Wolff lists all the benefits that Obama’s first term have brought. However, she’s looking at the trees and missing the forest. We are accelerating toward a society controlled more and more by the elite. The Federal Government is becoming more and more powerful and is teaming with large corporations and unions to “do what is needed for the people” (for example, fix the health care system so that it efficiently provides health care for all who need it).
History shows that people, in the end, don’t make out too well in such societies. Think of the lords and the serfs. There are numerous examples in more modern times. I still remember seeing pictures of East Berlin taken from West Berlin. There it was for everyone to see: a dark, dirty, dingy city right next to a vibrant, thriving city. The first was a government where the elites were totally in control. The second was a less powerful democratic government controlled society. What do people like Wolff attribute these differences to? Were the leaders of West Berlin and West Germany just smarter than those of East Berlin and East Germany? Or did they just have a more humane opinion of “the common man?” For a current example, compare North and South Korea. The same people but different forms of governments.
It is my strong belief, that the more freedom people have, the better off they are. The less freedom they have, the worse off they are. We are certainly a long ways from the extreme examples above. However, if you look closely, you can see examples where powerful elites make out well for themselves at the expense of the little guy. For example, look at education in Washington, DC. Well paid government workers and union leaders send their children to private schools or live in suburbs that have good public schools while the only choice for people who can’t afford these options is a school system that has a 50% dropout rate. Teachers’ unions, teaming with the government, protect their own at every turn. They resist charter schools. They are against tax credits for private school tuition. They won’t let the poor escape from this education prison. Watch the documentary “Waiting for Superman”. What’s going on is criminal in my opinion.
This is a vision of the health care system of the future. In this health care system of the future, the elites will get what they need and everyone else will only get what they’re allowed to have.
