America “as is”: who is the man for THE JOB?

Socialism in America. One thing that Americans are desperately missing (and us, the Russian Americans over 40, have too much of) is a rudimentary knowledge about socialism. Hence, Americans do not know nor can they spot the socialistic tendency even if it were to fall on their heads (well, it kind of did). But one thing that Americans are used to be good at is looking at the experience, whether experience of others or the American experience, and learning from it. So why are we witnessing that this principle is failing America?

There are two important angles to the presidential elections: first, socialism and re-distribution of wealth did not work in the USSR, do not work in Europe (Greece? France? Spain?) and will not work in the US, and the second – typically in America, those who do not perform their job well must are fired (regardless of their good intentions).

Socialism, as it existed in the USSR, was not about the theoretical Marxist’s “means of production.” The way that socialism actually evolved in the Soviet Union eventually was about three things: complete ignorance about economic mechanisms (“kill the rich” and total “equality” regardless of person’s efforts), empty promises of a bright future of the working class and outright lies about the actual state of affairs in the country, particularly the incompetence of the leaders of the nation. Doesn’t this remind you of anything that is going on in the US? “Some of us are struggling” – this literally is taken from every speech of every Soviet leader. But how is Obama “struggling” (unless this is in reference to his futile attempts at justifying his own incompetence and failures).

Social Justice and Personal Freedom. For those who pursue “social justice” as their election’s guidance: America is not going to elect a college professor. America is not going to elect a person that you go to a bar with to discuss fairness, social justice, equality. America is not going to elect a person with unlimited budget resources (in the latter case Obama could have been a fair decision maker in wasting these resources).

America needs to elect a person that knows how to make things work and not in a utopia setting but in a real world. And the real world is about spending only as much as you earn. It also would not hurt to have a person guiding the country when he has the guts to make decisions and actually follow up on his own promises. Even if you think that Romney is not a “nice guy” (how could a capitalist in a capitalist society be “good”?) this is a wrong basis for a deciding the elections particularly when drastic economic measures must be implemented. If you were to choose a pilot of your plane – how much of a “nice guy” (though the latest smirks and Obama’s outright “know it all” arrogance place a huge question mark on this hypothesis) aspect would factor in your choice?

I would agree with those who despise the extreme right-wing encroachment on personal freedoms and their ignorance about natural state of affairs (also known as “science”). Such extremists views approach the “communist” utopia from a different angle matching “big brother’s” denial of reality and attempting to impose a keyhole oversight. their are so distant from the reality and real science, that such views have little chance of surviving in the real world and certainly have a very little actual effect on the daily life of Americans. Unfortunately, these extremists alienate a large group of progressive voters who would rather vote against their own economic interests but could not associate themselves, in any shape or form, with the crazy medieval social standing.

Failed the Job. How much of lies and incompetence would one need to witness and for how long in order to finally say “enough is enough”? Obama has already accomplished everything that he possibly could in his four years – he even won the Nobel Prize. He is not going to get another one, nor will he grasp the real economic policies or the need to support small and medium size businesses that are the backbone of this country. Those who still think about voting for Obama – you are not really voting for the “right guy in the office,” you vouch for a cozy and warm idea (of socialism) that does not exist in the real world.

Whether or not you share the positions that were voiced by Obama four years ago – how hard is it to compare his words with deeds and see that he has done _nothing_ from the list of his own promises. Whether or not there is an evil intent here, but simply making promises and actually performing them require skill and… guts. None of that has been demonstrated. No employee in the US is given a “second” chance after the horrendous failure for four years to demonstrate any skill for the job, any remorse for his/her own failures and even a slight idea how to move forward.

Slippery Slope. The worst thing about Obama’s campaign, however, is making the entrepreneurs and business owners as the “bad guys.” This blame-game appears to be a simple “solution” and reverberates well with anyone even remotely familiar with socialism: you (middle class) struggle because he (rich guy) drives a good car and does not pay his “fair share.” So, let’s look at the “fair share” example that is similar to the US budget – if four guys went to a restaurant, everybody enjoys the dinner equally and then one guy picks up $90 out of a $100 bill. Why is he the bad guy? Did he not pay his “fair share” even if he makes more money than the other three? When being rich and successful became shameful in this country?

Similarly – Romney paid 14% taxes from his income. And that’s has been portrayed as “bad.” Note, however, that the taxes are not paid in percentages, they are actually paid (surprise, surprise) in real dollars, so his tax bill was $2.8M. How is that _not_ a “fair share” to his contribution to government programs, building roads, fighting stupid wars and otherwise supporting government programs? Why are people like Romney and other business owners are portrayed as anti-American and generally the bad guys? So here comes the personal question – why am I, as a business owner, a bad guy?

This is exactly what the socialist revolution was about – go after the money-making guys until you drive them out of the country or exterminate. Then rely on the proletarians to both manage and drive the economy – while this is a “good” principle, it does not work. You think Castro or other socialist dictators do not care about their own citizens and do not want the working people to live better? Fidel Castro can talk about the welfare for hours and hours in his famous declaratory speeches, but the problem is that he (and the like) cannot make it work. What actually works is personal challenge and economic initiative (though, of course, Obama and other socialists would call it “greed”) that needs to be cherished and encouraged so people from all over the world continue coming to America to materialize their skills and dreams.

Plato said – there is no greater injustice than trying to make unequal things equal. Socialism in the USSR was about the entitlement (“to divide it all”) and the false sense of equality that eventually created an economically devastated and morally decaying society in which there are no rich people. What we should all hope for, however, that the social evolution would lead to the society where there are no poor people. The essence of American economy is small businesses and it is appalling to me personally when we, small business owners, are made enemies. America is built on respect of challenge, property and individual success and any diversion from that principle is a dangerous slippery slope.

Nope. Here is a quote from the recent debates: “…when companies hire veterans that fought for this country – this is how you grow the economy.” Unfortunately, despite this Soviet-style high-flown empty rhetoric, this is not the way it works in a real world. The economy (as much as any enterprise) actually grows when you hire the guy that is right for the job. And it’s about the time we fire the one that is not.

This is an expression of a personal opinion of Dmitri Dubograev only and not of all of femida.us (though I did build that).