Why Socialism Does Not Work

American Thinker ^ | 16 Dec, 2021 | Anthony Matoria

[MtnClimber]

The resurgence of socialist ideology is curious given the unpleasant history of that doctrine. The historical evidence is that socialism does not work as claimed. Moreover, when socialism has been tried, it has all too frequently been accompanied by catastrophe and atrocity. It is not unfair to say that history has not been kind to socialism and vice versa. It is not hyperbole to note that the results of socialist government have been evil. It is also reasonable to conclude that many of the failures of socialism were due to inherent weaknesses in its doctrines and philosophies. Stated simply, the history of socialism as a large-scale governing principle is one of misery and failure.

Some of the appeal of socialism is due to its proponents’ selectively disavowing past socialist failures while also adopting successes that are not socialist. It is common to hear that the mass deaths that accompanied the socialist enterprises of the 20th century and the ongoing economic catastrophe that is Venezuela were not socialist per se but rather artifacts of circumstance. It is also claimed that public financing of roads, schools, and public services are species of socialism when they are, in fact, methods of allocating the benefits of private enterprise to public purposes. Much of the appeal of socialism is a semantic artifice. The socialism that is promised in current politics will always work in the imagination and fail in reality. There are very simple reasons for why this is so.

Socialism, as an economic and political doctrine, is not social safety nets or paying taxes to fund public services. It is government control of capital. All economic systems, whether in the United States, or North Korea, or Zimbabwe, require capital. The difference lies in who controls the capital,

[MtnClimber]

[Ikeon]

Everything a socialist democrat touches turns to sht. 100% guaranteed. P>The pilgrims at Plymouth tried it and almost starved. Some people found more important things to do instead of work when promised an equal share in everything.

[\/\/ayne]

"From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" assumes that mankind is inherently noble. With distracting religion banned, all will only take what they need and give all that they can.

Well, that doesn't work. Most will give only what they have to and take as much as they can get. With no incentive, innovation dies and life is just a dreary prison full of starving people.

[Jim Noble]

Well, points for one thing: Who controls the capital is, indeed, the central problem of politics today, or rather, using propaganda and censorship to obscure the answer is the central problem of politics today.

[SauronOfMordor]

Why does the free market work? For similar reasons that make gambling a big business: lots of people wanting to risk their time and effort to start a business in hopes that they will get a jackpot. Most new businesses fail, but the ones that succeed drive the economy.

[Phoenix8]

I have an in law , actually nice, quite intelligent and has a well paying Job—but young. He spoke favorably of socialism actually once when I was denigrating it he called it:

AWESOMISM —- he made the name up. He thinks socialism is all about people helping each other.

What’s funny is he is college educated but on computers, never have heard him talk once about Mao, Stalin. The Killing Fields, Tienamen Square. I’m not sure he even is aware they occurred. I don’t think he was ever taught about them.

I think that’s why our younger generation is turning back to socialism. COLLEGE (to a lesser degree HS)

[Leaning Right]

> “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” <

A root problem with socialism is the answer to this question: Who determines what each person gives, and gets? The answer is a central committee somewhere determines that. The person has no say.

Some starry-eyed socialists don’t realize that. They don’t see that socialism really is a fascist system. But many socialists do realize that. They just want to be on the central committee.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Socialism fails because it it makes assumptions about human nature and human responses that are in complete conflict with reality.

[joshua c]

it gives too much power to the govt

[rlmorel]

In a nutshell: Economic Liberty and Personal Liberty are inextricably intertwined. You cannot have Economic Liberty without Personal Liberty, and you cannot have Personal Liberty without Economic Liberty.

Remove one Liberty, and the other goes with it.

[rlmorel]

"...One of the most pernicious and profound defects of socialism is that incentives within a socialist system are incompatible with human nature..."

That is the truth.

The US Constitution was constructed to take into account human nature, because the founders recognized that Men were (and are) inherently flawed.

Leftists believe Man is perfectible, if you address issues such as Poverty, Ignorance, Disease, etc.

[wny]

…because sooner or later you run out of other people’s money…

[sphinx]

Socialism would work if only we had the right people in charge.

I am the right person.

The flaw in socialism is that I can’t seem to get everyone to agree that I should be king.

Tyranny is when anyone else tries to be king, so we are at an impasse.

[USAF1985]

Had an active duty Staff Sergeant tell me to my face that “some parts of communism are good!” I asked him to name just one...he couldn’t. I then told him that he was lucky to be in the service today. In my time, saying something that would get him removed from the service. Then I got accused of embarrassing him in front of his peers. I have a caution sign to snowflakes on my cubicle entrance for those guys now.

[TexasFreeper2009]

exactly, the only human element socialism recognizes is envy, it ignores all others.

[Reeses]

Socialism is government control of energy. All economic systems, whether in the United States, or North Korea, or Zimbabwe, require energy. The difference lies in who controls the energy, and consequently, who profits from it. The fundamental flaw of socialism is that it contains no optimizing mechanism for selecting those who will manage energy most efficiently.

The author wrote capital, but money is just a form of data, which is why most of it is now stored and processed by computers. At its root, money is data about energy.

The term capitalism was invented by leftists, as was the term socialism. Don't let leftists control the language. The capital concept is too abstract for most people to work with. Most free market participants need far more free access to low-cost energy than they do leftist abstractions. Further, there is nothing social at all about envy, and therefore nothing social about socialism.

[varyouga]

NO system works when the majority of citizens are immoral, greedy and don’t believe in anything more than material wealth.

The material power of capitalism under such an immoral Godless climate that is festering worldwide may very well eclipse any horrors we have seen from socialism so far...

[super7man]

Fundamentally, Socialism is contrary to the human nature of an individual. The individual will always emerge to preserve itself, even if it is at odds of the stated common good.

Early on in the Covid epidemic thing, China had set up bed wards to contain those who had contracted the virus. Basically they were places where you were put to die (for the common good).

I saw a video of a little Chinese lady fighting like a wild cat not to be dragged into one of these centers. It took 5 men to drag her down the hall kicking and screaming.

She had probably spent her whole life espousing the wonder, brilliance and benefit of the Socialist system in China. Yet at the end, the individual re-emerged.