Socialist philosophy engenders true authoritarian government

In his Tri-City Forum column of Jan. 31, 2016, “Fascism Threatens America,” Mark Mansperger tells us about an “ominous event” of the 1930s of which “most Americans are unaware.” This was an almost-military coup involving J. P. Morgan and other bankers.

There’s a reason that most Americans are unaware of it: it may not have happened.

The case presented to Congress by the self-described coup participant, Gen. Smedley Butler, lacked proof, and historians doubt there was much of a plot, if any. In dismissing it, historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. said, “the gap between contemplation and execution was considerable.”

So it was likely little more than what has been described as a cocktail party conversation by a bunch of angry old men. There is plenty of fodder here for the conspiracy theorists, so the story has more longevity than the facts deserve.

Mansperger invokes the name of Franklin Roosevelt and laments threats to constitutional principles by authoritarian government. Remember that Roosevelt’s abortive attempt to pack the Supreme Court was to be an end-run around the Constitution, intended to grant fascist-level authority to Roosevelt. Perhaps Roosevelt was well intentioned, but what of his successors?

The column goes on to decry “neo-fascist,” authoritarian government policy that found its ultimate fulfillment in the administration of Ronald Reagan. But this explanation of history departs from the facts.

The 1930s and the following decades were the Golden Age of authoritarian government. The National Socialist Nazi’s Final Solution would kill about 6 million human beings, and scientific socialist Joseph Stalin’s Gulag would eventually kill upwards of 50 million. The Gulag only died when Ronald Reagan defeated the Soviets in the Cold War, the signal moment being the fall of the Berlin Wall.

In the Mid-Columbia, our Downwinders learned the consequences of a government that was unable to see human beings as something different from laboratory animals. While the politics were complex, it was the Reagan administration that opened government records to the public about secret human experimentation. For those of us old enough to remember, this occurred in the context of a new, world-wide understanding of human rights.

The individuals most responsible for shaping this revolution were Pope John Paul and those boogey-people, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

While Mansperger aims his guns at the neo-fascisti of the GOP, he is obviously speaking in favor of a new socialist order. So how has this worked out before? There are plenty of laboratory cases, and post-war England is a good example.

After the war, Labor swept the elections and began nationalizing major industries. Government bureaucrats subsequently drove England’s economy into the ditch, opening the door to the election of Margaret Thatcher’s government. What happened?

First, bureaucrats are clueless about how to manage industry. When they think they know more than markets about what the prices of goods and services should be, they short-circuit the signals that industry needs in making critical decisions. Companies made bad decisions, lost lots of money, and ended up laying off their work force.

Second, regardless of any claim to the contrary, government responds first and foremost to the squeakiest political wheel. In England’s case, this was labor unions. It could as easily be big banks and oil companies.

It’s a difficult challenge, but if one lays aside political prejudices, a correct understanding of the 2007-08 real estate crisis finds that it was largely the product of political manipulation of markets by people like Barney Frank in Congress and the politicized management of Fannie Mae. (See New York Times columnist Gretchen Morgenson’s book, Reckless Endangerment, for a detailed analysis.)

This was the work of a government granted authority to manage, as opposed to provide reasonable regulation. In other words, this was the work of authoritarian government.

Granted the wherewithal to act and control, a socialist guiding philosophy engenders true authoritarian government and economic disaster. We will do better than that.

This story was originally published February 6, 2016 at 11:17 PM with the headline "Socialist philosophy engenders true authoritarian government."