"Culture War"

I've just finished reading an interesting article on "culture war," the idea that there is a war going on for the future of America. The author postulates that 30% of Americans want to make our country a European-style welfare state while the other 70% wants to embrace free enterprise. Unfortunately, our author tells us, the 30% are in charge and they've tricked the rest of us into thinking that their minority is trying to improve the country. Woe unto us!

The author uses "examples" like health care reform and the financial regulatory bill to "prove" his point. America, he warns us, is becoming a country where wealth is redistributed, and thus American morality is being undermined.

While it's certainly true that America is a welfare state - perhaps too much of a welfare state - the idea that free enterprise in our country is being undermined is outrageously silly. Let's begin by observing Europe, the archetype of welfare states. It's worth pointing out that, as a block, the EU is the world's largest economy. Germany itself is the world's fourth largest economy, only having recently been passed by China. Furthermore, Greece's debt crisis, caused by egregious spending, has been exacerbated by the Euro. Greece can't adjust it's currency and therefore can do little to rectify many of the problems it faces. Is the EU a welfare state? Yes. Does that mean we should fear becoming like Europe? No. Does it mean we should emulate Europe? Again, no.

Now let's examine America and see what the 30% have done to hijack our country and make us socialist. First there is health care reform, the ultimate "socialist" law and one that undeniably undermines our liberties. After all, is there anything less American than making people buy health insurance? Of course, that insurance policy will still be created and sold by a private company. It's true that the health care law is anti-free enterprise. After all, it forbids insurance companies from taking your money then dropping you when you get sick and it makes pre-existing conditions a thing of the past. How terribly, terribly socialist.

Then of course, there are the unpopular financial and auto bailouts. The bailouts were unfortunate, but they were also necessary. Try imagining what the state of the economy would be today if major American banks had collapsed. In my mind, it's not pretty. Do we want a system in which the taxpayers bail out the irresponsible bankers? I don't. I also don't want to live in a country in which those same bankers are allowed to do whatever they want with no repercussions. If that means I'm against free enterprise then I guess I'm against free enterprise. I'd like to know that the bankers to whom I give my money aren't going get greedy with it. I'm for some regulation. By the way, the government has profited from the bailouts, those were loans, they get paid back with interest.

The point here is that this mysterious 30% of the population trying to move us toward socialism isn't a real group. There is no organization with that aim, and none of the "proof" presented in support of this theory has anything to do with undermining free enterprise. This is America. We encourage innovation; we're the world's leader in innovation. No one wants that to change. The policies enacted by both the Bush and Obama administrations have done nothing to limit free enterprise.

The idea that our way of life is under siege and that the very foundations of our society are in peril is nothing more than fear-mongering. It's simply untrue. America will remain the world's leading innovator and the free enterprise system that exists in our country will remain intact...now if only that system would encourage movement in the direction of green and alternative energy.