A little-known fact in today's filtered news climate is the fact that the collectivist ideas foisted upon the people of Argentina by Evita Peron and her husband, Juan, destroyed what was one of the strongest free-market economies in the twentieth century. Largely forgotten today is the fact that earlier in this century, Argentina was the fourth richest country in the world. Argentina's economy was so strong, in fact, that the Great Depression bothered it hardly at all. According to British historian Paul Johnson, it had: steady progress in the manufacturing, mining, oil, public utilities and electrical sectors. (Argentina) had a market economy, minimum government, a growing middle class, a free press, and the rule of law.
ENTER THE PERONS But Argentina was seduced by promises of easy solutions to complex problems, which led to revolutionary rhetoric, and a military junta that in 1943 took power and appointed Col. Juan Domingo Peron as president. In 1945, he was tossed into jail by his military rivals, but was rescued by the work of his mistress, Eva Duarte, who roused the workers to take to the streets and demand his release. After his release, he married Eva and went on to be elected to the presidency in 1946.
CLASS WARFARE Immediately, Peron began attacking capitalists, big ranchers, and the upper classes in general. He started all manner of public works projects to create government-supported jobs for the workers. He nationalized (stole) large industries, from banks to railroads to insurance companies. Then he made the unions into militant organizations by granting workers 13 months pay for 12 months of work [sound familiar? -RT], declaring numerous paid holidays and mandating job security [Government-forced entitlements to be paid for by those hated capitalists. You know, what our government is proposing now? -RT]
He forced businesses to give more benefits to their workers than they could afford and of course, passed generous social welfare legislation and expanded the government bureaucracy.
THE PEOPLE LOVED IT They loved it because they were given what was stolen from the hated rich. They benefited from the thievery of the Perons. People who would not think of personally stealing from their neighbor allowed Peron to do it for them. Stealing doesn't seem to be wrong to some people when the government does it for them.
EVITA BECAME CO-PRESIDENT Evita was a spiritual/political force in her own right and, even though not elected to any office, she became a "de facto co-president" who preached (as did Peron) hatred of the rich and love of the poor [again, does all this sound familiar? -RT], founded the Eva Peron Foundation with money she squeezed out of the unions and the very businesses of which she preached hatred. This foundation established orphanages, homes for single women, and free medical clinics (all financed by other people's money, of course).
EVITA PERSONALLY GAVE AWAY OTHER PEOPLE'S BELONGINGS The property she and her husband had gained with the money stolen from others, she personally gave to the poor -- publicly, of course -- which included money, medicine, bedding, and anything else she could think of. Naturally, this made her immensely popular and, according to political scientist Daniel Chirot, the subject of a fantastic, religious cult whose influence remains to this day.
FOUNDATION HAD OTHER PURPOSES This foundation had other purposes, as well. It was used as a means to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars gained from looted Nazi gold, cash, and art treasurers. This represented money they were paid for smuggling up to 15,000 Nazis out of Europe and into South America after World War II. Evita's famous tour of Europe, so well depicted in the movie Evita as a global public relations tour, was the cover she used to make the deal with the Nazis in 1947.
THE PERON FACTOR But what were the actual results of the work of the Perons in the collectivizing of Argentina?
- Productivity collapsed;
- Agricultural production declined;
- Inflation soared;
- Corruption and featherbedding were rampant in the nationalized sector;
- Disinvestment starved what was left of the private sector and capital (the hated rich) fled abroad;
- Argentina's formerly vibrant economy had been effectively destroyed in less than a decade, in order to enrich Peron, his wife, and a few close associates.
SOMEONE ELSE IS TO BLAME Peron muzzled the press when it criticized him. He stopped the Supreme Court (just as FDR did) when it objected to his assumption of extralegal powers (definition: rip-off of the people), and blamed everyone else but themselves for their country's worsening economic condition. Had Evita not died in 1952 of cancer, oppression in this country might have become even worse, as she was becoming fanatic about eliminating those opposed to her husband. People who opposed their thievery and murder were called government-haters, and reviled in the media [familiar again -RT].
IT'S HAPPENING HERE! If all this does sound familiar, it's because what is happening right now in this country is exactly the same thing that happened in Argentina, and which destroyed that country's economy.
BILL AND HILARY Bill Clinton and his immensely popular wife (who goes around the world espousing all kinds of things that make her popular, just like Evita, even if she must steal your last dollar to pay for them) are even now working like beavers to make you hate the rich, while passing as many laws as they can to give you bread and circuses to make you love them even more. At the same time, they're taking away your parental rights so they can teach your kids to love collectivism, unimpeded by you, and they are systematically disarming the American public. With their permission!
BEYOND HELP If you can't see the similarities between what is even now happening in the United States and what happened earlier in this century in Argentina, then you're beyond help. If you can see it, and you do nothing to help those of us who have seen it all along to stop it, you're worse than beyond help, you're hopeless.
GOOD MEN STAY QUIET Winston Churchill once said: "All that is required for tyranny to flourish is that good men keep quiet." People give me all kinds of reasons for staying out of it. But if they continue, soon there won't be anything for them to stay out of. They will no longer have freedom, and Bill and Hillary will own everything they used to own.
SEE OUR FUTURE If you want to see what the future holds for you and your country, just study Argentina's history from just before the Peron years through today. If we continue down the road Bill and Hillary and their ilk are leading us, America is going to go the same way as Argentina did. It has already moved too far in that direction.
Is that what you want?
The first thing you must do to help in this fight is to keep yourself informed as to things the power seekers don't want you to know. To do that, join my Forced Altruism List to get a daily update on what's happening and where you can express your own gripes and frustrations. Or you can subscribe to "Beyond Common Sense," an online fortnightly newsletter.
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