Socialism is a system of government that has several forms. This is about the British form. The reason for this is that two of the three presidential candidates are liberals and both are promising socialist programs should they become the next president. That’s what “change” means to them.

  At the end of WWII, the electorate turned out War Leader Churchill, and voted in the Labour Party, which was pledged to nationalize all the means of production, exchange and distribution of wealth. Harry Pollard wrote in 1954, “The Socialists in power began to do something almost unheard of in politics. They tried to keep their promises. They nationalized the Bank of England; the coal, electricity and gas industries; certain sections of road transport; British cable and wireless; civil aviation and iron and steel industry. They also set out to control the British economy physically with the idea in mind that they could iron out the severe fluctuations which led to the general slump.” One of Labour’s problems was that they didn’t really know what they were doing.

 “The government, rather than private industry, would control the economy. This newly  created welfare state would provide national insurance -- embracing the health services, unemployment insurance, family allowances, maternity benefits, retirement pensions, sickness pay and national assistance-follow the citizen from the cradle to the grave, from the womb to the tomb.” On its face, that sounds like a good deal for someone who lacks much ambition and who is content to work for the other guy. Health services mentioned here is the “universal health care” that Obama and Clinton are promising.

By 1954, 25% were receiving national assistance over above all the other benefits enumerated in the previous paragraph. In other words--“welfare.”  The Brits call it “the dole.”  All these freebies cost money and in a short time the cost of benefits exceeded the incoming revenue. The only solution to that problem was increased taxation.

If you think we are heavily taxed (and we are) go spend some time in the UK. Taxes get passed on to the consumer and therefore prices are very high. McDonald’s franchises charge for ketchup. In London, the cost of land is so expensive that many office buildings have only unisex restrooms. Men are obliged to give into the ladies demands by sitting for both jobs!

A license is required for a radio and television, which is essentially a tax, whether you use it or not. Taxes on vehicles and gas are quite high. There are special taxes on “luxury” items—like lipstick and cosmetics.

Wages on the other hand, are low compared to the United States. Once all the taxes to pay for benefits are deducted from a wage earner’s pay packet, there isn’t much left to live on. It’s no wonder then, that a lot of Brits opt out if the work force and live on the dole or game the system by working for unreported cash. Add them to the large number of unassimilated Muslim immigrants who arrived with an attitude that makes them unemployable and you have a  sizeable segment of the population living off those who remain in the work force. I place most of the blame for this on socialism. Of course their myopic immigration policy of the past is also to blame.

We already have some forms of socialism already in place that came from “The New Deal”, “The New Frontier” and “The Great Society.”  These were mostly welfare programs that were supposed to but didn’t end poverty. The Bush administration is mostly responsibly for The Medicare Modernization Act, which is commonly called the prescription drug plan. The bottom line to all these high sounding names is that they are socialistic programs designed to buy the votes of the recipients. 

All of these social programs were primarily created not for the purpose of benefiting the people, but rather to increase their dependence on government while securing their political support from now on.

The latest proposals are considerably more radical than anything to date. The dismantling of our health system and replacing it with socialized medicine on a previously unheard of level is scary. Once in place, it will be almost impossible to get rid of once it’s learned that it doesn’t work as promised.  The voters should make certain they know the details of all this change being promised before signing up for it.