Socialism and Totalitarianism Are Bedmates

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                              This article is an excerpt from Godvernment: Government as God 

Tom Sheppard

9/4/2020

Totalitarianism and Collectivism Go Hand in Hand

 Totalitarian

1.  of or relating to a centralized government that does not tolerate parties of differing opinion and that exercises dictatorial control over many aspects of life.

2.  Exercising control over the freedom, will, or thought of others; authoritarian; autocratic.

Dictionary.com

“Fascism is a religion of the state… Everything, including the economy and religion, must be aligned with [the fascist government’s] objectives. Any rival identity is part of the ‘problem,’ and therefore defined as the enemy.”

Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism

The worship of government as the savior of humanity takes several forms. 

Communism seeks to impose a universal world government on the entire planet and to thereby marshal all the resources of the entire globe for the purported end purpose of ensuring the well-being of humanity.

Socialism is a watered-down version of communism.  Socialism doesn’t require everyone to live as equals in the state-run world.  Those who are helping the most to promote the good of the people are worthy of the fat of the land.  This used to be one of the differences, and points of contention, between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the People’s Republic of China.

Mao presented himself as one of the people, wearing the same rough jacket as the ordinary peasants.

Of course, in the China of our day, the Central Committee members and top generals live like kings, and a creeping capitalism is steadily lifting the rest of the populace from poverty toward well-being.

Fascism is a form of socialism which purports that there is one nation or race that is mystically endowed with superiority over all other races.  This superior nation or race should—by right of its superiority—rule over all humanity and manage it for its own good.

Communism, socialism, and fascism—all of which are simply different flavors of collectivism—are all totalitarian forms of government.

This fact may come as a shock to some, because they are accustomed to thinking of totalitarian governments as being epitomized by having a dictator or “president for life,” and being at odds with collectivism because of the strong emphasis on the value of one particular individual—the supreme leader.

A quick consideration of history—past and current—reveals that dictatorship is entirely consistent with collectivism, even with the emphasis on one particular individual.  Consider the near-worship of both Lenin and Stalin in Russia.  I have already mentioned Mao in China.  Then there are the various men of the same family who have been ruling North Korea with an iron fist as a communist country since the Korean War.  Closer to the U.S., we have Fidel Castro in Cuba and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, both of whom were de facto dictators and drove their nations into the collective poverty of communism.

Totalitarianism is totally consistent with dictatorships and communism. 

"[Fascism] is totalitarian in that it views everything as political and holds that any action by the state is justified to achieve the common good."

Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism

The liberal elite—the collectivists and progressives—are very adept at wrapping their efforts in altruism.  The common good has been used to justify most of the greatest injustices of the 20th Century.  In addition to the millions slaughtered in the name of establishing and maintaining the security of the socialist nations against their own citizens and those they have killed in their attempts to violently and forcibly convert to socialism, by one estimate the noble “right” of reproductive choice has slaughtered in excess of 1 billion unborn children worldwide.  Isn’t it wonderful and amazing what sacrifices are required for the common good from those who have no choice?

["Fascism] takes responsibility for all aspects of life, including our health and well-being, and seeks to impose uniformity of thought and action, whether by force or through regulation and social pressure."

Jonah Goldberg, Liberal Fascism

When I read this quote, I think about Obamacare—the Affordable Care Act.  It was implemented under the guise of forcing 85 percent of the population to pay for health insurance for the 15 percent of people without insurance.  It was all about “the common good.”

The book Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley, was a fictional portrayal of a socialist world with a “nanny-state” approach.  The undesirables are genetically engineered out of the race, or consigned to lives of abject servitude, where their discontent is quashed with liberal doses of drugs to keep them in line.  Added to the mix is a liberal application of free sex and the abolition of marriage and nuclear families.

In contrast with Huxley’s nanny-state portrayal of socialism, George Orwell, in his book 1984, depicted the unrelenting brutality of a socialist police state.  Moral decadence is decried, as is the social irresponsibility of being physically unfit.  Such “aberrant” behavior is punished, and crimes of “subversive” thoughts or words can result in torture and death at the hands of the agents of the state.

Food for thought!

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Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). 

The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

(c) Copyright 2020 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved. 

Your comments are welcome. Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

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Colliding Warships: Tom Clancy and Tom Sheppard

Tom Sheppard

8/23/2017

Tom Clancy had a vivid imagination.  I read and enjoyed his books.  He often wove intricate plots which involved governments or quasi-governments engaging in elaborate schemes to hide their hands in world events until they were ready to make their dramatic, public moves.

To be very blunt, recent headlines from the Pacific read like plot points in a Tom Clancy novel.

In the past year, we have had dramatically escalating conflicts with both China and North Korea.  At the same time, the US Seventh Fleet, our primary military force in that part of the world has experienced an unprecedented series of four mishaps with our warships in that part of the world.

Most recently, the USS John McCain was hit by an oil tanker bearing a Liberian flag.  Before that the USS Fitzgerald collided with a container shipped bearing a Phillipine flag.  In May the USS Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing boat.  In January, the USS Antietam ran aground, hitting an uncharted sandbar outside of Yokosuka Harbor, Japan.

What all of these accidents have in common is that they all involved guided missile ships of the US Navy.  The sort of ships that could effectively do two things, very well:

1. They could shoot down the missiles coming out of North Korea
2. They can project force to deter China's aggressive moves to lay claim to all of the South China Sea.

While the failure on the Antietam is probably nothing more or less than a fluke or a failure of the captain or crew, the other three incidents all leave everyone who is aware of the training and capabilities of these ships wondering how this could happen?

The saber rattling of North Korean President Kim Jong Un has been very much in the national and international headlines because of the dramatic nature of his threats.  Test launching missiles capable of reaching the US and working to mount nuclear warheads on them is no idle threat which can be ignored.  One of the countermeasures the US has deployed is to visibly sail our guided missile ships off the coast of Korea as a clear threat to shoot down whatever the North Koreans put into the air.  And the threat from these ships is no fiction.

With the ability to launch multiple supersonic, guided missiles in seconds, as well as putting nuclear capable cruise missiles into the air, the destructive power of just one of these ships is considerable.  North Korea is right to feel intimidated by them.

The actions of the Chinese, because they are less dramatic, have not received nearly as much attention as those of the North Koreans.  But the danger they represent is more probable than a nuclear launch from North Korea.

For years now, the Chinese have been laying claim to atolls and sandbars in the far reaches of the South China Sea.  They have been building up these tiny islands into places capable of hosting airfields while they have also been mounting shore defenses on them.  Along with each claim they stake, they have been claiming that nearly all the waters of the South China Sea are owned by China.

The dashed red line on the map below shows how far China is trying to extend their reach.  This is a lot farther than the 12-mile limit recognized in international maritime law.  It would effectively make the South China Sea into a Chinese lake.  Much as the Roman's referred to the Mediterranean as the Mar Nostrum, "our sea", the Chinese would be able to refer to the South China Sea as their sea.

Countries much closer to these atolls have protested and made counterclaims.  But what do the Chinese really have to fear from the Philippines or Vietnam?  If either or both of those countries tried to go to war with China over these conflicting claims on the atolls, China would destroy them economically and militarily in a matter of weeks.

Only Japan and US have sufficient presence and power to counter the Chinese ambitions in this area.

So why should we care about what is happening in the South China Sea?  Because, experts estimate that about 1/3rd of all global shipping transits the South China Sea.  It is among the busiest shipping lanes in the world.  If China were to succeed in laying claim to its waters, they could control or prohibit trade through those waters.  This would either drive up the costs of everything, by forcing longer routes around those waters, or put a stranglehold on 42% of  goods going in and out of Japan.

The chart below shows clearly that it is not just Japan that would feel the impact.  Germany, France, the UK, Italy, India, Brazil, Canada and the US would all feel significant impacts if the flow of trade through the South China Sea were restricted or taxed by the Chinese.

All of this brings me back to the intricate plots of Tom Clancy.  In one of his novels, he imagined someone high-jacking a passenger jet and using it as a weapon, crashing it into the US Capitol Building.  Then on 9-11 four passenger jets were high-jacked and used as weapons, crashing them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon.  My point here is that whatever an author can imagine in the way of plots and intrigues can also be imagined and implemented by the agents of malice in the world.

To me, when I look at the news coming out of that part of the world, I see signs of a well crafted and cleverly executed plot to dramatically decrease the ability of the US to project power in that part of the world during a very critical time.  Don't be surprised if we see significant escalation in the aggressive moves coming out of China, North Korea or both during the next few months.

Given that North Korea is effectively China's guard dog, it is not at all beyond belief that they are encouraging Kim Jong Un to launch his missiles and taunt the US simply to distract attention away from the more strategic moves China is making a little further south.

Add to this a bit of additional history, from just a bit further back.  When we lost Vietnam, we lost the military use of the deep water port of Cam Rahn Bay, on the West side of the South China Sea.  When the Philippines booted the US out of Subic Bay we lost the military use of a deep water port on the East side of the South China Sea.  Deep water ports are not all that common and they are necessary for the large vessels of the US Navy to dock.  The loss of these two ports means that big US warships, like air craft carriers, would have to come from the ports of Japan or Australia to enforce international law in the South China Sea.  The further we have to stretch to reach the area of contention, the more vulnerable and weaker we are militarily.

If the US is unable to effectively project significant power in the South China Sea, international law won't matter.  China will use its own Navy and its string of air strips, with accompanying military planes, to enforce its control of the area.  If they can set it up, then the only viable alternatives will be to submit to Chinese extortion or for the US to use gunboat diplomacy to force the opening of the shipping lanes.  Getting in a shooting match with China, on their doorstep does not guarantee a positive outcome for the US or the freedom of shipping in international waters.

If an author like Tom Clancy, or me, can imagine it, then the folks in the halls of power have probably already figured out how to make it happen.  Think about that, the next time one of our ships in the Seventh Fleet gets clipped.  The "accident" probably isn't an accident at all.

Some links to related news stories:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-navy-to-relieve-admiral-of-command-after-collisions-1503448987
http://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/politics/uss-antietam-damaged-japan/index.html
https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/us-navy-releases-initial-report-on-fitzgerald-collision
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/22/world/asia/us-navy-ship-collision-uss-mccain-search-sailors.html
http://www.newsweek.com/china-south-china-sea-islands-build-military-territory-expand-575161
https://chinapower.csis.org/much-trade-transits-south-china-sea/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cam_Ranh_Bay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Naval_Base_Subic_Bay
Tom Clancy's Executive Orders

Tom Sheppard is a business consultant and coach to small business owners and individuals. He is a recognized author with dozens of titles in business and fiction to his credit. One of his endeavors is to help those who want to see their own book in print. He does this through his trademarked Book Whispering Process (TM). The author is not an official spokesperson for any organization or person mentioned herein. 

(c) Copyright 2017 A+ Results LLC. All Rights Reserved. 

Your comments are welcome... Please observe some ground rules. No profanity, vulgarity, or personal attacks. Profanity, vulgarity and personal attacks not only betray a lack of vocabulary and imagination, they also are the hallmarks of bigotry, and bigotry is the hallmark of someone who is fundamentally insecure in their views. Facts are always welcome.

Learn more about Tom Sheppard at his Amazon Author Page:

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