As long as the United States remains that “Shining City on the Hill” there will always be people willing to risk it all for freedom – willing to build boats out of crates, to weather those stormy seas, and try to float those 90 miles from Cuba, to freedom in this country.

As long as Liberty raises high that lighted flame, there will be those who will risk their lives illegally crossing multiple borders, to find a better life for themselves and their families, even at the risk of hiding in the shadows their entire lives. The poorest slums in this country little compare to the poverty the rest of the world experiences.

But once that flame is extinguished – once that city ceases to shine – once the United States becomes just one more “People’s Republic” indistinguishable from the utopias found all across the world – Socialism will have won, and the world can achieve true and lasting peace.

You see – once the United States renounces freedom, there is no place left in this world to go. We were the last best hope for the world. And with that hope gone, we can all learn to work for the greater good – the good for society over the good for the individual.

When once there was an “Iron Curtain” that separated the peoples of Europe – freedom and tyranny – the people denied that freedom fought bravely to achieve it. Thousands died braving the wire and stone of the Berlin Wall – vainly attempting to escape their Socialist utopia.

But once that curtain was lifted – once the barrier no longer stood between the free and the oppressed – the people of Europe voted themselves oppression – they embraced Socialism.

“From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs” has a seductive ring to those of minimal skills or education – those with greater need and lesser abilities. Interestingly enough it also is seductive to the academic elite – the Ivory Tower utopian dreamers – most of whom have never made a living in the difficult Capitalist world.

There is a story in the news this week that the federal government has indicted a couple, Kendall and Gwendolyn Myers of espionage – spying on the United States for the Cuban government. In his own words, Myers wrote:

“The abuses of our system, the lack of decent medical system, the oil companies and their undisguised indifference to public needs, the complacency about the poor, the utter inability of those who are oppressed to recognize their own condition.”

“Have the Cubans given up their personal freedom to get material security? Nothing I have seen yet suggests that. I can see nothing of value that has been lost by the revolution. The revolution has released enormous potential and liberated the Cuban spirit.”

It is clear to Mr Myers, as it should be to all, that the Cuban people have achieved the Utopian dream under the Castro regime in Cuba. There are no rich, there is no middle class, and by simple definition, since no other class distinction exists, there are no poor. In achieving sameness the Cuban people have demonstrated that Socialism works – as it can soon work in this country.

You see, the only discontent in Cuba is brought about because of the United States. Were the blessings of liberty – false blessings I might add – not so tantalizingly close, the people could set aside their dreams, and set about to bring about the blessings of Socialism.

The opposition to the Socialist Revolution in Venezuela – those few foolish enough to publicly stand up against Hugo Chavez in his quest to bring an equal prosperity to all of the people – is rooted in its embrace of freedom. The opposition looks toward the United States for support in thwarting the bonds of tyranny.

Once we have embraced that same Socialist tyranny, that opposition will fold, and the populace will learn to embrace the equality of outcome that Socialism promises to bring.

No false hope here, of equality of opportunity – what is opportunity after all to an illiterate day worker with no education – but the true equality of knowing that your neighbor can never surpass you in wealth and happiness.

And with this worldwide Socialism will come true egalitarianism among nations. Cuba will no longer be poor, while the United States remains rich. Canada will merge with Mexico into an equal state of prosperity.

And what of China, with its teeming masses of poor? That poor will no longer exist. Distinctions between rich and poor will become meaningless anachronisms of a bygone era.

It must be admitted, of course, that even with a worldwide People’s State, there will still of necessity by a few ruling elites. There must be leaders; else who would the people know to follow? And, of course, those leaders must not come from the people themselves, or else, the masses would still cling to a false hope of rising above their meager life station.

This is of little problem, however, as the ruling elites have pretty much already revealed themselves as such – and the people of this country have already spoken at the ballot box – demonstrating their willingness to place themselves into the hands of those elite.

Yes, we are well onto the way of achieving that Socialist Utopia that Norman Thomas spoke of in the quote that began this piece. It may have failed throughout the world before, but this time, we can make it work.

Viva la Revolucion.