Trump is Creating Fear of Socialism

At this time last year, did you have a fear of socialism? If you do now, it has probably been created by some Trump Tweet or speech, or by a Trump encouraged media post or video. Trump has been using the same propaganda technique which has been used very successfully by the world's greatest dictators such as Hitler, Mussolini, and Lenin. They all created fear in the people, so they could manipulate them and take over the government.

Let's take a look at "Socialism". In a socialist country the people as a whole control or regulate the means of producing, distributing, and exchanging goods. For short times throughout history there have been a few "utopian" societies such as "The United Order" in the early days of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but none of these societies have been able maintain the needed love and selflessness necessary for their society to continue for very long. 

Fallacies in the Video "If I were the Devil, would I have your vote?"

 

After seeing this video, I have been checking out some of the statements it makes. Here is what I found.

Americans are moving toward Socialism

• Yes, Americans are more accepting of socialism than they were 50 years ago said the Gallup poll site. They also said that our definition of what socialism is has changed, and now to many it just means "social equality". 
• Their polls also indicated that Democrats do favor socialism more than Republicans, and Republicans favor capitalism more than Democrats do.
• Socialism can include such things as a guaranteed minimum wage, free tuition, business owned by the workers, Unions, Social Security, and Medicare.
• Capitalism is run by supply and demand and the desire to make a profit. It is controlled by those who own the company and the materials. It can include monopolies.
• Most Americans prefer a mixture of both. I think I do. There were some terrible things done in the early 1900's where workers were abused and land was stolen from the poor. On the other hand, total socialism would remove workers and business incentive and give the government too much power. Americans seem to prefer a balance.

Watching for Red Flags

I think most of us are trying desperately to sort out all that we have seen and heard about the January 6, 2021 riot at our nation's Capitol building. I'm getting past the shock and the feeling that this couldn't have happened in our country, to a sad acceptance that it really did.  Deep down though, I sense that it should never have happened and that something is seriously wrong. 

This is why that today I'm looking for "Red Flags". Were there warning signs that I should have seen, but I didn't? One of the biggest "red flags" that I know about is propaganda. This a when someone tries to get and keep people just reacting emotionally. The goal is to keep the people from  logically questioning what he is saying, so he can manipulate them into doing what he wants. I think of it like us standing in an ocean of emotion. We are ok though because we have our feet firmly planted on the bottom, but if someone comes by who convinces us to lift up our feet and just float, we lose control of our own lives. This other person can now, with a only a slight effort, push us around in this sea of emotion and easily lead us to places we never wanted to go. In recent times, this has happened to the people of Germany, Italy and Russia. Could this be happening here?