Breaking the Hillary Code

Hillary Rodham Clinton is speaking in code.

Because I learned this code as a youngster, I thought it would be a public service for me to translate for Americans who may not understand exactly what she is saying and exactly what she means.

The presidential candidate says it's time to replace our "ownership society," which she calls an "on your own society" with one based on shared responsibility and prosperity.

"I prefer a 'we're all in it together' society," she said. "I believe our government can once again work for all Americans. It can promote the great American tradition of opportunity for all and special privileges for none."

It's all about "fairness," says Hillary. And "fairness doesn't just happen. It requires the right government policies."

What does this mean? It means more socialism, less freedom. It means more government in your lives, less freedom. It means more command-and-control bureaucracies run by smart people like Hillary's friends and less freedom.

Not only does it mean less economic freedom, it also means less prosperity and less upward mobility. What Hillary seeks is a society of dependence on government, a society of subsistence for poor people with little hope of overcoming poverty through hard work.

Hillary is hardly alone as a politician in wanting to replace the last vestiges of freedom and economic opportunity in America with socialism. Most of her party shares that goal — and too many Republicans, including the current occupant of the White House, agree.

Here's the problem: Socialism doesn't work the way people dream it will work. It has always sounded good — especially to those on the bottom of the economic rung. But it is a system that does exactly the opposite of what it promises.

As proof, examine the socialist economies in the world today. Look at Mexico.

Look at China. Look at North Korea. These are three countries in an advanced state of socialism.

Are people happy? Are people content? Or do they want to escape?

If America is such an unjust and unfair society, as Hillary suggests, why do so many people want to come here? Are they trying to escape from America?

Don't get me wrong. I don't think America is perfect — far from it. I want to change America, too. But I want to move it in the direction of expanding freedom and expanding prosperity.

That means getting government out of our lives and off our backs. I just wish there was a viable alternative to the two major parties — both of which seem determined to expand the role of government, break our national covenant with the Constitution and make us more like the other nations of the world.

Let's talk specifics. Hillary loves massive government programs like Social Security and the failed government takeover of the health-care system she sought in the 1990s.

But Social Security does not benefit poor people, as most think. It victimizes them. It keeps them in bondage and dependence. It gives them illusions of safety and security by stealing their money, using it to benefit government and big bankers and then returning a pittance much later.

More than a decade ago, I had the opportunity to edit a book by Sam Beard titled "Restoring Hope in America: The Social Security Solution." The author showed that if Americans had the opportunity and the freedom to save only the money confiscated from them forcibly for Social Security for 45 years — the average work life — they could retire as millionaires!

This is what freedom is about.

Would everyone make the right choices? Of course not. But should we as Americans have the right to make those choices? Absolutely.

Hillary would disagree. She doesn't want Americans to be millionaires when they retire. She wants them dependent on her and her friends in government.

She can't say that, of course. So that's why she speaks in platitudes that sound nice. That's why she talks in code.

To find out more about Joseph Farah, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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