The youth are excited and united behind a new charismatic leader! There is electricity in the air as students and young patriots swarm in the footsteps of their dedicated leader—a young lawyer who whose books and ideas are energizing the nation with his careful and revolutionary message—Now is the time for change! This leader stands boldly against an expensive and painful war and argues that, instead of fighting a war with imperialistic undertones, we should wage a war on the classes that divide us. Academic elites also step forward in support.
This leader brings to his nation a commitment to hope. His first priority: to get his nation out of the war. His other priorities included creating a free universal health care system for all; strengthening the rights of women and teaching the illiterate to read. Workers across the nation are angry and frustrated at their plight in the sputtering economy. The existing government is demonized and vilified. People are ready to step out for change.
On November 5th, the events begin to place that charismatic leader at the head of his nation and to grant him unprecedented authority with the simultaneous granting of major control of the legislature as well. What a story! Except the leader described above is Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known by his pseudonym as Vladimir Lenin.
Today’s marching momentum toward an Obama Presidency is eerily reminiscent of the discontent and dissatisfaction that fueled the Russian “October Revolution” some 91 years ago. All that is missing is the armed insurrection in the streets, although the stock market’s efforts at collapse provide almost as fearful a backdrop.
Just as Lenin then stepped forward and assumed the leadership of his nation in the wake of a czarist government perceived as oppressive, weak and ineffectual, so the image of the lame-duck Bush Administration amidst the financial crisis has been burned into the minds of Americans by CNN. Just as the unpopularity and casualties of World War I Iaunched the initial trajectory into orbit for Lenin, so the Iraq War launched Barack Obama’s path to the White House.
The insecurity of both times lead to a desire for a government that would bring peace, prosperity and safety to the peoples. People reacted to the uncertainty of the times by clamoring for change—any change that could possibly bring them security.
But what matters most is not so much how we and they got there. What matters most is what happened afterward. The Bolsheviks were eventually granted complete control over the entire government in order to accomplish the goals that Lenin and the Bolsheviks set forward. Lenin was given the “keys to the government” and was able to dramatically reshape and redesign the Russian economy. This transition was not smooth, however, as traditionalists fought to preserve the institutions and history of what was.
America must be careful in the weeks and months before us not to repeat the mistakes of the past. We should think twice about granting Barack Obama and the Democratic Party the kind of paternalistic authority that Russians granted Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Two areas are crucial to preserving the freedom of America and ensuring that we do not slide down the slope that eventually swallowed up the Russian nation: we must preserve the freedom of our markets and the freedom of our people to speak without prosecution.
First, we must realize that this unprecedented time of economic uncertainty is not a wholesale license for the federal government to “take public” the integral components of our economy. Not only does “public ownership” create a direct conflict of interest by putting the public’s hands at the helm of private firms, but it insulates these companies from the very forces that could work to build them back up and make them stronger. Any interventions in the market need to be done in a fashion that ensures the primary mechanism of the market—competition—can still function.
Furthermore, this is not a time to engage in redistributive class warfare. While it may be a fair argument that some groups are unfairly granted preference in our tax system and to work to promote fairness, that process should be pursued purely on the basis of what will create the right incentives in our economic system. Nearly every socialist nation in history has stepped away from socialism for the simple reason that it does not work, even in the medium term. Removing the economic incentives that underlie capitalistic markets and turning to a centrally-managed economy is the surest way to guarantee both the loss of economic growth and innovation and to ensure the loss of personal freedom.
Second, we must make sure that free speech is not overcome through partisan legislation like the “fairness doctrine” and through the creation and expansion of “hate speech” legislation. There are many who argue that there is in fact little balance in the existing media empires—but the market place is exactly where that conflict belongs. Government setting the standard of what constitutes “fair speech” is one of the early steps that led to the formation of what eventually became the notorious Cheka and KGB in Russia. Even columns as innocuous as this one, could easily be banned in the years to come without appropriate protection of our freedoms.
Additionally, there needs to be a leveling of the playing field in political campaigns. If we wish to continue to have a democracy, then we must develop a mechanism whereby the best fundraiser is not assured a win in every election. Consolidating the power and access to government in the hands of a few—and especially an elected few—will result in more corruption, less responsiveness and more elitism by a government that, even now, generally serves the public interest in name only. We need to take steps to expand the public discourse, not contract it and we must take steps to reverse the purchasing of our elections and elected officials by private interests.
Finally, we should think carefully about our choices in the fall. The Russian people did not in their Red October revolution intentionally set about to create what eventually became the “Evil Empire” that America faced down under President Reagan. It happened as part of a quest for security and out of a sense of desperate fear as they let the government act on their behalf to curtail their freedoms. We need to step ahead and seek ideas that promote our nations core values and preserve our freedoms, even in an era of uncertainty and danger, without repeating these mistakes of history.