: Ever since I discovered libertarianism 20 years ago, people have
: asked me why libertarians have such extreme views. After all,
: libertarians advocate the abolition, not the reform, of such
: things as public schooling, public housing, farm subsidies, Social
: Security, Medicare, Medicaid, drug laws, gun control, and the IRS
: and the federal income tax. Why, we libertarians even call for the
: privatization of public libraries and the national highway system!Really good qestion!
: "Our free-enterprise system may need reform," people have pointed
: out, "but it surely is superior to socialism. Why do you
: libertarians want to throw the baby out with the bath water?"
Yee why do you?
: A trip to a purely socialist country might bring Americans a
: healthy dose of reality as to what actually constitutes capitalism
: and socialism. I'd recommend Cuba, which I recently visited to
: conduct an informal study of the socialist way of life.
Cuba is not a socialist country because one of the most importent reforms have not been made. There is no democracy in Cuba so therefore you can not say that the means of production is own by the proletariat. The production means are owned by the communist party which means that they are the capitalists on Cuba.
: Everyone would agree that Cuba ranks among the top five models of
: socialism in the world today. Even with "reforms" since Soviet
: subsidies were terminated, no one would accuse Cuba of being even
: "oriented" toward free enterprise. [That's arguable. -ed]
No it is not "oriented" towards free market but by marxist terms it is a capitalist state. The means of production are own by a few individuals and not by the workers,
: If you want to see the essence
: of socialism, travel to Cuba (but don't spend money there because
: Congress has made it illegal to do that).
Congress can only make it illegal for americans to spend money but America is really not the whole world, something that americans seem to have problems remembering.
: What you would find in Cuba might shock, befuddle, and confuse you.
: For you would discover much of what Democrats and Republicans have
: foisted onto the American people for the past several decades in
: the name of "saving" or "reforming" America's "free-enterprise"
: system.
The reforms are not there to save free enterpise. They are made to make life better for the average american, something free enterpise can not do!
: For example, you might be surprised to find public schooling and
: national health care in Cuba. If you tried to convince the Cuban
: people that those government programs are actually characteristic
: of a system of free enterprise, rather than socialism, they would
: laugh.
In "The communist manifesto" it sais that education for everybody is one of the most important things in a socialist system. National health care was ideés that socialists introduced. The firts national health care system was introduced in Germany by Bismarck when he feard a socialist revolution. By making reforms he could get people to calm down.
: They would explain to you that public schooling and national
: health care are the elements of Cuban socialism that Fidel Castro
: is most proud of. They might even take you to see Cuba's Ministry
: of Education and Ministry of Health.
Well thats a load of cuban propaganda.
: In socialist Cuba, you would also find public housing, public
: universities, and public libraries. Old-age assistance and
: subsidized food. A national highway system. A war on drugs. Gun
: control. Occupational licensure and economic regulations. Income
: taxation and income-tax returns.
Whats the point of having private libreries? Knowledge should and must be for puplic use.
: Even though I knew it was illegal to criticize Cuba's socialist
: system (a point that was being reinforced by the sedition trial
: of four dissidents while I was there), I was determined to deliver
: a presentation of libertarian principles in the middle of this
: socialist "paradise."
: I figured out a "safe" route to follow. This is what I said in a
: presentation to a research group at the University of Havana:
: "In the United States, the state runs our educational system, and
: it's a disaster. We libertarians challenge the state by asking:
: Why not let the free market provide education?
Because then there would be those who have education and those who donīt. This would be unfair because the ones who wouldent have education would be limited to surten kind of jobbs all there lives. Education should be as normal as food for the people. The problem in America is that you donīt put money into education. I could even bet that the cuban pupils are better educated then the average american.
: "The state also runs a health-care system for the poor and the
: elderly called Medicare and Medicaid and an old-age retirement
: system called Social Security. They are bankrupt messes. We
: libertarians challenge the state by asking: Why shouldn't people
: be free to keep everything they earn and manage their own health
: care and retirement?
Because then soem people would be left without health care and retirement. Donīt you see? You want to go back to a kind of sociaty we hade a hundred years ago, before all the reformes. You want to go back to a time of poverty and sickness. You want a sociaty where more then half of the population canīt read or donīt know nothing about whats going on in the world. How would youre sociaty differ from the one we hade in europe and america in the 19s century
: "Our government wages a vicious war against drugs that is tearing
: apart the fabric of our society. We libertarians challenge the
: state by asking: Why shouldn't people be free to live their lives
: the way they choose, so long as their conduct is peaceful?
: "Our government wages a brutal war on immigrants along our southern
: border. We libertarians challenge the state by asking: Why shouldn't
: people be free to cross borders to seek a better way of life, to
: start their own businesses or work for others, and to accumulate
: wealth and decide what to do with it?"
Wow, something we agree on. Open all borders!
: In just a few minutes, I had leveled a principled challenge against
: the core tenets of Cuban socialism, and I had used American
: socialism to do it.
Well, I would not call it a challenge
: Goethe once pointed out that none are more hopelessly enslaved
: than those who falsely believe they are free. The Cuban people
: have suffered through decades of socialism, but at least they
: know what socialism is. Who is freer - those who know the truth
: or those who do not?
So Goethe understod that the Americans are the most hopelessly enslaved of all.
: Mr. Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom
: Foundation, a libertarian think tank in Fairfax, Va. Visit:
: http://www.fff.org for more information.
Wow I hope you have a debattpage.
