The next time you see thousands of illegal aliens massing at the border demanding to be allowed to enter, or marchers demanding more of your tax dollars to pay for their wants and needs or politicians insisting you owe it to others to pay for their necessities in life, remember these two words: Cloward Piven.
So much of what the Left (and progressives and Marxists and wannabe socialists) seek to accomplish isn’t intended to improve conditions. It’s intended to destroy. Many of them don’t know enough to understand this. Some do.
Many of these advocates are like the “useful idiots” described by Vladimir Lenin. He said useful idiots were non-communists in the West who supported the communist agenda thinking it would improve life without really understanding what it was they were supporting.
What useful idiots still don’t understand is that their schemes – government-run welfare, government-run medical care, government-administered retirement systems, government building and work projects, etc. – are doomed.
As Margaret Thatcher explained: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.”
Those schemes are inherently doomed because none of them creates new wealth. They all just spend existing wealth with a negative return on their “investments.” It’s like throwing cash into a furnace to keep warm.
Worse, they also each have built-in breaking points – the points at which they run out of other peoples’ money.
Useful idiots like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York demand such programs be established, then demand that taxpayers pay for them, then demand the benefit levels be increased, then increased again, then again, and again.
The logical extension of this is programs that create no wealth eventually spend everyone else’s wealth. Many productive people eventually will choose to no longer be productive because they understand the futility of creating wealth when the government will only take it from them to give to someone else.
AOC and many on the Left are too ignorant of economics to see the inevitability of the failure. That’s why they never will have enough of other people’s money – 50% taxes will give way to 70% taxes which will give way to 90% taxes. If you think this is unlikely, you have forgotten that the tax-and-spend crowd increased the top federal income tax to more than 90% from 1950 through 1962. In 1944-45 the top tax rate was 94%.
To use one of the Left’s favorite words, this is unsustainable. Dim bulbs like AOC don’t understand this. But the people who put these schemes in motion understand it perfectly. They know the arbitrary patchwork system of the Western welfare states is built on sand and must eventually collapse. It’s meant to collapse.
In 1966 this underlying scheme was publicly advanced by a pair of sociologist-activists named Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven.
The Cloward-Piven strategy called for purposely overloading the U.S. public welfare system expressly to collapse the system. Once the system and economy had crashed, the true motive could be realized.
Cloward and Piven foresaw rising from the rubble a national system of guaranteed annual income for everyone administered by the government. They said by doing so, poverty would be eradicated.
As anyone with even a passing familiarity with economics understands, however, what such a redistribution of wealth actually would accomplish would be universal poverty.
Of course, as it was in the USSR, the sub-standard living conditions of nearly everyone would necessarily have to be administered by an elite class that wouldn’t live like the peons they supposedly serve. While this ruling class would decide how much everyone else needs and may receive, they also would determine how much they should receive according to their needs, which will be excessive. After all, they have great responsibilities under such a national system, and must be kept in a manner appropriate to their status. As do all socialist/communist rulers.
All intermediate steps to this Utopia end in doom. The USSR, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea. Even as their people suffer from greater and greater shortages, and more and more restricted services like health care and education, the administrators continue to live well.
The next time you see AOC or a leftist, progressive or other advocate of any variant of socialism, realize that they either are useful idiots, too dim witted to understand the futility of what they demand, or they are among the masterminds happy to use useful idiots to help bring down Western civilization and destroy the inherent prosperity of its free-enterprise system.
Originally published on Barbwire, used with permission of the author.
Featured photo by Marija Zaric on Unsplash.
Patrick says
This article was not specifically about the Cloward-Pivens plan to destroy the economy for political power but the similarity to the radical socialist plan to gain power by crashing the nation economically and politically by creation of the immigration crisis by opposing any attempt to control it. Even as they deny legal changes to bring this under control, they refuse to fund any expense for detention then demonize anyone but themselves if anyone lacks food, bedding, or medical care. If detention must be ended to avoid a massive increase in detention deaths then nothing legal stands between 9 billion people moving to the US if they wish. Long before that happens most US citizens will be homeless and trying to get into some other country with a high enough standard of living to continue to support life. Those with more experience in survival in hard times will be the only ones left.
Edward Walsh says
I discovered this piece in the nick of time. Our local paper had a story on these useful idiots working a different issue – immigration. Calling the U.S. names because of the consequence of rules enforcement. The article never mentioned the illegality of: crossing the border without proper clearances or of remaining here after a court hearing determined that they do not qualify for asylum and the illegality of failing to show up in court when legally directed to do so.
Enemies of this Country have many ways to tear down but no concern about rebuilding. Very appealing to the discontent and ignorant. I’ll cite C & P in my letter to the editor.
Peester says
I am a legal immigrant (from South Africa) in the US and I support the current administration completely! South Africa opened its borders to illegal immigrants and the 5-10% of people there that are actually paying taxes, pay roughly 75% of their income back to the government. Peoples hate (created by the main stream media) is making them blind to reality!
If you want to live in a house with 6 foot walls, razor wire, electric fencing, burglar proofing, alarm systems, 24/7 neighborhood watch……open your borders and give the American working class the burden of raising their taxes to support the very same people that voted their leaders into those positions.
As a legal immigrant you go through tons of screening, government approved hospitals (test for TB and HIV), background checks and most of all, you PAY taxes!!!
#Trump2020 #KAG
Hal says
It is fascinating to me in my conversations with legal immigrants how in tune they are to what is happening in this country. These immigrants cite tactics taught by Cloward Piven who, in 1966 laid out a blueprint to turn this country into a socialist nation. They come from countries where socialist programs have proven to be unsustainable. Further, they cite fat cat politicians who administer programs who live lavishly while the peons live in squalor and are impoverished. In a nutshell, if people depend on big government they are only seeking to impoverish themselves. In the famous words of Margaret Thatcher, “the only problem with socialism is sooner or later you run out of other people’s money.”
ALTON B OLIVER says
I thoroughly agree with this post and the comments made. I’m glad that some can see the dangers imposed by having the left radicals in government positions. The 2020 elections are coming in November. Make your vote count by getting rid of these destroyers of all that we hold dear.
Ruth says
“If one understands that socialism is not a share-the-wealth program, but is in reality a method to consolidate and control the wealth, then the seeming paradox of super-rich men promoting socialism becomes no paradox at all. Instead, it becomes logical, even the perfect tool of power-seeking megalomaniacs. Communism or more accurately, socialism, is not a movement of the downtrodden masses, but of the economic elite.” Gary Allen, Author
Leroy says
There is nothing more dangerous to the continued success of our Republic than the left leaning Democrat politicians and their voting public, and especially the current Democrat candidates for POTUS, and the possible substitute Democrat candidate (i.e., Hillary), and even more especially the so-called “Squad” consisting of the strongly anti-American members of the House (i.e., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib) and their puppets, all of whom want to destroy our county’s Constitution, values, culture, and way of life. We will NOT let that happen. In the 2020 election, President Trump will be re-elected, the Republican Party will retake control of the House and increase its control of the Senate. Our Constitutional Republic will survive.
Jlebretton says
All well and good but what about our out of control credit situation and deficit? This is what will bring our whole system down and it will not be long. The ass is falling out of our monetary system. The elites know it and preparing nicely. The people who have a savings, 401k, life insurance, etc. Will lose it all when they decide to change our money. It’s coming get prepared!