Socialism: Because this time it will work
Sunday, November 2, 2008
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I’ve seen a lot of dissuasive commentary about socialism lately. I hear it from the news, from the lips of fellow students, and of course read of it in papers not much different from the one in your hands right now. Proponents cite the many pluses of a socialist Utopia only an Obama vote away: Free health care, tax breaks for the middle class, and free candy for everyone! And what means must we be subjected to for such an end? A painless process of taking money from those big bad cigar smoking millionaires that sit in their studies and laugh at the misfortune of us, the common folk, while they roll around in piles of hundred dollar bills; then placing their wondrous monies into the hands of those less fortunate beings not privileged to have a silver spoon shoved in every orifice upon birth. And what’s wrong with that, dagnabbit? Sharing is caring.
Levar Burton taught me that, if I have a candy bar, why not give my buddy half? That’s what socialism is right? Eh, not quite, that’s altruism, something practiced in droves by the private sector that, once forced, seems to lose some of its luster. If we’re playing the socialism game then that would mean some guy shows up, takes the candy bar out of your hand then throws half of it into the crowded street. Hell, somebody gets it, and that’s what matters right? You weren’t that hungry anyway. Socialism is not sharing. Socialism is taking against your will what you have earned and giving it to someone else.
I don’t demonize those that support socialism, I just think that much of that support comes from a misunderstanding of what socialism is, and as with many things, perception will be our key to understanding it, so let’s go over some of the basics.
Socialism is defined as a set of economic ideals that spreads power and wealth evenly among its practitioners. It’s a fine theoretical structure that has simply been shown deeply flawed in practice. What it fails to address is the human factor of its implementation. In any society there will be a bottom 10%, and much of the distaste of capitalism emanates from this truth, as some have difficulty acknowledging that with success there will be failure. What socialism seeks to do is eliminate that bottom percentile by detracting from the top, in concept making us all equal.
The unfortunate troubles, however, come from the execution of policies that promote socialism. The sudden distribution of that wealth into the hands of the government leads to the eventual propagation of corruption and mediocrity in its citizenry who lack motivation to pursue success. This is where we see the power of words and perceptions come into play, for where some see equality others see the only opportunity afforded to them is to be unexceptional.
To be able to distribute funds into socialist programs requires a larger government to manage its operation. We have seen examples in the past from countries like Russia and China; where once the economic power is given absolutely to the overseeing of the government, civil liberties and seizing of personal assets follows close behind.
Now you may be thinking ‘those countries weren’t socialist, they were communist,’ but socialism, according to Karl Marx in the Communist Manifesto, serves as a transitional economic module to communism and the further the United States tip toes that line, the closer we come to falling into the same cycles that those countries have found themselves in.
So how do you convince a group of people to go along with the idea of giving up financial freedom? In the past the answer has always been through the manipulation of class warfare, a battle that has been raging in our own country for years. Socialism grows from the roots of such dissension. The sweet irony of socialism is that it postulates itself to the people as a revolution against an oppressive grouped power structure, and what is the solution of socialism in dealing with such a group? Why to replace it with a larger, more centralized government that makes your decisions for you, what doctors you should go to, where you should live, how much money is “too much” money.
And that is where the beast rears its ugly head. Socialism operates under the idea that you, the individual, are too stupid to make your own decisions and need a large powerful government to make them for you.
In politics, perception and the manipulation of words plays a huge role. The left likes to paint conservatives as greedy and insensitive, while the right depicts liberals as pie in the sky naive hand wringers; but we all share one common quality in being American, and there is something wholly un-American about not striving to be the best at what we do. Yet over the years we have in fact become a country with socialistic elements much to the delight of the flower children that traded in their tie-dye shirts for corporate suits these last few decades.
America was once a country of excellence that strove for success and dominated the world stage with the industrial proficiency of our work force. Now we slowly fall by the wayside, surpassed by India and China as they implement capitalistic values into their markets, relying on entrepreneurship and the private sector for their needs where the Government cannot provide. While capitalism endorses self-reliance, individualism, and the pursuit of a better life, socialism denotes such qualities by promoting entitlement, sameness, and letting others decide what quality of life you should have.
Am I being an alarmist? Please don’t make me say the phrase “slippery slope.” America is a country of extremes: Countless times we have brought ourselves to the brink always to pull back at the last minute, and I think the gradual move to communism will elicit the same response. I would like to skip the painful transition but as it is our mode of operation I will ring my bell and wait for you all to see the precipice. Change is a gradual thing, purporting itself as sideways glances. It inches ever forward, taking ground where allowances are made. Similarly socialism is not the obvious monstrosity sardonically tempered at the hands of those who would have you believe otherwise. It does not wait for you beside the road to swallow you in one gulp, rather it is the malignant disease of mediocrity punishing success and divisively subverting our American society, inching us all slowly down the same path.
dd
Comment
You have clearly defined the issue! Would that all could grasp it.
— Barbara Starr · Nov 16, 10:13 PM · #
This is a great article. I wish the other papers would pick this up too. I have never seen the American people so deceived by the media as it is today. It’s nice to see common sense brought to the table.
— FC · Nov 21, 11:26 PM · #
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