Socialism and communism has never created prosperity for the general public. Only the politicians and their cronies get rich under socialism. China is one heckuva example. Starting from grinding poverty under Mao-Tse-Tung, it now has over a million new millionaires. And soon to be the largest economy in the world.
“China is one heckuva example.”
Or look at Germany, or Korea.
Here are (or were in Germany’s case) 2 countries, with the exact same people (and very smart and hard working people in both cases), the same land, culture, tradition, etc.
On the commie side: deprivation, oppression, misery, on the free side: tremendous wealth, productivity, creativity, and general contentment.
Also the example of the Kibbutzes in Israel that Milton Friedman gives in a book. Highly motivated people who wanted to live communally on Kibbutzes, but they really just didn’t like it after a while.
People really do want to be free, they just don’t make good stockyard animals.