'Big Business Or Big Government: How Will Independents Decide The '08 Election?'
By Robert Klein Engler (09/05/08)
OAK PARK, IL--Recent polls show that the presidential election in November is a very close race. In some polls the race is to close to call within a statistical margin of error.
Even the assumed votes in the electoral college do not give one candidate a victory. Democrats and Republicans poll neck and neck in the so-called battleground states. It looks like independents and not the party faithful will elect the next president of the United States.
If independents decide the election in November, then what are the issues that may determine how these independents vote? There may be two overriding ideas that will decide the election. These two ideas focus on how independent voters view "big government" or "big business."
Those independent voters who look to big government as a solution to problems will probably vote for Democrats. Those independent voters who feel big business may improve their lives or fear big government, will probably vote for Republicans.
Conservative Americans have their work cut out for them. They have to persuade independent voters why big government is more harmful to the American way of life than big business. There are at least three arguments conservatives can use to persuade independents.
First, for the past 100 years, where ever big government has been in place, it has proven to be a failure. Second, big government is born from a mistaken anthropology. And third, big government grows stronger where religion grows weaker.
China, the Soviet Union, even Cuba and the city of Chicago are all examples of how big government leads to social policy failures. Big government derived from Marxist theory has been unsuccessful in solving human problems in these societies, especially the problem of poverty.
All big government has managed to do in some societies is socialize poverty and make everyone equally poor. The big government that is a product of Marxism seems to have accomplished nothing more in 100 years than to make the world safe for the Russian Mafia.
Big government is more often than not inspired by Marxism and the Marxist view of human nature. The secularism of Marxist theory often ends in a reign of terror. Communism in Cambodia is only one recent example.
The failed anthropology of Marxism, an anthropology that denies individual freedom and the immortal soul, supports much of liberalism and big government. Such an anthropology makes Marxism an enemy to religion.
Many of the social programs that big government is called upon to support were traditionally carried out by religious charities. Because of the diminishing influence of religion in Western secular society, government is now supposed to do what religion once motivated people to do.
Support for big business should not be a blind support. Big business brings in its wake problems as well. In the United States big business has been a driving force for secularism. Much of this secularism has undermined the religious view of life.
Big business is also a driving force for globalization that may undermine the sovereignty of the United States. The focus on profits and the use of men and women as means to and end by big business is also a moral question that is much debated.
Yet, corporations employ millions of Americans and have contributed to a standard of living in the United States that is the envy of the world. The solution big business offers to the problem of poverty is economic growth. This solution has worked pretty well so far.
Nevertheless, some employees in big business, troubled by the excess of corporations, are now turning to religion to help them walk a path between individual greed and social responsibility.
Even more troubling, however, is the growing suspicion that there is a merger of big business and big government on the horizon. Is this merger what money from George Soros is committed to buy?
The chance for human freedom diminishes when there is no escape from either big business or big government. In that world, we go about our work like ants never knowing the shoe that crushes us. Could the Democrat Party be the party that completes a merger where there is no exit for human freedom?
It is possible that the wealthy, now become wise, will use Marxism as a tool to control workers and finally achieve world domination for their class. Then, future generations will live in an "iron cage of materialism" Max Weber warned us about.
So far, it is easier to oppose big business than it is to oppose big government. If I don't like what's to eat at McDonalds, I can always go to Burger King. If I don't like the big government of a one party state like Chicago, where do I go?
The chance independents must take is to cast their vote in November for conservatives. Independents must hope that they will inherit more freedom instead of less. The choice may come down to the difference between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin.
We have also the light of the world to help us follow the thread of big government against big business back to its historical roots. Independents may find in the mist of our history, an echo of the battle between the ancient Greeks and Persians.
At that point, we return to a core, conservative value of Western Civilization. Independents should be reminded that the Greek historian Herodetus was right when he wrote, "Free men fight better than slaves."
Robert Klein Engler
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