Why Socialism Fails (click here)
Posted by O.Shane BallounFebruary 14th, 2009
Stillborn from the Beginning
A truly free market works precisely because it relies on the self-serving desires of most people acting as a manifold of countervailing forces against all the other self-serving desires in the system. Everyone acting in his own self-interest with a baseline of standards (no theft, no fraud, etc.) ensures that the average wealth per capita is raised. That is, while self-centeredness is ignoble, it is the reality of the human condition, and any economic system which pretends that this can be changed outwardly in, i.e., by external forces (read: government) pressing an ideal onto human lives, only works to create and increase misery, because it is based on fantasy. Communism and its attenuated form, socialism, are noble ideals but are fatally flawed for three major reasons.
First Reason: Perversion of Incentive
Communism and socialism do not just hope for, but rely on the good of mankind in aggregate to work. In fact, apropos to a previous discussion, all political purveyors of socialism/communism are selling hope and the value received is far less than the value paid out by the buyer. Believing in the current goodness of mankind, or rather in the goodness of every individual such as to expect that he will act in the best interest of others is rank madness. Socialism wrecks the ability for people to appropriately measure value for themselves by robbing them of incentive. When the fruits of labor are taken from a person in order to redistribute them in aggregate to everyone else, including him, he resents the theft of his labor but also comes to reliance upon the redistribution.
Jamestown and Plymouth
In Thomas J. DiLorenzo’s book, How Capitalism Saved America, he recounts the story of two early colonies in America, Jamestown and Plymouth. In both, the settlers. . .
Click here to read the entire article. Attention: Teachers. Education Questions posted soon.
Tags: Communism, Failure, Free Market, Government, Introduction, Laws, Plea, Socialism, Statism, union workers, workers, Wyoming, Yeshua
Same Comment from Oshane.com: I love this post. This so amazingly describes what I haphazardly, but somewhat effectively, try to explain to people around me. Socialism is theft of my labors, Socialism is only possible through the government’s use of force, and therefore, Socialism is violence towards humanity…beautiful.
Hi Roland. The article on why “A truly free market works precisely because it relies on the self-serving desires of most people” sounds really nice and expounds the Greatness of free Enterprise and Democracy. Sounds great. But it is as much clap trap as the article on “why Socialism fails. The problem is that “both” article are babbling on about the EXTREMES of each side.
Unchecked “Free Enterprise” has lead to 2 World Wars, if we just talk about modern history.
Henry Ford machined gunned picketers outside his auto plant because he was protecting “Free Enterprise” from workers wanting their jobs back.
The RCMP shot picketers in BC because they were protecting the Companies profit margin from the demands of workers who “only” wanted to feed their children.
The Nazi party in Germany “initially” gain public support by taking the side up the laid off and starving workers against the Corporations.
On the other hand the so called “Communist Parties” in China and Russia had absolutely nothing to do with sharing with the people. They were as power grabbing and self-serving as our supposedly Democratic governments in the West.
After the World War II we had years of prosperity for both companies and the workers because we had a balance of power behind the scenes. The fifties and sixties, and most of the seventies were a balance between Companies growing and making owners rich, and the working guy feeding his family and having money left over for extras like the truck and camper, a fish boat and hockey lessons for the boys.
What balance you ask? The simple thing that most of the workers were “retired” soldiers. Henry Ford going to try and machine gun a group of soldiers to enforce his labour rues? Not likely.
Of course all this time the Communist Governments were “owning the country” in the peoples “name”. In this case though, the people were in basically the same boat as the “Democratic workers” when Henry had a gun to their heads. Just a different political label for the basically same thing.
Most of the strife in the World right now is the result of unchecked Corporate Greed. The middle East is all about OIL. Africa is all about who controls the Oil and mineral rights.
Right now the “Developed World” is going through a total financial melt down as an end result of the continual slackening of guidelines Corporate growth (buy up to a monopoly) and the Wall Street pyramid scheme. The economy can’t function because all the money is in too few hands.
Just think of a game of marbles being played in the school yard. If we let the school bully change the game rules so he can win 95% of the marbles, the game comes to a stop. Why? Because there are no more marbles for anyone else to play with.
We are there now with our economy. So the Governments are going to “make more money” so there are marbles to play with. Only now they are giving all the new marbles to the Bullies.
You want to bail out the economy? Give the marbles to the kids, not the bullies.
Give the money to the unemployed blue and white collar workers so they can make their mortgage payments and keep their house until they get another job. Future President Obama suggested “spreading the wealth” and immediately had the “uncontrolled” Free Enterprisers screaming Socialism!
There are two immediate ways out of the mess were are in right now. FOLLOW history and have another great big WAR, or LEARN from history and balance the wealth as it was in the fifties to seventies.
I know what my vote is.
Don Fern
Don, thank you for your comment. My response is here:
http://www.oshane.com/wp/2009/02/a-reply-to-a-comment-on-why-socialism-fails/
Okay, Don. You have given me (and the author, O.Shane Balloun) a lot to think about. You will receive an intelligent reply soon.
Well any economic theory of social organization is imperfect (in practice) due to the fact that our true nature comes out in the end - greediness, self-centeredness, etc.
my 2 cents…
Amen! It’s the greediness of money, power, and fame that will corrupt any of us. The strategy employed by Obama and democrats is very simple but I am amazed at the number of people who don’t see it. Democrats (Socialists) believe that by providing people more and more perceived government handouts, the more votes they will retain. The goal is get re-elected; stay in power at all cost. There was a time when a politician looked for the better good–long term. I am hard pressed to find an example of that kind of thinking in politics today–on either side of the border. Thank you Mr. Flahr for your comment. I really look forward to your comment on my last article because I know you will shoot straight and not just say something I want to hear.
http://lc-capslock.org/images/capslock.jpg