Socialism vs. Capitalism: Which is the Moral System

ohn M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. ^ | October 1993 | C. Bradley Thompson

[Fintan]

---

I don't know if this has ever been posted, but it's an interesting read and worth bookmarking...

---

 

[Dark Skies]

Capitalism works better than socialism (communism is a stupid tool)...there is an alternative.

bump

[Army Air Corps]

This is some good stuff.

[mojojockey]

You can learn Capitalism from my blog Capitalism's Truths

[mojojockey]

Aren't you glad we are the new media?

[teenyelliott]

Capitalism is much better because it gives people incentive, reward, a sense of pride, and self worth.

If socialism was really beneficial to those on the receiving end, why are those who are now on welfare not happier and more productive?

You take away opportunity and accomplishment, you take away the spirit.

[Hypervigilant]

Neither.

Free markets are more efficient. Communism is inefficient and relies on the premise that people will work as hard as they can and take only what they need. Wrong answer.

[dfwgator]

The problem in poor countries is not the unequal distribution of wealth, it's the unequal distribution of capitalism.

[Fintan]

---

Great blog...Bookmarked and I'll visit often

---

 

[jazusamo]

Great piece and it's book marked. Pride and self esteem is very hard to acquire in a socialist state.

[saganite]

It reads like Ayn Rand but with no nod to her from this author as being a defender of Capitalism. Maybe he mentions her elsewhere.

[ansel12]

How does one bookmark an article.

[Victoria Delsoul]

The return of capitalism will not happen until there is a moral revolution in this country. We must rediscover and then teach our young the virtues associated with being free and independent citizens. Then and only then, will there be social justice in America.

Excellent article – totally refreshing and most uplifting. As I was reading it, I kept saying, that's right... absolutely, right on!

When the author states that, socialism is the social system which institutionalizes envy and self-sacrifice: It is the social system which uses compulsion and the organized violence of the State to expropriate wealth from the producer class for its redistribution to the parasitical class... he's absolutely correct.

Have you noticed how envious of the “rich” the socialists/liberals are. Whenever the “rich,” meaning you and I and the ordinary Joe, get a tax-break or are about to get a tax-break the Liberals scream “that's unfair!”

Their envy and hatred for big companies or big enterprises has poisoned people's mind and soul into what has become a culture of entitlement. What the socialists fail to understand is that big companies and enterprises, and small companies I might add, are the heart of our economy, and capitalism is the force that drives our business forward and makes us more competitive, successful and profitable.

Thus the author said it best:

The morality of socialism can be summed-up in two words: envy and self-sacrifice. Envy is the desire to not only possess another’s wealth but also the desire to see another’s wealth lowered to the level of one’s own. Socialism’s teaching on self-sacrifice was nicely summarized by two of its greatest defenders, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini. The highest principle of Nazism (National Socialism), said Goering, is: "Common good comes before private good." Fascism, said Mussolini, is " a life in which the individual, through the sacrifice of his own private interests…realizes that completely spiritual existence in which his value as a man lies."

[Army Air Corps]

I have a colleague who falls squarely into the envy camp. he once said that he hates rich people. Let me repeat, he said that he HATES rich people. When I mentioned how much more they pay in taxes and how they are vital to our economy, he replied with a statement to the effect that he hated rich people because they have more "stuff" than other people and that was not "fair". When I mentioned that they worked for it, his only reply was that they somehow screwed other people to acquire all that wealth. This same fellow was also a Kerry voter (he personally preferred Edwards for president). He also did not grasp the irony that he was voting for two very wealthy men who wanted to keep their cash at the expense of others.

[martin_fierro]

You can't get good chinese takeout in China and cuban cigars are rationed in Cuba. That's all you need to know about communism. -- P.J. O'Rourke

[Young Werther]

John Galt expresses the moral basis for Capitalism as compared to the shameful extortion and exploitation of Socialism!

Read Ayn Rand in all her glory in "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead".

[Victoria Delsoul]

This same fellow was also a Kerry voter (he personally preferred Edwards for president).

It figures! Your friend is a socialist.

[carolinacrazy]

Capitalism provides for the truest form of freedom in the world. It would be very difficult to find any successful country who's foundation of government didn't consist of some capitalism.

If you look at America, it is the socialist aspects of our government that weaken it. If it wasn't for welfare, supplementation of health care, outlandish federal employee benefits, handouts for foreign countries to the tune of trillions, and over the top legal judgments, this country would be much stronger and a better representative of true capitalism.

Morals? I believe in tough love, teaching a man to fish. If asking the question of which one is more moral, it really depends on what your morals are doesn't it. Morals and sympathy are too often mistaken for one another.