(Reuters) - The Greek parliament approved a deeply unpopular austerity bill to secure a second EU/IMF bailout and avoid national bankruptcy, as buildings burned across central Athens and violence spread around the country.
I have an American listener to my radio program that lived in Greece with her husband who is a native of Greece. She has been a faithful fan of the program since long before I broke into AM radio, listening to my podcasts on BlogTalkRadio. She has recently departed from Greece. She told me the living conditions in Greece are worse now than they were in the Eastern Bloc countries during the time of the Soviet Union. "This is what socialism does," she told me. "This is what the liberal democrats in America, with their leftist policies, are dooming America to."
Greece's situation has worsened despite the austerity measures, partly because tax hikes have accompanied the measures, and partly because they waited too long. Now, the economic system is ready for its final collapse. Default looms, possibly to rear its ugly head in March. The people, however, despite the fact that destruction of their entire economic system is at hand, are rioting because their entitlements are being taken away.
Liberalism trains the people to depend on government. But what happens to them when government cannot offer gifts from the treasury any longer? They have never learned to fend for themselves, to fight for every dollar they make, to do whatever it takes to provide for themselves and their families. They are used to being taken care of by the government, and now that the government won't, they are burning down the cities.
It is like the man who told another his glass of water was full of living organisms, and when he drank his water he was ingesting these organisms. After being shown proof on a microscope, the man broke the microscope.
Reality is too painful for these people, so they slash and burn.
Such is the destiny of all nations that chase after big government, entitlements, and socialism.
Liberalism fails whenever, and wherever, it is tried.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
Greek lawmakers approve austerity bill as Athens burns - Reuters