"Socialism Works" E. Pyburn

by Evelyn Pyburn H idden in the half-light of a seldom-seen nook, "Socialism Works" is scrawled across the cold concrete girders of an overpass in Missoula, Montana. Considering the untold misery and suffering socialismhas brought to so many people around the world, the statement seems appropriately placed. Considering the glaring contradiction of East ern Europe, it's almost inconceivable that the words were written at all; but then, that would be to underestimate the undaunted perseverance of those who believe that their fantasies can super sede reality-of those who believe that it is possi ble and just to live off the production of others. "Socialism Works." For the sake of accuracy, the statement needs a substatement that would in essence say, "but only as longas it has a capital isticbaseto suck dry"-for it is only the remnants of a capitalistic free market, depleted as it is, that sustain the ever-growing and expanding socialism of the United States. And, as much as freedom lovers might wish to the contrary, the events of Eastern Europe have been brought about, not so much by an intellectual revolution, as by the final draining of the lifeblood of what was the produc tive sector of those economies.

From all the rhetoric one hears about establish ing-not· freedom or capitalism-but a "mixed economy," and with all the pleading for foreign aid, it's obvious that the upheaval in Eastern Europe has primarily to do with the shedding of a used and wasted host and the casting about for a more vibrant, livingone to which the socialists can once again attach themselves. Evelyn Pyburn is editor of the Big Sky Business Journal in Billings, Montana, where an earlier version ofthis arti cle first appeared. A mixed economy is nothing more than a vari ant strain of socialism having grudgingly acknowl edged its dependence upon the producers it con demns. A mixed economy-in any country-must, by its very nature, slide inexorably toward the same end as Eastern Europe. Those who advocate it are only asking to repeat the "grand experi ment." They have no interest in freedom, and their avowed love of humanity is false.

Of course, there are those who recognize the root cause of the failure of the grand experiment that wasted the livesof a whole generation of East ern Europeans, but they are not the "leaders" who are redesigning the future or being quoted by mainstream media-not in those countries and not in this country. For freedom lovers the events of Eastern Europe are indeed a victory-a victoryof truth, of reality,of facts-but it is not a victory of convincing people who don't recognize facts, who believe that reality is but what they wish, so long as they control the necessary political powers to force other people to do their bidding. In all its barbarity, socialismis still the dream for the East German woman who on television said that, yes, she wants jobs and food and clothing, but she sees no reason to give up free day care. She doesn't see that having forcibly expropriated the resources from those who produced them to fund free day care (and social programs ad infinitum)is essentially the reason she and everyone else must do without jobs, food, and clothing.

In explaining such attitudes, a friend once said that people can think in such a way because they don't believe that actions have consequences. Thus they can allow themselves to look at the events of Eastern Europe and fail to understand their mean ingthey do not see the events as a consequence of their ideas in action. It allows them to look at a failed socialisticprogram, lay the blame upon cap italism, and beg for more of the same. It allows them to witness the events of Eastern Europe and go right on advocating free day care, free housing,.socialized medicine, socialized edu cation, guaranteed incomes, and regulated indus try in the United States-because they don't be lieve that actions have consequences. For them, "Socialism Works" because they say it does. D 461 Affirmative Action: TheNewRoad to Serfdom by Steven Yates 1. INTRODUCTION For over 20 years, policies calling for "affirma tive action" for women and minorities have been part of American political life, and a source of enormous controversy. Advocates say the policies are morally justified, and necessary for the contin ued advancement of women and minorities in a society long characterized by racial prejudice and gender bias.