Thursday, July 23, 2020

Businessman Daniel Kowalski’s Deadly Moral Nod to Socialism and the USSR


In an article published in the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), The Soviet Union Began as a Democratic Experiment in Socialism, Daniel Kowalski starts off with . . .

When Bernie Sanders made his debut on the national stage in 2016, most Americans had never heard of democratic socialism (the idea that the government controls the means of production but we all get to vote). But in the four years following his loss to Hilary Clinton, it’s become a major topic for American politics.

After telling us how democratic socialism in the Soviet Union descended into Stalinist terror and murder, he concludes with the same old stale argument about how socialism is good in theory but doesn’t work in paractice.

And unfortunately, no one person or group is smart enough, wise enough, or capable to micromanage a society. Some theories sound great but when put into practice they get proven to be wrong. With so many historic examples documenting the failures of communism and socialism it’s baffling that so many people in America seem to want to give it a try.

In our modern age of information it’s very easy for us—and very important—to examine the past mistakes of others so that we don’t repeat them.

I posted these comments:

Kowalski entirely misses the point. There is nothing “very nice” or “great” about “the idea that the government controls the means of production but we all get to vote.” The means of production is the individual. Economics is the field of activity by which people support their lives through work, voluntary association, and trade. A government that totally controls the means of production has total control over people’s means of survival. A government with total control over people's means of survival is a government that has every individual by the throat. What freedom, what opposition, what personal choice of any kind is possible under such conditions? Does it matter whether you have a single ruler or a politburo? Whether it is elected or not? Democratic socialism is everyone giving up their personal freedom and individual rights in exchange for a totally useless vote to determine who gets to hold the legal noose. A government, of whatever kind, that has every individual by the throat is a totalitarian state. An elected tyrant is still a tyrant. Stalin’s terror is not an aberration. A government with that kind of collectivist power is sure to produce a Stalin (or Hitler) eventually. Logic confirms this truth. History has proven this time and again. 

But, there is nothing “baffling that so many people in America seem to want to give it a try.” Why? Because it’s supposed opponents keep telling them that socialism is “good” or “very nice” or “great.” 

Of course, socialism as a political system doesn’t work--not if human peace and justice and prosperity is the goal. It never will. But that is not enough to dissuade the next generation from wanting to give it another try--not as long as opponents keep telling them that socialism is morally the right thing to do. If it’s good, there must be a way to make the unworkable work.

There is no dichotomy between theory and practice. Socialism doesn’t work in practice because it is horrible in theory. Only the acceptance of the idea that it is evil and immoral for any government to usurp the individual’s inalienable right to control their own lives can socialism in any of its politically (forcibly) imposed incarnations be defeated once and for all.

Related Reading:





QUORA *: ‘What makes someone a socialist?'




“Only in a free-market system can we truly achieve individual liberty and human flourishing. Individual freedom can only exist in the context of free-market capitalism.” 

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