Quoted Text

Statism is threatening capitalism, and the U.S.

    Abraham Lincoln reminded us 153 years ago that “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” This wisdom is equally true today.
    Just as a nation could not endure indefinitely as half-free and half-slave, a nation cannot endure indefinitely as half-capitalist and half-statist. It cannot protect private property rights while simultaneously denying the existence of those rights.
    Abraham Lincoln also warned us of the “proneness of prosperity to breed tyrants.”
    The “redistribution” of wealth by the government in the wake of the prosperity of the 1990s, the banning of incandescent light bulbs and a 2,700-page federal health care bill are just a few examples of the statist policies being pursued today.
    The economic depression we are facing is an inevitable consequence of such statism, which has been steadily building in both political parties for many years (well before 200. A nation’s economy will not produce the quantity and quality of goods consistent with capitalism — by far the most productive economic system in history — if the individual property rights that are the foundation of capitalism are not secure.
    I would also note that the United States — and the world — faced a similar growth of statism in the 1930s, with a similarly destructive impact on the economy.

    ERIC H. ALLEN
    Duanesburg