The other problem with socialism

American Thinker ^ | 25 Jun, 2026 | Chris Talgo

[MtnClimber]

The left’s long march through the institutions has created a culture that champions socialism under the misguided assumption that it is moral.

n 1976, Margaret Thatcher said during a television interview, “Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money.”

Over the years, that quote has been whittled down to the renowned proverb: The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.

This is a powerful argument against socialism. Even better, it has been validated time and time again, most notably when the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics collapsed in 1991. The Soviet Union was an economic basket case, and the whole world witnessed its demise.

But socialism has an even bigger problem: it is immoral.

Even if it did somehow work efficiently and effectively at an economic level, it would still be immoral.

A broad definition of “moral” is “conforming to a standard of behavior that is considered right and good by most people.” Morality is synonymous with truth, honor, honesty, fairness, righteousness, and virtue.

Immorality is the antithesis of morality. It is synonymous with wickedness, callousness, evil, sin, vileness, viciousness, darkness, and ruthlessness.

Socialism, in its depraved but effective way, appeals to people’s worst instincts and impulses. It presents the world as a zero-sum game in which there are winners and losers. It pits groups of people against each other based on arbitrary measures. For the narrow-minded, it makes sense.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Society
KEYWORDS: leftism

[MtnClimber]

I doubt AOC or Mamdani will read this article.

[FreeperCell]

Do they both work for the government? What are the odds?

[joshua c]

socialism is the best chance for politicians to become

trillionaires

[ComputerGuy]

None of the people I know who favor socialism would be content to be worker bees. They all think they should be in charge.

[ClearCase_guy]

bfl

[brownsfan]

We let them get to the kids. Now, it seems the public is rapidly turning to the opinion: “Why not try socialism”.

I think it’s coming, fortunately, I’m going.

[rlmorel]

What a great article.

The coupling of socialism with the "Seven Deadly Sins" was brilliantly done, in my opinion, and I admire the brevity and direct statement of truth in this quote from the article:

"For those who outright reject moral relativism, deconstructionism, postmodernism, and critical theory in favor of universal truth, reason, logic, and fairness, socialism is obviously not up your alley."

[Sicon]

It would be tragic if the United States, which fought on the side of freedom throughout the Cold War, succumbed to socialism in the end.

Right now, I'm not sure if it will be socialism or mohammedism that kills the U.S.

[central_va]

For 50 years the middle class and working class have been pillaged by globalist economics that have off shored, imported, put up with foreign trade protectionism, nil import tariffs and imported cheaper replacements that has seriously devalued the labor of the US working class.

This is the perfect seedbed for socialism to grow and fester.

I don't think there's any stopping it. Certainly the moneyed Republican "leadership" sees no reason to panic. It's just those pesky populists complaining again as usual.

[Brian Griffin]

Should any government spend $800,000 to give a guy in Los Angeles an apartment?

[Tell It Right]

Agreed. Thanks for posting, MtnClimber.

FReeper rlmorel is right that this article greatly summarizes the core tenets of socialism as having a foundation on classic sins from the Bible. We don't often think of socialism as such, but this article makes it very clear.

[Bookshelf]

WIKI Along with Elliott, who ran for Congress in 1900, {Eugene} Debs was the first federal office candidate for the fledgling socialist party, running unsuccessfully for president the same year.[27] Debs and his running mate Job Harriman received 87,945 votes (0.6 percent of the popular vote) and no electoral votes.[28]
Following the 1900 Election, the Social Democratic Party and dissidents who had split from the Socialist Labor Party in 1899 unified forces at a Socialist Unity Convention held in Indianapolis in mid-1901 – a meeting which established the Socialist Party of America (SPA).[24]
Debs with his brother Theodore Debs while he was running for president in the 1908 election
Debs was the Socialist Party of America candidate for president in 1904, 1908, 1912, and 1920 (the final time from prison). Though he received increasing numbers of popular votes in each subsequent election, he never won any votes in the Electoral College.[29][30][31][32] In both 1904 and 1908, Debs ran with running-mate Ben Hanford. They received 402,810 votes in 1904, for 3.0 percent of the popular vote and an overall third-place finish.[29] In the 1908 election, they received a slightly higher number of votes (420,852) than in their previous run, but at 2.8 percent, a smaller percentage of the total votes cast.[30] In 1912, Debs ran with Milwaukee mayor Emil Seidel as a running mate and received 901,551 votes, which was 6.0 percent of the popular vote, which remains the all-time highest percentage of the vote for a Socialist Party candidate in a U.S. presidential election. Though Debs won no state’s electoral votes, in Florida, he came in second behind Wilson and ahead of President William Howard Taft and former President Theodore Roosevelt.[31] Being nominated a fourth time at the party’s 1920 convention, Debs ran his final presidential campaign with Seymour Stedman as his running mate. In 1920, Debs won 914,191 votes (3.4%), which remains the all-time high number of votes for a Socialist Party candidate in a U.S. presidential election. ...The size of the vote is nevertheless remarkable since Debs was at the time a federal prisoner in jail for sedition, though he promised to pardon himself if elected.

[spokeshave]

Winston Churchill ha them pegged:

“Christopher Columbus was the first socialist: he didn’t know where he was going, he didn’t know where he was, and he did it all at taxpayers’ expense.”

[spokeshave]

ha = had....sorry need more cvoeffe

[alloysteel]

Not only does the money supply run out, but the INCENTIVE to exert any effort soon disappears as well, which compounds the problem of lack of negotiable currency by a great magnitude as compared to the system which has been destroyed.

Fiat currency, the distribution of tokens, only serves the rather small cadre of authoritarian figures who are the enforcers of this compulsory scheme of scarcity. Only the most criminal of the rest of the existing underclass ever has much chance at upward mobility. And they gain that by shooting or conniving their way into the palace.

Palace revolutions are not representative republics.

[Carry_Okie]

Socialism starts with covetousness; the simple GREED to fan one’s ego with “generosity” at the expense of others.

[right way right]

I think we the people who don’t kill the socialists and eliminate the threat they pose to freedom under God is the real problem.

[right way right]

Why do the socialists not live in fear of rearing their disgusting heads?

[Jan_Sobieski]

Socialism is legislated government theft. I would argue through progressive taxation, social security/medicare, government deficit spending, and inflation, the US is a socialist nation.