I get why The Elite peddle Socialism-Communism-Collectivism. They know it’s a terrible system that has murdered 100+ million people and left trillions destitute. But they know they will be inside the castle when the drawbridges go up and the world comes crashing down. So their lives will be unaffected – and they will be in charge of the ruins. So they peddle Socialism.
That we have even a single Regular Person clamoring for Socialism – is a mass-condemnation of humanity.
Yes, government schools K-12 and colleges are Leftist claptrap factories and indoctrination centers. And have been for many decades.
But for the last decade-plus – we have had mass access to the Internet. The one-stop-shop for all the information in the history of humanity.
And yes, Big Tech has been censoring the daylight out of the Web. But the Internet is a HUGE place. While Big Tech scrambles to keep up with and silence current events – they can’t possibly get to all the accumulated historical information.
There is PLENTY of evidence online that Socialism is TERRIBLE. All there for the enlightening – virtually free of charge. Yet we have many tens of millions of Americans who are too incurious and apathetic to access it.
To quote the late Harry Truman:
“There is nothing new in the world except the history you do not know.”
Why am I a total, apocalyptic cynic? This is one of the main reasons why. We should know better, we have facile access to the information to know better – and we don’t.
Of course this willful ignorance applies to WAY more than just the the championing of Socialism. Human nature doesn’t change – so history is replete with the very many echoes of the same human stupidities.
To wit: Anyone still championing unilateral trade disarmament in the face of globalist subsidies and slave labor – is exceedingly unintelligent.
President Donald Trump – and then the China Virus government lockdowns – have demonstrated that we need to massively re-insource what we have spent decades stupidly outsourcing. And ensure that we protect our domestic producers – especially on all things national security.
And, of course, food is the preeminent national security item.
Except – look: Yet another exceedingly unintelligent person who knows NOTHING about (very recent) history….
The US Sugar Program: Why Americans Pay More for Sugar:
“The (Tariff-Rate Quota) TRQ charged by the U.S. sugar program allows the country to import a certain amount of sugar at a low tariff rate. But if the U.S. imports more than the set amount of sugar, the tariff rate increases.
“Instead of protecting sugar farmers, the federal government’s policies need to focus on improving the economic well-being of our nation by providing consumers with inexpensive goods. Getting rid of the U.S. sugar program will help the government in that goal.”
We’ve engaged in this moronic “fake free trade uber alles” policy for the last half-century-plus. It is precisely why we we woke up during the pandemic to find we don’t make anything anymore. And that instead, China – the China Virus manufacturer – makes LOTS of our stuff.
We’re now into Year Two of President Joe #EmptyShelvesBiden. Our crushing supply chain shortages would be a whole lot less crushing – if we were transporting things from the Midwest rather than mid-China. There would be far fewer fleets of cargo ships sprawling off of California’s shore. I’d much rather China and other countries have Rust Belts – and not US.
Yet our aforementioned clueless author – seems to know NONE of this. We spent many decades myopically fixating on cheap stuff at the mortal expense of tens of millions of domestic producers. It’s precisely why we are now so incredibly screwed.
And don’t misunderstand – sugar isn’t just for ice cream and cereal. It is a food supply staple. Were there actually any food on your grocery store shelves, you could pull items at random – and find many more than you thought contain sugar.
Protecting sugar farmers is more than a good economic idea – it is a national security imperative.
And the US sugar program – actually pays zero dollars in subsidies. It is, as described, a sliding scale of import tariffs and limits. Why? Because other countries mass-subsidize their sugar.
Brazil subsidizes its sugar at somewhere between $2.5 billion and $4 billion each and every year. And shocker: There are over 100 countries that sell sugar on the world market – and Brazil controls nearly 1/2 of that market.
India subsidizes. Heck – even Guatemala subsidizes.
This ain’t free trade. And it certainly ain’t fair trade.
It’s a miracle we still have ANY sugar farmers left – given the massive global subsidies with which they have to contend. Thank God for the sliding tariff-import limits – that our aforementioned author is demanding we end.
We have spent decades cutting exceedingly stupid trade deals. Let’s instead cut better ones – that negotiate away these mass subsidies.
And make the fake free trade market a little less fake – and a little more fair.
When all of that is addressed, we can take a look at our exceedingly tiny sugar program.
Specks and planks, as the Bible says.
And national security.
Because I’d like the US to continue to be able to make its own food.
First published at: Substack.
Photo by Adam Jones, Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).
Seton Motley is the president of Less Government, a DC-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing the power of government and protecting the First Amendment from governmental assault.
