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May Day!  May Day!

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

As millions of illegal immigrants use this year’s May 1^st socialist holiday to boycott U.S. businesses and demand amnesty, thanks to the “leadership” of the Hispanic versions of Jesse Jackson, it is time for us to step back and reassess our situation.  Over our history, the United States has been able to assimilate people from a wide range of backgrounds because we have widely accepted the concepts of individual liberty, individual responsibility, respect for private property, and the rule of law.  Unfortunately, the current influx of illegal immigrants is turning these unifying principles on their heads – ignoring the law and demanding enslavement of the taxpayers in order to provide “free” schooling, “free” medical care, and other “free” services to people who are in the country illegally. Americans are very tolerant people, but if we are so tolerant that we are willing to tolerate a total disrespect of our laws and to discard individual liberty and individual responsibility, we are in big trouble. 

The Marxist welfare state is a disaster, and it is time for us all to recognize that fact.  Do you see people flocking to the workers’ paradise of Cuba?  No.  While we have thousands of talking heads like Louisville’s Betty Baye, who adore Fidel Castro, communism, and socialism, they unfortunately choose to continue living in the U.S..  Too bad they are not willing to face the fact that capitalism is the system that has the greatest respect and provides the greatest opportunities for individual people.  And too bad they continue to try to convert the U.S. to their beloved workers’ paradise, trying to force us all to move to the place to which they are not willing to go themselves.  They take for granted the affluence, opportunity, and respect for individuals provided by capitalism and think they can have all these benefits in a socialist society, not realizing that it is impossible. 

I say it is time for them to put up or shut up.  If the communist workers’ paradise is so great, please go live there and leave us in peace.  We are not trying to enslave you, so could you please stop trying to enslave us?  If you want what communism offers, go to a place that provides it.  Cuba and Venezuela are not too far away.  Some of us might even chip in for your one-way fare!

Similarly, for the illegal immigrants who are coming here for the opportunity to work and earn a living, please don’t bring the disastrous corruption of your home countries with you – all the bribes and pay-offs and lack of respect for private property that prevent the operation of a free market.  We need people who appreciate and want to adopt the American system, not people who want to corrupt it, drag it down, and convert it to the mess you are trying to leave behind. 

A recent article interviewing the former president of El Salvador shed considerable light on this situation.  Francisco Flores  said politicians find it easy to take the populist route and blame all their country’s problems on some scapegoat, offering to fight against that terrible enemy for the benefit of the people.  However, taking that approach is ducking the reality and preventing the change that needs to happen in order for the situation to improve.  Even here in the U.S., where we have a tradition of individual responsibility, many of our politicians are blaming our problems on the oil companies, on wealthy people, and on big corporations.  However, President Flores says that the politicians need to come clean, admit that the people bring the problems on themselves, and offer to show them how they can solve those problems.  While politicians are afraid to tell the truth, because they are afraid that this acceptance of responsibility will not be popular, if they are brave enough to do it, they will find that it is immediately very liberating and very empowering.  By admitting this reality, El Salvador has been able to turn its country around, greatly reducing poverty and dramatically improving the living conditions of its people.

If only U.S. politicians could be so honest instead of pandering to every interest group in an attempt to amass power!  Kentucky’s governor Fletcher deserves some credit for recently using the line item veto to try to bring the state’s spending under control, but his budget cutting is so tepid and that it is only likely to create enemies.  What he should do is set out a bold vision of the proper, limited role of government, and then make broad budget cuts consistent with that vision.  Then, the folks who work and pay taxes could really get behind him and support his efforts for the benefit of the whole state.

For example, he could explain that it is not the proper role of government to plunder one citizen for the benefit of another (as proposed by Karl Marx), and he could show greater respect for individuals by establishing a policy by which 80% of the tax money will be spent in the area in which it is collected.  Thus, instead of milking the productive people for the benefit of his political pals in other parts of the state, like a parasite slowly killing its host, he could use his line item veto power to leave the money where it was produced and where it could be used to support further growth.  Of course, this would not be popular with the parasites, but an honest politician could explain that being popular with parasites is not the American way and certainly not the way to provide growth and opportunities in our state.  Unfortunately, without establishing such a broad policy, any line item vetoes and budget cuts appear to be totally arbitrary and only stir up anger and resentment. 

For example, U of L’s President Ramsey has been adamant in his opposition to the cuts in the money that had been earmarked for his University to compensate for a $75 million expenditure for an arena, saying he did not need the arena but did need the other money.  Why not go to block grants, giving him a fixed amount of money to spend, and let him decide how best to spend it for the benefit of the University rather than earmarking every expenditure?  If university presidents do not make good use of the money allocated to them and cannot show good results, then they should be replaced, but we do not need to have state senators and representatives micromanaging a university. 

There is a lot of talk these days about “giving back” to one’s community.  Unfortunately, this talk makes it seem as if the productive members of a society, who produce the greatest amount of wealth, are actually plundering the community (more Marxist nonsense).  The real plunderer is the government, which does take a large portion of the wealth out of an area through taxes.  How about the government “giving back” the tax money that has been extracted from a community and at least letting that community set its own spending priorities with its own money?     

In short, if we do not want to go the way of the Roman empire and other societies that have fallen apart due to internal corruption, we need to act now.   We need to face the reality that Marxism, socialism, and the plunder and lack of respect they promote are a path to misery and poverty, and capitalism, with all its flaws, does the best job of respecting individual people, providing opportunity and prosperity, and then we need to act accordingly.

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