QUORA *: ‘Why is socialism controversial?’

QUORA *: ‘Why is socialism controversial?’

I posted this answer:

Let’s first define our terms.

Socialism is a theory of social organization based on collectivism, the vision that the good of the group, rather than the individual, is the standard of moral concern upon which a central planning authority bases its dictats. 

Controversial is a broad term. So I will assume that by “controversial” the question refers to political controversy, as opposed to, say, academic controversy. Politics is the field of human action that deals with a nation’s government, the law-making and its coercive enforcement that governs society.

In and of itself, socialism needn’t be politically controversial. When socialists get together and arrange their social organization by the voluntary consent of all individual participants, there is little practical reason for controversy. As The Communistic Societies of the United States by Charles Nordhoff and History of American Socialisms by John Humphrey Noyes document, countless socialisms arose across America prior to Marxism, thanks to this country’s free, rights-securing government that guaranteed the unalienable individual rights to life, liberty, and property. While a subject of intense debate, the theory of socialism didn’t significantly invade the political realm because these early American socialisms were voluntary arrangements respectful of the individual rights of all.

When, in the early 20th century, socialists turned to the government to impose their socialist creed on the entire society, the controversy invaded the political realm. When massive government intervention arrived, such as the “anti-depression” policies of Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt (e.g, public-works spending, farm-price maintenance, wage support, forced unionization, unemployment insurance, Social Security), socialism ceased being a voluntary arrangement and became a threat to the lives, liberties, and property of every individual in the country, including to the many people who never consented to join the socialism. The political controversy grew in lockstep with the subsequent steady growth of government-imposed socialist programs over the following hundred years.   

Today, with the modern socialists having pretty much captured a major political party, the political controversy over socialism has understandably reached new heights because the threat to liberty based upon individual rights has reached new heights. Unlike the early American socialist movements of the 19th Century, which were essentially private and voluntary, today’s socialist movement has become a political movement geared to imposing socialism, by coercive tyrannical legislative means, on the entire American society. 

This political socialism is really just crime under cover of law. In answer to the question “Why is socialism controversial?,” socialism is controversial because socialists have abandoned peaceful persuasive means and turned to political power--the power of legislative force--to advance their goals. Socialism will cease being politically controversial when socialists decide to re-join civility by renouncing the use of government force, getting out of politics, and returning to respecting the rights of others and dealing with their fellow citizens by voluntary consent and mutual agreement, leaving those not interested in the socialist lifestyle free to go about their own lives unmolested.

Related Reading:

Criminal Socialism vs. a Free Society

Criminal Socialism vs. a Free Society--a Reconfirmation

Why I Will Never Vote for a Democrat

QUORA *: ‘What makes someone a socialist?'

Socialism vs. Welfare Statism: Why These Terms Matter

Democratic Socialism: The Left Escalates America’s Journey to Totalitarianism

My review of The Forgotten Depression: 1921: The Crash That Cured Itself by James Grant

Bernie Sanders’ Evil Takes Root

* [Quora is a social media website founded by two former Facebook employees. According to Wikipedia:

Quora is a question-and-answer website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by its community of users. The company was founded in June 2009, and the website was made available to the public on June 21, 2010.[3]Quora aggregates questions and answers to topics. Users can collaborate by editing questions and suggesting edits to other users' answers.[4]

[You can also reply to other users’ answers.]

UNUSED:

That is one side of the collectivism vs. individualism philosophical divide.