No One Asked Me But… (April 14, 2021)

By DR. LARRY MOSES

No one asked me but… A number of issues and actions have taken place since the inauguration of President Biden that have moved the country to the left on the political spectrum. That was to be expected. Many Americans are hailing this as a move to socialism. Others are lamenting the fact that this is a move to socialism. Let me suggest to you that America has been sliding down the slippery political slope of socialism since the late 1800’s. What many Americans fear now is not that the country is sliding down the “slippery slope of socialism,” but that the nation is dropping off the “cliff of socialism.”

The dictionary definition of socialism is “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” The Sherman Anti-trust Act is a landmark U.S. law, passed in 1890, that outlawed trusts—groups of businesses that collude or merge to form a monopoly in order to dictate pricing in a particular market. The act’s purpose was to promote economic fairness and competitiveness and to regulate interstate commerce. The very act of regulating commerce is a tenant of socialism. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 prohibited the sale of misbranded or adulterated food and drugs in interstate commerce and laid a foundation for the nation’s first consumer protection agency, the Food and Drug Administration.

Even before the automobile became the favored mode of transportation in America, a government required the American citizen to have permission to own one when the state of New Hampshire required a car to have license plate displayed in 1905. In 1903, Missouri and Massachusetts became the first states to issue and require people to have a driver’s license in order to operate a car. No one had to have a license to ride a horse or drive a carriage.

Probably the greatest increase in socialist government was under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as America attempted to recover from the economic depression of the 1930’s. Roosevelt’s New Deal was a myriad of socialistic legislation. From Social Security to the Tennessee Valley Authority, America accepted socialist legislation as it benefited the country. President Eisenhower’s decision to build the great American highway systems was a great display of socialistic government actions.

I believe most of us are aware that if we are to establish a business we are required to acquire a business license from the State of Nevada. You need a building permit from the county to build on your own property. A doctor needs permission from the State to practice medicine. A teacher must be licensed by the state to teach school. A barber and beautician have to have a license to cut hair.

The latest socialist move is the effort by the State of Nevada to control who can transport individuals for profit in their private car. With a shortage of drivers for agencies like Lyft and Uber some enterprising individuals have been arriving at the Las Vegas airport and making their services available to the travelers who have been waiting as long as two hours for a ride from the airport to the Casinos of Las Vegas. These individuals are un-licensed and are arrested when apprehended.

The power industry is controlled by federal mandate. Power districts are established and given a monopoly in these districts. Enterprising individuals cannot establish their own power companies within the designated district. Public Schools are established and run by the government.

For those of you who feel socialism has no place in America, I would ask you how do you feel about the federal government paying for your COVID shots? This is probably the greatest example of socialized medicine in America today. By executive degree the government set the criteria of who can and cannot receive the shots. It is not a question of is America socialistic; the issue is to what degree are the American people willing to slide down that slope of socialism.

Let me suggest to you the greatest threat to American freedom is not socialism, it is dictatorship. The closing of our businesses by the decree of the Governor of the State, while it has by definition the trappings of socialism, is more the actions of a dictator. Legislative action did not require masks, social distancing, or involuntary quarantining. These were all done by royal decree.

I would suggest that every American get a copy of the Constitution and study it. Don’t just read it, study it. It is interesting to see the myths that have grown about the founding document as well as how little the American government seems to follow it. While every American politician pledges to support the Constitution, I would contend most do not read the document they pledge to defend. I further would not ask that you take my word for what the document says. The government has provided you all with at least a high school education that gives you the ability to read. I would suggest you use this degree of socialism to study the document. Find some friends and discuss the document and decide what it says to you.

What does freedom of speech mean? What does it mean when it expounds on the virtue of a free press? Is a DUI stop a violation of the Fourth Amendment? Is “stop and frisk” a violation of the Constitution? Is it Constitutional for a governor to close down churches due to COVID? Can a president by Executive Order restrict who can or who cannot own a gun? Does the national Constitution determine who can or cannot vote in an America election? Is there a Constitutional provision mandating “separation of church and state”? Does the Constitution give the Supreme Court the power to declare a law unconstitutional? Do the American people vote for the President of the United States?

These are only a few question that can be answered by studying the Constitution. I would also suggest that if you don’t like what you find, there is a process whereby the Constitution can be changed, as has been done 27 times in American history.

Thought of the week… “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
– Preamble to the United States Constitution