the Federal Reserve System, put a penny in the fusebox. The result was the explosion and Crash of 1929."

If in the 1960's and before there was already a penny in the nation's financial fusebox, the early years of this decade represent the time when the electrical circuity of the financial system finally overloaded. Today virtually the entire structure of the nation's economic house has burst into flames, and there is no fireman in sight.

While the fusebox metaphor aptly describes the underlying cause of today's turmoil, it is also useful to follow the analogy to observe that once the house has caught fire, simply removing the penny (as desirable as that may be) will not by itself extinguish the fire. The financial press remains full of commentators who see prosperity returning "right around the corner" based on the belief that borrowing more money can restore the pre-crash state of affairs. This, however, is akin to trying to send more electrical current down the already-burnt and shorted wiring, and only makes the problem worse.

Decades of misallocation of resources caused by the penny in the interest rate fusebox, and by multiple other govenment-mandated distortions, have created non-productive monstrosities throughout the financial system. The craters being dug as those houses of cards fall around us will likely be larger, and occur more quickly, than most people now expect. The establishment failed to heed the warnings when the problem was manageable, and now that the flames are rising the chance that stampeding herd will turn to a more reasonable path appear dim indeed.

The immediate challenge facing every fan of Ayn Rand is first to preserve his or her own financial independence and safety so as to live to fight another day. After that, the task remains to educate those who can be reached that the failure we see around us is not the failure of freedom, but the failure to heed the warnings Ayn Rand articulated so many years ago. Today's firemen must equip themselves not with water hoses, but with the ideas of Ayn Rand. And they should learn from the example of Alan Greespan that those ideas,once adopted, cannot be abandoned without serious consequences.

DeMint vs Clinton

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

Senator Jim DeMint voted against Hillary Clinton's is a gratuitous and irrelevant attack because the position of Secretary of State has nothing to do with the abortion debate.

The 2008 Elections

Sat, 24 Jan 2009 05:00:00 GMT

I am a lifelong Republican (age 67) who now advocates voting a Democratic ticket.

The Party

I am outraged at my party: After decades of minority status and preaching fiscal responsibility and cutting spending, when they finally controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency they spent money worse than the Democrats ever did. They were disgusting and non-repentant about it. For example, Ted Stevens of Alaska and the "bridge to nowhere".
They passed horrible socialist legislation such as the prescription drug program. The size of government increased 40% under their "leadership."
They passed the Patriot Act. This would be okay as a temporary measure during war time. If the war was declared, a definite enemy identified and victory defined so that we know when it is over. But this is an undeclared war which they say will take decades and it will given the war strategy they have chosen. As such the Patriot Act is now a permanent part of our legal structure and a dangerous violation of our individual rights.
They passed Sarbanes Oxley which criminalizes the most productive class of our society - its business men.
Republicans also deserve to be punished for being ruled by religious fanatics who want to destroy the separation of church and state.

The Presidency

Both candidates for President are advocating socialism and both of them will create disaster.

Obama

It is hard to say what Obama stands for he is so unprincipled. Change? To what; from what? But we can deduce a few things:
He is anti-American. He is certainly a socialist but he is more open about it than McCain. Obama's programs if implemented will bankrupt us.
He is utterly naive and probably inept at foreign policy. He will negotiate with everyone and fight no one.
If some terrorist attack occurs again such as 9/11, Obama - like Bush - will treat it as a criminal issue not a war issue. He will go after the particular individuals who committed the act and not consider waging war on the countries who harbor them.

McCain

McCain is a militarist, socialist, environmentalist. His hero is Teddy Roosevelt a socialist, militarist and environmentalist. McCain believes in Kantian type duty and sacrifice. As President he will reinstitute the draft only this time it would be a universal draft of all young people for some kind of national service.
McCain still gives lip service to capitalism but the actual policies he espouses put the lie to that claim.
McCain gets an edge over Obama in foreign policy. He knows the subject and is more likely to act in our self defense. However, will he have the ability to identify the true enemy: Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia? I doubt it. He is more likely to get our young people killed in side shows like Iraq. When he does go to war will he reject "just war" theory and fight ruthlessly? I doubt it. (Frankly, I am fed up with these undeclared wars we have been fighting since 1950.) I would rather not fight at all than have any more Koreas, Vietnams or Iraqs.

Though not known for being especially religious he will not be able to defy the religious fanatics who rule his party. This is proven by his choice of running mate, Sarah Palin -- the speaking in tongues, anti-abortionist, hick who will be almost as embarrassing a representative of the country as George Bush. Notice that the right (i.e. the religious) wing of the party suddenly jumped on the McCain band wagon when Palin was selected.

Strategy

Given the above, why not just abstain - go to the poles but vote for Mickey Mouse?

First, the Republicans are still viewed by the people as the party of big business and capitalism. The country is going to hell whichever man wins but if a Republican is President when it happens capitalism will get the blame even though McCain is not a supporter of capitalism. (You can see this today in the way the general populace has viewed the credit crisis.)

Secondly, there are still a few good voices on the right even in Congress as evidenced by the fight over the bailout bill. These voices will be stifled if their own President advocates socialism. Whereas with a Democratic president they will speak out freely as a loyal opposition should.

In short let's make sure the political philosophy- socialism - which is to blame gets the blame. There is precedent for this; it is what happened with Carter in the late 70s. The socialist policies of that era, the resultant stagnant economy plus the bumbling and tragic foreign policy caused the shift to the right which we enjoyed from 82 to 02.

I will understand if you can't vote for Obama; I'm not sure my stomach is strong enough to do that either. But please don't vote for McCain

As to other offices be aware that, at least in the South, a vote for a Republican is usually a vote for a theocrat. That alone is reason to vote against any candidate not to mention all the reasons this article began with. If you know of an exception great; otherwise vote Democratic.

The UN Mining Treaty

Sun, 21 Dec 2008 05:00:00 GMT

The UN's treaty on mining the oceans' minerals has been approved by the Senate sbucommittee. Objectivist attorney and ARI spokesman Tom Bowden's editorial against this blatantly Marxist-socialist treaty appeared in the 20 November 2007 issue of the Wall Street Journal -- in a format that implies the Journal's statement of agreement and support!

But better still, _two_ US Senators have also expressed their own solid agreement as well. See Senator Inhofe's website, which reproduces the article in full (!), http://www.jiminhofe.com/News/Read.aspx?guid=c11eaa4c-5d9e-4cfb-9a0f-1c6132903467 and also see Senator Jon Kyl's comments at http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_272617398.shtml

What can you do? Help these two senators defeat this junk when the full Senate votes on it. Write your two senators a letter, or even an email. Ask them to help defeat this so we dont' have to face the much more difficult task of rescinding the treaty someday in the future.

Who are your Senators? How do you contact them? See http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

This is an easy win -- We don't have to convince Senators to do anything new -- simply agree with other Senators, which they may be inclined to do anyway -- if enough voters _say_ it is a good idea.

Simple, quick action, big results. And quantity counts.