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.
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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