What’s Wrong with Socialism
by Socialism is a term bandied about as a vile, despicable crime of government to be avoided at all costs – what is it, really?
Anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock has heard some pretty nasty things about socialism lately. We think we understand it, based on the rhetoric we are deluged with every day. We hear that socialism is the road to communism, where the government dominates every citizen’s private lives, telling us where to work, when to work, who we should marry, and so on.
The truth is quite different. Would it surprise you to know that America already is a socialist nation? Or that, in fact, capitalism depends on socialism to survive?
To find the real truth, we Americans have to first realize that we don’t really understand socialism at all. Then, we have to ask ourselves a question: What is socialism, really?
At its core, socialism is a vital need for every community, from cities and towns to great big continent-spanning nations. It is the pooling of resources into a communal fund in order to do something that no individual can do alone. Socialism is simply providing a service to a community at community expense.
In fact, every modern nation in existence today is socialist, to some degree or another. It is not a “necessary evil”, as some would say, but an immense benefit; socialism is the entire reason that humans began living in communities to begin with, way back at the dawn of recorded history.
Despite what propagandists on the right have to say about it, even they are strongly in favor of socialism: every one of them proudly wears their pro-military status on their sleeve. That’s right – having a standing military is a function of socialism.
It is the veritable definition of socialism: the entire community pays for the service of soldiers because the entire community benefits. Providing for the common defense is one of the oldest applications of socialism. Even in the pre-civilized era of humanity, everyone who could contribute to a community’s defense, did.
Socialism provides the mechanism by which nearly all of our most vital community services operate. Local fire departments, police forces, schools, libraries, highways, sewer systems… virtually every aspect of community living, all those things that make life in a modern civilized society possible, are all the result of socialism.
Opponents of socialism are quick to bring up some of socialisms more questionable applications: inflated bureaucracies, excessive federal agencies, and committees without end. All of that government red tape is every entrepreneur’s worst nightmare, and all of it is the result of socialism. It is true; every government function (or dysfunction, as the case may be) is because of socialism.
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Post CommentSweetLiberty
On October 27, 2008 at 8:01 pm
What a crock. The choice isn’t between Socialism and Anarchy, the choice is between Socialism and the LIMITED Government envisioned by the founding fathers and set forth in the Constitution. What is wrong with Socialism? Long waits for mediocre healthcare, ever increasing Government interference in people’s lives, and the fallacy that the economy can be socially engineered or centrally planned. You say, “Only in America are people left to die for the crime of simply being uninsured”. Please provide the name of one such victim left to die in the cold. The problem isn’t that people are left to die, the problem is that our hospitals are being overburdened with indigent care, due largely to an ever increasing illegal immigrant population that is NOT turned away.
Socialism advocates state or collective ownership as opposed to private ownership favored by Capitalism. You may wish to obfuscate the definition, but in a nutshell, that is the primary difference. Socialism advocates public housing for all, and if you’ve ever seen what becomes of public housing, you wouldn’t want any part of it. The government via CRA mandated penalties for banks that didn’t underwrite sub-prime loans to those who couldn’t afford it, inspiring the housing collapse which is one of the key factors (but not the only factor) in our current economic collapse. The growth of government outside the boundaries set in the Constitution has been staggering under FDR, LBJ, and Democrat and Republican alike -with a notable exception of Ronald Regan who did what he could to curtail extra-curricular spending and reduce insane taxation.
Socialism penalizes success and rewards laziness or incompetence. It can only succeed at the expense of individual freedoms. You must rob from me at gunpoint the wages I earn to put into your collective pot, and the money spent from this pot may be entirely unnecessary or unwelcome. Socialism and its kissing cousin Communism has failed its citizens miserably in every experiment that has been tried. However, the greatest economic success story the world has ever known grew from the principles of Capitalism and limited government. But liberals have been chipping away at this foundation from its inception and in the past century have been quite successful. Obama will pound the final nail in America’s heart, one which many do not believe we will recover from. Yes Socialists, I am conceding that you will have your day ruling America. But the tragic irony is that Socialism is the antithesis of the principles this country was founded on. You win your victory as an invading army of Others, not as Americans. Rather than allowing American to rise to greater heights, you will over-regulate, over-tax, and tear America down from within. And that is what is wrong with Socialism.
Riden Delter
On July 10, 2009 at 7:38 pm
hey are u seriously making the argument: socialism is great
Here I quote directly from the Declaration of Independence, “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” In that segment is made clear that property and success is not guaranteed by the government but is simply a right that is granted and inalienable. So given that, why are we trying to create a government that befits the needs of those who are lazy, insubordinate, and who ultimately expect others to spoon feed them? Do we not see that “fairness” of wealth is not provided by the government?
According to socialistic policies, all revenue earned is to be given to the government and they will distribute evenly. Another thing is that people will be assigned to the labor force that needs them, not one in which they have talent. This is highly destructive to an economy because everyone gets the same regardless of how hard they work or how much of the company’s product they make. Is that fair? That the government gets to tell us what to do and they get to control our paycheck (which most of course goes to frigging corrupt congress).
Other socialistic policies include the government control of medicine. while this may seem good let me ask you this. Health is something that a person can easily obtain by him or her self if they don’t eat fast food, exercise, and avoid high stress situations. So why should those of us who do take care of ourselves pay in our tax dollars to take care of every 300 pound blimp and every person who has heart problems regardless of the conditions on how they got it? Also, it is not the government’s duty to take care of those who are incapable of buying insurance. If they need help then let the local community take care of them. We have a conscience and most of us have more than we need, much less deserve. Make a donation on your own whims.
Government wants control of these things so they can screw you over. Its not as if the American government officials are any different than other world leaders simply because they live under a “constitutional” rule. Government, according to the constitution, is supposed to provide a justice system, millitary, and postal service, not services for everyone who happened to have some bad luck somewhere along the line. All socialist countries have failed after the implement of socialism. If you think for one second that America can get away with socialism and survive you are dead wrong. the unfairness of the paycheck, paying for those who do nothing, and medicine will all lead to one thing: anarchy.