Last updated on April 6th, 2012 at 07:32 pm
Most semi-intelligent people who are not entrenched in the creationist cult understand that evolution, or its misnomer Darwinism, means that entities change over time and through natural selection those that do not adapt go extinct and the fittest survive. Left alone, evolution (Darwinism) is a lengthy process but it is possible for an intervention to give the fittest an advantage by exterminating the weak that provides more resources for the strong to thrive and survive. Â There is a term, Social Darwinism, that applies the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and it implies that there are underlying forces in society that are like the natural forces that operate in nature, and that those forces produce a situation where the most successful group survives raising the evolutionary level of the survival of the fittest. The idea of Social Darwinism is rooted in laizzes-faire capitalism, but it also reared its ugly head with the notion of eugenics, fascism, and Nazism as the struggle between racial or national groups. There are underlying forces in America that are creating a situation conducive to raising the evolutionary level of the wealthy (fittest) to ensure they survive by exterminating the poor (weakest).
On Tuesday, President Obama referred to the Paul Ryan/Mitt Romney budget as being “thinly veiled Social Darwinism,†and like Social Darwinism in its purest form, the Republican plan accelerates the extermination of the weakest Americans to provide more of the country’s resources for the wealthy. It is a reasonable assumption that President Obama is asserting that by radically cutting social programs and safety nets, Ryan’s plan pits the wealthy against the poor for resources and lets the poor (weakest) die in a version of Ayn Rand laissez-faire capitalism. The concept of eliminating competition over resources as a way to help society evolve for the benefit of the rich means the poor, as weaker members of society, must be weeded out so only the wealthy survive.
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
An example of facilitating Social Darwinism to weed out competition so the fittest survive is Nazi Germany. Adolf Hitler often preferred to let officers and staff members fight amongst themselves to force the stronger person to prevail for promotions, but he unfairly rigged the competition for resources between the Arian race and Jews. The Holocaust not only removed 6 million Jews from the competition for German resources, it also enriched the Nazis with assets from the Jews Hitler slaughtered. Except for the outright extermination of the poor, Republicans are on pace to match Hitler’s tactics by seizing taxpayer dollars that aid the poor and middle class to hand them over to the wealthy that men like Ryan believe are the fittest and deserve to survive without competition for resources. Although the Republican’s plan does not immediately eliminate the poor from competing for resources, the effect of their Draconian cuts to social programs and safety nets will create dire circumstances for the weakest members of society that will result in starvation, ill-health, and homelessness for seniors, children, and people of color.
Republicans claim Ryan’s budget is necessary to cut the nation’s deficit, but his plan cannot possibly reduce the deficit. The savings from drastically cutting social programs and safety nets will not make up for the 10% tax cuts for the wealthy and their corporations or the increase in defense spending. Ryan’s plan also calls for privatizing Medicare, but the money he claims to save will go straight to the insurance industry and leave seniors and the poor with a choice between having healthcare or starving on the streets. It is Social Darwinism at its worse and the underlying force that raises the evolutionary level of the fittest (wealthy) is the Republican Party. Paul Ryan is devoted to Ayn Rand’s fiction that portrays the poor as weak losers who drain resources from superior wealthy people, and his Heritage Foundation budget guarantees the wealthy will survive and prosper beyond their wildest dreams.
Romney endorsed Ryan’s budget because he and his wealthy elite cohorts will reap the benefits of the 10% reduction in their tax rate that is on top of their Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. Romney says he is not concerned about the poor because there are safety nets to save them, but his economic plan, like Ryan’s, slashes safety net spending to give over $6.5 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Romney’s vision of America is a rapidly expanding peasant class that exists to support the wealthy elite and their corporations, and it eliminates competition for the nation’s resources much like Hitler’s Nazi Germany. It is not a natural evolutionary process of survival of the fittest, but an engineered revolution that puts the weakest segment of the population at an unfair disadvantage to compete for resources that will eventually lead to their extinction.
President Obama used restraint in calling the Republicans’ budget plan “thinly veiled†Social Darwinism, but he faces constraints this author does not. The Republican plan is deliberate Social Darwinism meant to facilitate the extinction of the poor, seniors, and minorities so the wealthy face no competition to control all of the nation’s resources. It is Nazism, Fascism, and social engineering meant to weed out the weakest members of society and elevate the wealthy to an everlasting position of power and privilege that if successful, spells the end of America’s vanishing democracy and the beginning of oligarchy. Now that the President has correctly labeled the GOP economic plan as Social Darwinism, he needs to take the time to explain what that means to the American people and he most assuredly will during the general election. When the people understand that 99% of them are slated for evolutionary economic extinction at the hands of Republicans, they will compete for resources at the ballot box and stop the Republicans’ plan for an unnatural evolution from a representative democracy to an oligarchy.
Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.
Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.
Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.
