Secede From Socialism

In his great classic, Socialism, Ludwig von Mises observed that socialists always employed the dual strategy of 1) nationalizing as much industry and property as possible; and 2) “destructionism,” defined as “destroying the social order which is based on private ownership.”  Destructionism can be achieved through the welfare state, progressive taxation, onerous taxation, and regulation and regimentation of private industry.  It is a form of economic sabotage.

There is also a third necessity in order for socialists to achieve their goal of a government “planned” society:  the centralization of power and the elimination of all possible exits. As Mises wrote in another of his classics, Omnipotent Government, “[T]he adversaries of the trend toward more government control describe their opposition as a fight against . . . centralization.  It is conceived as a contest of states’ rights versus the central power.”  This, of course, is what the “Brexit” vote in Great Britain was all about.

Self-determination was not all but ended in America by the strength of Lincoln’s illogical argument that the union of the states was older than the states, which were therefore never sovereign.  That makes as much sense as saying a marital union can be older than either spouse.  It was ended by the violence of a war that resulted in the death of as many as 850,000 (or more) Americans according to the latest research.

The European Union is not threatening to invade England after the Brexit vote, and even the Soviet Union was dissolved through numerous acts peaceful secession.  “Stexit” – peaceful state secession from imperial Washington – is really the only way for Americans to escape the clutches of our increasingly socialistic central planning state that seems as hell-bent as ever on Misesian destructionism with its nationalization of health care, financial markets, much of the automobile industry, its endless wars, its ever-exploding welfare state, its blizzard of regulations, and a tax system that forces average Americans to work for one-third of the year (until “Tax Freedom Day”) just to pay taxes.

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