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Call 1-800-HOGWASH By Bill Speers In an Aug. 24 commentary piece, Gerald Cavanaugh offered a rebuttal to Gerry Mandell's commentary piece that apparently praised "free market capitalism." Following his usual game plan, Mr. Cavanaugh made sure that his remarks stayed at what S.I. Hayakawa called "high levels of abstraction"; that is, Mr. Cavanaugh was pretty careful to avoid making specific statements that could be evaluated for factual content - or lack thereof. But he slipped up at one point, when he wrote, "... I begin by saying that when a utopian concept such as Gerry M's `free market capitalism' is put into practice and results in mass poverty, environmental degradation, political corruption, and societal decay, it may be time to re-evaluate the concept." What Mr. Cavanaugh has actually described is what happens when socialism, not capitalism, is the dominant political philosophy, as is shown by the current conditions in such bastions of socialist perfection as Cuba and North Korea. It would take a pretty obtuse observer to deny that our Constitution, capitalism, and hard-working people have made America the greatest, richest, and best nation that history has ever known. We note in passing that the "mass poverty" created by American capitalism has in turn created the richest class of poor people in history. Robert Rector, senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation, writing in the Wall Street Journal, reports that over 40 percent of poor households own their own homes; 70 percent own a car; 27 percent own two or more cars; 97 percent own at least one color TV. And most "poor" households spend about 192 percent of the income attributed to them by government analysts. Mr. Cavanaugh skirted around, but was careful not to actually state, the hoary socialist dogma that capitalists get rich by making other people poorer, by "robbing the poor for the benefit of the rich." (Personally, I have never understood how people could get rich by robbing those who, by definition, have nothing of value. Even the rulers of current and former communist kleptocracies realized that they had to allow some capitalism to exist, otherwise the people would have nothing for the rulers to loot.) In reality, only under socialism do some people become prosperous by making other people poorer. Socialism is a system wherein the government - bureaucrats - confiscates wealth from a person who earned or generated it, keeps most of it for themselves, and gives the rest to some other person who didn't earn it, thereby ensuring that only government functionaries can become rich. News flash: Capitalists, from Eli Whitney and Henry Ford to Bill Gates and Dave Thomas (founder of Wendy's), get rich by developing products, processes, and/or services that people need and want, and providing those products, services, etc. at prices people could afford to pay. And along the way, these capitalists and millions like them create jobs and whole new businesses that benefit the entire nation. It's a cinch that no government functionary or bureau ever invented interchangeable parts, the assembly line, disc operating systems, or a good hamburger. Mr. Cavanaugh delivers a rambling attack on voter apathy, media bias, advertisers, and the influence of money on the political power structure. All of these areas are worthy of study and criticism, but a short comment might be that voters are apathetic because they are badly educated by public schools and badly propagandized by the media's slant in favor of anti-capitalist, anti-freedom forces in the political arena. It's unfortunately true that money plays too much of a role in politics, but that's not the fault of capitalism. It's the fault of venal politicians, mostly of the liberal-leftist-socialist persuasion, who, over the last 50 or 60 years, have put government up for sale to the highest bidders, including foreign bidders. That is, in return for campaign funding, they will sponsor legislation that favors campaign contributors and penalizes the contributors' competitors. We note with some surprise that Mr. Cavanaugh chooses to live under this oppressive capitalist system, with its "mass poverty, environmental degradation, political corruption and societal decay." Or possibly, he is financially unable to flee and seek asylum in a socialist workers paradise, for example the above-mentioned Cuba or North Korea. Thinking that might be the case, we have set up an escape fund to help people flee from capitalist oppression in America. To pledge a contribution to this fund, call toll-free (a nice capitalist touch there) 1-800-464-9274. That's 1-800-HOGWASH. Bill Speers lives in Klamath Falls NEW Click here to visit the Daily Tidings archives. Email your... Technical questions & comments to: WebMaster Daily Tidings editorial comments & questions to: Editor Visit our other Western Oregon Newspapers... | Albany Democrat-Herald | Corvallis Gazette-Times | Lebanon Express | Newport News-Times | | Ashland Daily Tidings | Gresham Outlook | Springfield News | Ashland Daily Tidings 1661 Siskiyou Blvd. Ashland, OR 97520 Telephone 541-482-3456 © Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999 Lee Northwest Publishing