Honest opinion about government from R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.:
The socialist theory is a fable. The socialist reality is a very uncomfortable place to live: political tyrants having replaced the bosses of yore; coercion having vanquished liberty; shortages and want having replaced economic growth and self-reliance. Greed remains, but long ago it was surpassed in popularity and maliciousness by envy. Where there once was optimism there is now pessimism. The citizen who once hoped to be an entrepreneur now queues up like everyone else for a new pair of socks or a feast of moldy state-issued potatoes.
Wherever socialism has slithered into power there is either unspeakable cruelty or slow economic decomposition. Russia, the Socialist Motherland, offers its citizens both. The decrepitude of Britain, upon whose wealth the sun could not set four decades ago, is evidence of socialism's knack for despoiling an economy. More recently we have witnessed the amazing impoverishment of Germany under the Social Democrats and the almost instantaneous economic collapse of France's theretofore robust economy under Francois Mitterand's Socialists.
The intelligent quest is for the free society with equality of opportunity. The quest for equality of result is the path to the widest inequality of all: despotism.
The Liberal Crack-Up, 1984
R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor-in-chief of American Spectator. Known for his witty, sardonic style, he is the author of The Liberal Crack-Up (1984) and The Conservative Crack-Up (1992).
Quotation and short bio from The Quotable Conservative: The Giants of Conservatism on Liberty, Freedom, Individual Responsibility, and Traditional Values. Rod L. Evans and Irwin M. Berent, editors. Holbrook, Mass.: Adams Publishing, 1996.