So, you don’t think we're moving towards socialism -- it’s a crazy idea, right?  Before you dismiss the thought entirely, just take a look at these points.  It's not a Democrat vs. Republican or Liberal vs. Conservative issue.  It's a freedom vs. bondage issue.  Please take notice!

Karl Marx and Frederick Engels wrote The Communist Manifesto in 1848.  In it they described how the proletariat can take power from the bourgeoisie.  There were ten commandments in their manifesto which, if implemented, would bring about the full realization of the communist utopian dream -- the most advanced form of socialism. Present-day facts follow each commandment:

1. 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. (Taxation and eminent domain powers are in place to do just that.  Eminent domain is already being enforced regularly to take private property for public good.)
   2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. (A graduated tax system is already being used to re-distribute wealth.)
   3. Abolition of all rights of inheritance. (The inheritance tax system is in place to raise them to whatever gets passed by the politicians.  They could make them as high as they want; eventually leaving little or nothing nothing in the estates of the deceased.)
   4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. (This is a reference to police power.  If you rebel, you will be locked up.  Rebelling, of course includes not paying your taxes, in which case they will take your property to “make them whole” and take you away.)
   5. Centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.  (No need to elaborate on this one.  The banks did NOT need to be bailed out! Many might have gone out of business but the system would have survived and remained independent.)
   6. Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the state. (There is more and more talk of the Fairness Doctrine, or taxing radio stations as much as 100% on programs that don’t include promotion of the government’s agenda.  Obama’s Diversity Czar, Mark Lloyd has said that he believes Hugo Chavez does a good job handling the media.  Doesn’t that scare you?)
   7.  Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state; the bringing into cultivation of waste lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. (Government takeover of the largest US auto maker...the healthcare industry is obviously next on the agenda.  Once they control insurance, manufacturing and other business segments won’t be far from takeover.  Could you have imagined anything like this happening just a couple of years ago? Be honest.)
   8. Equal obligation of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture. (Unionization; pushing card check so employers and dissenting employees won’t have a choice about whether to be unionized.  Unions are beholden to the ruling party and vice versa.)
   9. Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries; gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country. (Most of the population once lived in rural areas.  Now, most people live in cities.  The process is moving along in the “right” direction.)

2. 10.   Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labor in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc. (Free education…hmmm.  Who chooses the curriculum?  Khrushchev told Kennedy that the Soviets would not need missiles to bring communism to the U.S.; it would be done though the schools via indoctrination.  You cannot help but notice that many of the thirty-somethings are thinking in a way that was unimaginable not too long ago.  Could their education have had something to do with that?)

Making people completely dependent on education, health care, housing and as many other aspects of government as possible is the way that tyrants gain power over the population.  

Obtaining "free stuff" actually comes at a very high cost -- loss of choice.  Of course, you will also be taxed up to 90% to enable you to get all of that "free" stuff.  Once WE THE PEOPLE lose the power of choice, we lose our ability to have a voice.  If you can choose one company over an other; one school over another; one politician over another, you have power.  Without it you are powerless.  You still have the power to choose... what'll it be?

Saul Alinsky, admitted communist and the “father of community organizing”, incorporated these ideas into his teachings.  The actual techniques included assimilation and non-exposure of one’s true beliefs. 

Concealed to the greatest extent possible, Barack Obama was a student of and taught in one of Saul Alinsky’s schools.  Hillary Clinton wrote her thesis at Wellesley College on Saul Alinsky. 

You might be right if you think that recent events are all happening by coincidence.  However, it is undeniable that they are happening!  Not one of my stated points has been made up. 

Please don’t make this a Republican/Democrat issue because I did not post this to get a Republican elected.  Rather, this is a plea.  I'm pleading with you to pay attention to someone who has been through this before.

DON'T JUST LET IT HAPPEN!

Today's [edited] commentary was originally posted as a reader blog by Livia Sappington at the Palm Springs Desert Sun website.