Jim Huntzinger | On June 17, 2019

Of course, most people want security.  And there is certainly nothing wrong with this desire.  Having security helps people to focus and work towards other ends without the distraction of worrying about their safety.  But how exactly is this achieved in the United States?  The answer is: through liberty first.  However, the collectivists promote the opposite; that liberty is achieved only after security is established.  This is a very dangerous path and one that is the antithesis of American Exceptionalism, but the illusion is often successfully achieved because:

Humans have a tendency to want certainty, and even to artificially create it, based on beliefs, when there is none.  This is a point where we often get into trouble.   If we believe the way ahead is set and clear, then we tend to blindly carry out a preconceived implementation plan rather than being sensitive to, learning from, and dealing adequately with what arises along the way.  As a result, we do not reach the desired destination at all, despite our best intentions.[1]

In order to accomplish this there must be a “change in the structure of society involved in the victory of the idea of security over that of independence,”[2] or, as just stated, the direct opposite to the premise of the United States.  The collectivists demand security – in the form of “rights” – for employment, housing, wages, safety, health, education, and so on.  Yet, the United States does not demand this security, or “rights.”   In fact, the abolishment and destructive centralization of these tenets, which are valued in America, come directly from The Communist Manifesto:

• Abolition of property [property rights]
• A heavy progressive or graduated income tax
• Abolition of all rights of inheritance
• Confiscation of the property
• Centralization of credit in the hands of the State
• Centralization of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State
• Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the state
• Equal obligation of all to work
• Free education for all[3]

And not only the centralization of power and the abolishment of ownership but the removal of other tenets of liberty of the United States:

• [A]bolish countries and nationality[4]
• [A]bolishes all religion, and all morality, instead of constituting them on a new basis; it therefore acts in contradiction to all past historical experience[5]
• Abolition of individuality and freedom![6]
• [R]eplace home education by social [Education by Centralized Power][7]

As we see in the current political and media discussions, these very freedoms we take for granted are under attack.  Unfortunately, the collectivist progressives are simply following The Communist Manifesto.

Originally published on Townhall Finance.

Jim Huntzinger

Jim Huntzinger began his career as a manufacturing engineer with Aisin Seiki (a Toyota Group company and manufacturer of automotive components) when they transplanted to North America to support Toyota. Over his career he has also researched at length the evolution of manufacturing in the United States with an emphasis on lean’s influence and development. In addition to his research on TWI, he has extensively researched the history of Ford’s Highland Park plant and its direct tie to Toyota’s business model and methods of operation.

Huntzinger is the President and Founder of Lean Frontiers and a graduate from Purdue University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering Technology and received a M.S. in Engineering Management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He authored the book, Lean Cost Management: Accounting for Lean by Establishing Flow, was a contributing author to Lean Accounting: Best Practices for Sustainable Integration.