Socialism is evil
Walter E. Williams (back to web version) |
SendPosted on 10/21/2004 7:38:23 PM PDT by vannrox
townhall.com
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Socialism is evil
Walter E. Williams (back to web version) | Send
July 28, 2004
What is socialism? We miss the boat if we say it's the agenda of left-wingers and Democrats. According to Marxist doctrine, socialism is a stage of society between capitalism and communism where private ownership and control over property are eliminated. The essence of socialism is the attenuation and ultimate abolition of private property rights. Attacks on private property include, but are not limited to, confiscating the rightful property of one person and giving it to another to whom it doesn't belong. When this is done privately, we call it theft. When it's done collectively, we use euphemisms: income transfers or redistribution. It's not just left-wingers and Democrats who call for and admire socialism but right-wingers and Republicans as well.
Republicans and right-wingers support taking the earnings of one American and giving them to farmers, banks, airlines and other failing businesses. Democrats and left-wingers support taking the earnings of one American and giving them to poor people, cities and artists. Both agree on taking one American's earnings to give to another; they simply differ on the recipients. This kind of congressional activity constitutes at least two-thirds of the federal budget.
Regardless of the purpose, such behavior is immoral. It's a reduced form of slavery. After all, what is the essence of slavery? It's the forceful use of one person to serve the purposes of another person. When Congress, through the tax code, takes the earnings of one person and turns around to give it to another person in the forms of prescription drugs, Social Security, food stamps, farm subsidies or airline bailouts, it is forcibly using one person to serve the purposes of another.
The moral question stands out in starker relief when we acknowledge that those spending programs coming out of Congress do not represent lawmakers reaching into their own pockets and sending out the money. Moreover, there's no tooth fairy or Santa Claus giving them the money. The fact that government has no resources of its very own forces us to acknowledge that the only way government can give one American a dollar is to first -- through intimidation, threats and coercion -- take that dollar from some other American.
Some might rejoin that all of this is a result of a democratic process and it's legal. Legality alone is no guide for a moral people. There are many things in this world that have been, or are, legal but clearly immoral. Slavery was legal. Did that make it moral? South Africa's apartheid, Nazi persecution of Jews, and Stalinist and Maoist purges were all legal, but did that make them moral?
Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? I think not. That's why socialism is evil. It uses evil means (coercion) to achieve what are seen as good ends (helping people). We might also note that an act that is inherently evil does not become moral simply because there's a majority consensus.
An argument against legalized theft should not be construed as an argument against helping one's fellow man in need. Charity is a noble instinct; theft, legal or illegal, is despicable. Or, put another way: Reaching into one's own pocket to assist his fellow man is noble and worthy of praise. Reaching into another person's pocket to assist one's fellow man is despicable and worthy of condemnation.
For the Christians among us, socialism and the welfare state must be seen as sinful. When God gave Moses the commandment "Thou shalt not steal," I'm sure He didn't mean thou shalt not steal unless there's a majority vote. And I'm sure that if you asked God if it's OK just being a recipient of stolen property, He would deem that a sin as well.
©2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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supposedly if you ask the question, What is liberty? And make people choose A) the freedom to do what you want or B) freedom from restraints
Conservatives generalyl choose B and Liberals generally choose A. Because that is how they define it in their minds.
"Of course here I am drawing a distinction between "liberals" and true socialists or leftists who do actually have political principles, the principles of socialism."
- as your tag line says, many Democrats are heard animals. Most of them know not what they do.
The absolute worst kind are those that know the results of liberalims/socialism but still politik in it for political gain. These people are scum.
Socialism is evil.
So why do so many (R)'s support it?
And your conclusion abotu political prinicpals is interesting. I'll have to think about that one.
This just in: The Pope is Catholic! =^)
As a little girl, I was shocked when I first learned what a foreclosed home was...even worse, that the gov’t sold it back to the public and there are actually ppl who want to buy these properties and not feel the least bit uncomfortable living in them knowing that the poor ppl/family who just lost their home are in a devastating situation right now.
Now, I am 23 years old and I am feeling troubled about applying for food stamps which my parents are pressing on me about. I refused to make an immediate decision and insisted that I do a little more research first to see just what food stamps are and how God feels about them.
I have only been a born-again Christian for about 2-3 years, and recently got baptized into the Seventh-Day Adventist Church last October. Prior to that, I was an atheist and not the least bit spiritual in any sense. Thus, I am sincerely trying to find out what the right thing to do is, in God’s eyes, and not doing something just because of tradition, peer pressure, biases, etc.
This was a beautiful response you wrote to the article...Thank you...I feel a bit better now that there are still people who asks themselves what God thinks before making a self-gratifying or self-proclaimed decision on government-related issues.
Please keep in touch with me, I would love to speak to you more on this. God bless.
Rebecca
Yes, socialism is evil! Communism is also evil! Fascism, which is socialism, is also evil! The article on Socialism is Evil, is excellent, though I am adding to it a bit wider horizon: Capitalism is also evil! We need to look at South America and see what it had done there as well as in some other places around the Globe. Therefore, we must add to our thinking and analyses the universal approach or virtue, which will place human relationships into the proper and desired position. That virtue is morality!
The morality is always proportional to the quality of the social and every other human relationship. Therefore, those societies that have achieved high living standards are always those that were moral societies. Therefore, our conclusion, looking at the map of our world, must be obvious that the highest standard of living had been and still is in the so-called western hemisphere. Why? Because the majority of its citizens, at one point in time, had personally adopted a (world)view that there must be a just, living, personal, and above all good, full of beauty Being on High, which rewards those who love Him/God because they believe that He loved them first. Therefore, the aftermath of this kind of life’s philosophy is and has been a cleaner and more just society. In conclusion, it is not just the system but it is a perception of this kind that when translated into deeds, gives, very much, the desired results.
Thank you,
Frank Dragash (frankdragash@hotmail.com)
Book: How Then Should We Reason...
Although a democrat is not necessarily a socialist, they are leaning more in that direction all the time, actually i guess i considered my self a democrat in my younger days.
Back then it was ignorance, now i would be ashamed to call my self a democrat simply because it is a republic that was set up, not a democracy.
I hope i am wrong but i do not see it getting anything but worse and i doubt if most of the younger generation will even see it because it has not happened over night.
It will take a great disaster to get any ones attention, people will have to be starving to death and dropping like flies before they will realize the Government can not take care of them.
The Constitution is a Capitalist Document. Those who oppose that are enemies of the Constitution. Can Americans be unAmerican, you bet! The oath of office demands that the one taking the oath defend the Constitution against ALL enemies, foreign and DOMESTIC!
Socialism is Communism without guns.
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