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Show Page 10 The Utah Independent September 9, 1976. 4 CLICHES OF SOCIALISM Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., Irvington-o- n Hudson, New York -- When property, a of private market, limited devotee free states his government principles position, he is inevitably confronted with a barrage of socialistic cliches. Failure to answer these has effectively silenced many a spokesman for freedom. Here are suggested answers to some of the most persistent of the Cliches of Socialism. These are not the only answers or even the best possible answers; but they may help you or others to develop better explanations of the ideas on liberty that are the only effective displacement for the empty promises of socialism. One mans gain Is anothers loss. of the jungle The law decrees that might makes right, that one mans gain is anothers loss, that to the victor belongs the spoils. This is tire law that governs when disputes or differences flare to the war, or in any point of all-out contest where the outcome depends upon physical force: for every winner there is a loser. There is a certain merit to this law which governs the processes of evolution, natural selectivity, survival of the fittest....But the very idea of being human gives rise to revulsion at the seeming cruelty of Nature, red in tooth and claw. Man, because he is human, seeks to and to improve his own well-beiresolve disputes by means other than brute force, sheer strength of numbers, or struggle to the death of at least one of the combatants. Justice tempered with mercy is the essence of humanity. There is no doubt about the severity of the competitive struggle in Nature. And awareness of this fact leads some persons to conclude that competition always works the same way that for every winner there must be a loser. Yet, even in Nature are to be found various forms of mutual aid and many rules of behavior which modify the competitive struggle, as when members of a herd cooperate with one another in defense against a common enemy. Man, especially, has adopted humane rules of competition. Competitive sports, as we know them, are tests of skill and stamina to pick a winner but not the bloody and deadly games of yore; even the losers in modem sports are expected to survive. Nevertheless, in a world of rules The Paper That Dmm To Taka A Stand i of competitive' private is enterprise that each peaceful individual is entitled to choose how he will use his time and talents; his A right to life is respected. corollary rule concerns the private ownership and control of property, as distinguished from the socialistic idea of ownership in common which works out in practice, control by the governing class. Private ownership respects the right of the finder, creator, buyer, or otherwise lawful possessor of scarce resources to use such property according to his own choice. Consistent with the foregoing rules respecting life, liberty, and property are the practices of specialization (division of labor, according to each person's peculiar talents) and voluntary exchange (a willing buyer and a willing seller trading to mutual advantage). It is important to note and remember that a exchange economy where each person chooses how to utilize his time and talents and property, and trades if he pleases with anyone else who is willing rests squarely and free-mark- et essentially on the private ownership and control of ones own person (no slavery) and ones own property (no robbery or confiscation). Except as a person owns and controls a service or commodity (private property) he could not possibly offer it in exchange and make good the delivery. Despite the fact that voluntary exchange is the only manner in which production and distribution of scarce goods and resources can be accomplished without coercion of any participant, there are nonetheless those who miss that vital point and who insist that competitive private enterprise is inhumane, that it is without sympathy for the weak, that some are poor only because others are rich, that one mans gain necessarily measures anothers loss. They fail to see that when an exchange is voluntary, then both parties must gain from the at least think they have else they would ' not willingly make the trade. The gain of one is possible only because the others with whom he trades also see gains for themselves. With minor exceptions, no doubt, those who reap the greatest gains or profits from competitive et private enterprise and exchange are those with the best showing of satisfied customers. The more efficiently one produces several billion human and offers goods or services the better able he is to hold quality up beings with limited supplies of and costs down the more likely land, tools, and other resources needed or wanted for survival and are his customers to shower him Since the great mahuman betterment the with profits. the of potential customers in competitive struggle persists. And jority men are far from agreeing on what any society are the comparatively poor, it follows that many of the rules should govern it. In some parts of the world, the largest fortunes from business rule may still be every man for enterprise fall to those who have himself the old law of the jungle. cut costs sufficiently to make their wares attractive to the masses of But in most of the civilized world, there are various the comparatively poor. And the ones who lose out or fail in the man-maattempts to modify that competitive drive for satisfied cuslaw. In many countries, the rule is tomers are most likely to be the from each according to ability, to ones who could not or would not serve the poor. It takes no socialiseach according to need, the comtic government to reprimand and pulsory socialist formula based on the view that the individual human punish such ineptitude; open attends to that. being is and ought to be competition The socialist critics of subordinate to the will of the ruling competitive private enterprise, on majority. grounds that it allows some to gain Elsewhere, and to the extent the expense of others, obviously that some societies are not wholly at do not understand. For if they committed to socialism, a private could understand, they would enterprise type of competition is realize that socialism despite its practiced. One of the important Continued on page 11 ng so-call- de ed tran-saction-- free-mark- or READERS OUTLOOK TH EPOT Continued from page 2 put into diplomatic pouches by THE UNDECLARED WAR several of them. today, with no response from the Joint Chiefs of Staff! I am now sending a copy of this letter to the Commandant of the U.S. Marines with the question, Is your silence in the national interest or are your hands tied?" I pray for Gods guidance for each and all of us. Four weeks Blanche D. Harrison Washington, D.C. 20003 TV COVERAGE Dear Editor This reader and television convention viewer cannot help but wonder the outcome of the Republican Convention had Gov. Reagan received the newspaper and TV coverage Messrs. Ford and Carter enjoyed. The uncommitted delegates, as we must all agree, had too much attention and publicity and one wonders if many did not actually cave-i- n to pressures to get the newsmen off their backs. I believe some who purported to be uncommitted knew full well when they left for Kansas City how they were going to vote. However, TV coverage of them literally prevented viewers from hearing important talks and left important issues to late, late hours when delegates were too tired to stay. Why were there so many talks of little importance Monday and Tuesday night? Why were the American people deprived of the opportunity to hear at least a talk by Mr. Reagan BEFORE the voting? Both Pres. Ford and Mr. Carter were always quoted in the news but Gov. Reagans comments were not revealed. In his campaign other than saying where he spoke, there was little coverage and often silence on the part of . the newspapers and on the TV coverage newscasts. Many Americans were deprived of the opportunity to hear him as his talks, infrequent and costly, had no newspaper or television advance notice. The first many Americans heard him was on Thursday night! History will prove the wisdom of his choice of Mr. Schweiker. I believe it was a wise choice. With the Republican Party having 22 of the vote and split this between two candidates, his entire campaign would have been for naught. I was visiting in another city when the choice for was announced and the way the newsmen pounced on this made many people notice Gov. Reagan for the first time. He literally had to do something to gain the attention of the American people. It is interesting, indeed, to see the very writers who deplored Mr. Schweikers liberal views and connections now taking on Sen. Dole for his conservative views. Keep the electorate confused" seems to be their motto. And we wonder why Americans are apathetic? Since Mr. Reagan had been a liberal and converted to the conservative point of view by way of studying history, it did not seem impossible to him to appeal to Mr. Schweiker. Sen. Schweiker was able to bury his pride and concede that courses other than more 10-min- ute vice-preside- nt Bv Paul Scott Washington: Failure of the Ford Administration to adequately protect Americans abroad is beginning to cause deep concern among U.S. military and diplomatic personnel abroad, and selected members of Congress. This growing security problem has been highlighted by the ineffective responses by the White House and the State department to a number of recent incidents involving fatal attacks on Americans overseas and aggressive Soviet military operations on the high seas and near the U.S. coastline. These provocative incidents include the brutal slaying of two American soldiers in the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, the murder of three American employees of Rockwell International under contract with the Iranian Air Force by Communist terrorists, the collision of a Soviet nuclear submarine with an American warship in the strategic Greek waters, and the crash of a Soviet naval patrol plane off Newfoundland's Grand Bank. All of these acts of aggression, as they are referred to inside the Defense Department, within the past month represent the surfacing of the undeclared war being waged by Soviet backed Communist nations and terrorist groups the against U.S. throughout the world. Most disturbing part of U.S. policy is the refusal of President Ford and Secretary of State Kissinger to publicly recognize and face up to Moscows increasing aggression and adopt an overall strategy to combat it. The Kissinger-For- d policy has such incidents been to treat all separately and to limit the response to keep any confrontation from spreading even if this means that the U.S. takes no meaningful action against those involved in the killing of Americans. President Ford's hollow boast in Kansas City that the U.S. was at peace and not a single American was involved in fighting on the day after the North Koreans beat to death two unarmed American soldiers set the tone for the U.S. response to that incident. As one Pentagon policymaker put it: When the President of the government were plausible. He felt before there had been only two choices ignore problems or have government do it. Gov. Reagan was able to convince him that since his policies worked in California they could be tried on a national scale. Many of us admired Mr. Schweikers sincerity. Was it Pride in ones own position that kept some conservatives shooting off the hip about Schweiker giving the liberal media all the ammunition they needed to help defeat the Reagan team? They succeeded. It was our loss. Sincerely, Mrs. J. F. McGillicuddy Kankakee, 111. 60901 tells the world that no American soldiers are fighting or dying in the world, the response to the DMZ attack was predictable. There was a show of force but no use of force. The Communists respect only the latter. Failure of our government to recognize and make public that the DMZ incident is part of an undeclared war being waged against our way of life, makes it almost impossible for this country to mount an effective U.S. response. THE NEWFOUNDLAND Several members of INCIDENT Congress led by Representative ), a West John Murphy Point graduate and decorated hero of the Korean war, stress that this policy is making U.S. military personnel sitting ducks for Communist attacks. Combat infantry officers returning from Korea have told Murphy and other members of the House Armed Service Committee that because of White House ordered restrictions on U.S. troops in the demilitarized zone that it is almost impossible for them to (D-NY- Ford-Kissing- er defend themselves. ' Under many circumstances, the restrictions make U.S. troops carry unloaded weapons. Even when fired upon, U.S. troops cant return the fire unless they receive approval from a higher command. In addition to pushing a resolution to condemn North Korea for the cold blooded killing of the Americans, Murphy is now seeking an inquiry by the Armed Service Committee of how to improve protection of U.S. military personnel in the DMZ area and other strategic regions of the world including Iran. Significantly, the Ford Administration led by Secretary Kissinger is opposing both moves on the grounds they would upset negotiations now underway with the Communists. ADVANCED SOVIET BASE The confirmation by U.S. intelligence that a Soviet TU-9- 6 Bear, long range naval patrol plane crashed early in August off Newfoundlands Grand Bank indicates the importance of Russias advance military operational base in Cuba. Radar monitoring of the aircraft showed that it was operating out of Cuba and was carrying out electronic and photo reconnaissance of the Eastern U.S. coast line from Florida to Canada. Two Russian ships, one a submarine rescue vessel which also operates from the Soviet naval base in Cuba, are now on the scene with divers seeking to recover the special equipment and code books that went down with the aircraft. The downed plane is one of approximately 20 of the long-ranthe Russians have based in Cuba inside the U.S. defense system for the Western ge Tu-95s(s- ic) Hemisphere. Along with the conventional submarines equipped powered with nuclear tipped missiles that the Russians are now operating out of Cuba, the Bears give the Soviet a nuclear capability in the Continued on page 11 |