Posted on 11/01/2008 6:13:42 AM PDT by Houmatt
I have a friend who is talking about how socialism "works." She needs to be taken down a peg or two but I don't know where to start. Any suggestions?
Miton Friedman's “Free to Chose”
“The Road to Serfdom” by Hayek
GMTA
Easiest solution: “Animal Farm”
Cheers!
Fredrich Hayek “Road To Serfdom”
An unimpeachable classic work in political philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, and economics, The Road to Serfdom has inspired and infuriated politicians, scholars, and general readers for half a century. Originally published in 1944—when Eleanor Roosevelt supported the efforts of Stalin, and Albert Einstein subscribed lock, stock, and barrel to the socialist program—The Road to Serfdom was seen as heretical for its passionate warning against the dangers of state control over the means of production. For F. A. Hayek, the collectivist idea of empowering government with increasing economic control would lead not to a utopia but to the horrors of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
First published by the University of Chicago Press on September 18, 1944, The Road to Serfdom garnered immediate, widespread attention. The first printing of 2,000 copies was exhausted instantly, and within six months more than 30,000 books were sold. In April 1945, Reader’s Digest published a condensed version of the book, and soon thereafter the Book-of-the-Month Club distributed this edition to more than 600,000 readers. A perennial best seller, the book has sold 400,000 copies in the United States alone and has been translated into more than twenty languages, along the way becoming one of the most important and influential books of the century.
What book? Just show her Russia. That is the next step beyond Socialism.
And I mean pre-Putin Russia. Pre-Reagan Russia. Where there is seperation of church and state and the “stupid Christian right” didn’t have any kind of hold on the government. Most lefties applaud that. But also point out that NO religion was tolerated. They think communism and socialism is some sort of Utopia, but nothing comes without a price.
My parents paid my bills growing up, but part of the trade off of that was “As long as you live under my roof...” and I had to obey.
Now ask if they want that from an unescapable government. You can’t move out if you don’t like the rules. Part of communism is that they own you and don’t take kindly to losing their property. That’s another thing that the “I want my money” socialists don’t realize. What is the difference between communism and slavery? Well, not much.
“Darkness at Noon” Arthur Koestler
Whitaker Chambers “Witness”
LOL. I’m having a good brain day :)
Eat the Rich by P.J. O’Rourke. It’s very funny and accessible to the general reader.
You don’t need her to read anything. Just skip right to her point: ask her to share all her money with you.
Most leftists, particularly the celebrity type, only want to redistribute OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY.
You're not kidding. I spent six months out of the country back in '86. Best thing that ever happened to me. I was still a flaming lib for quite a while afterwards, but looking back at it I can tell you that's when the seeds were sown for my conversion to conservatism.
I just bought that one. Is it tough to get through or an easy read?
"Atlas Shrugged", and "We the Living" by Ayn Rand (who lived in Russia and experienced the aftermath of the Russian Revolution before her family got out)
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