“If socialist understood economics they wouldn’t be socialist.” Friedrich Hayek
The greatest threat facing the United States today doesn’t come from China, Iran, or even Russia; it’s the growing number of Americans, primarily millennials, who believe Karl Marx’s socialism provides the best political and economic strategy for making our communities safer, healthier and more prosperous. But the most significant danger posed by socialism is that it’s implementation would lead to greater poverty, fewer property rights, numerous moral problems, the limiting of individual liberty and religious freedoms. History shows that when reduced to it’s simplest legal and practical expression, socialism means the complete discarding of the institution of private property by transforming it into public property, a tenant of communism. To reinforce the point, I will quote Vladimir Lenin, “The goal of socialism is communism”. Now let’s look at the terrible effects on a nation when socialism is implemented.
1. It kills economic growth: Strong economic growth like the type we are experiencing now, creates jobs, tax revenue and a better standard of living for everyone, poor and middle class. Socialism strangles economic growth by penalizing success through very high taxation and rewarding failure and lack of initiative. When you loot the hardworking successful people in a society to transfer wealth to the less successful, you reduce the number of successful people and encourage more to accept failure or mediocrity. Soon, you have a never ending cycle. The more people in need there are, the more the successful must be penalized to pay for them. The results are wealth is soon concentrated into a few hands, the economy slows down, and even more people are jobless and dependent on the government. This continues on until finally the sluggish economy cannot produce enough tax revenue to sustain itself. Socialism finally kills the goose that lays the golden eggs. Venezuela is the latest example of this with people eating out of garbage cans and fleeing the country.
2. If stifles free speech: Why are liberals constantly disrupting conservative speaker’s on campus? Why are there extreme speech codes in Canada that practically make some conservative arguments illegal? Because socialism cannot stand up to the light of day. It requires protection, propaganda, intimidation and darkness to survive. Socialism can’t survive honest, informed debate about its merits among people who are free to choose or reject it because it would not survive the conversation.
3. It leads to an increasing tyrannical government: Freedom and socialism go together like oil and water. Laws mandating the confiscation of private property and income as well as the enforcement of political correctness, requires the steel hand of an oppressive government. Simply look at Venezuela today to see true government tyranny.
4. It creates strife and division: Socialism is all about turning people against each other through class warfare. It has to be. After all, if you believe in controlling peoples lives, their speech, their thoughts, their healthcare, the people who do not yield to control will be vilified to use Lenin’s own words. Words such as racist, sexist, homophobe, bigot will be used against anyone who resists socialism. In France, Germany, and Great Britain, people are now jailed for standing against political correctness. “Victim” classes must be created for the socialists to defend which gives the socialist a need to exist. Hatred among classes naturally occurs.
5. Socialist believe the end justify the means: Like the pigs in Orwell’s Animal Farm, socialist believe that, “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal that others.” For socialist, the overriding concern is always promoting socialism; therefore rules, process and regulation means different things for different people. Just observe the different treatment that conservatives receive in the media and in the courts. We now have a two tiered justice system. When Fidel Castro died he had a net worth of $900 million compared to $120.00 for the average Cuban.
As a nation we are approaching a fork in the road as far as the future of all Americans. Will we fall for the Ponzi scheme know as socialism? Will we surrender our freedoms to an oppressive government that will forever snuff out our liberties?
Only time will tell.
Dan Dugger