Socialist Pipe Dreams and the Assault on Capitalism

A lot of very bad ideas, philosophies, and economic theories seem to have a life of their own. No matter that history has demonstrated their failure, they continue, inculcating each new generation. Such is the case with socialism, but in a strange twist of fate, socialism has come to embrace capitalism as the best means to further its goal of redistributing wealth. Without the success of capitalism, socialism simply would not have the means to advance itself.

Socialism, however, once in control, stifles capitalism and brings whole nations to their knees when it becomes clear that the ever-expanding matrix of laws that redistribute wealth cripples the means by which that wealth is created. America is now a nation with a capitalist economy and a socialist system of government. That process began in earnest during the years Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in office and has continued apace ever since.

Socialism is the economic system of Europe and the United Kingdom. In China, its communist leadership has abandoned its failed system to embrace capitalism so long as the party remains in power. All around the world, capitalism has proved its power to increase prosperity and all around the world socialism struggles to gain control of that prosperity.

In October, the XXII Congress of the Socialist International met in San Paulo, Chile, "to promote a new world order based on a new multilateralism for peace, security, sustainable development, social justice, democracy, respect for human rights and gender equality." Who is against peace? Democracy? But who understands that "sustainable development", a term ginned up by hardcore environmentalists, conspires to thwart economic growth?

Few seem to understand that environmentalism, hiding behind the mask of noble sounding goals, is in fact socialism with its goal of destroying property rights, the very pillar of capitalism! Without property rights there can be no capitalism. Without the right to save, spend and invest one’s earnings, the individual ceases to be a capitalist and becomes merely the means by which socialism is advanced in the name of "social justice", "protecting the environment", and "human rights."

Who among us would oppose such noble goals? I am often accused of not understanding, nor supporting the need for clean air, clean water, and other environmental goals. What I oppose is the use of these goals to achieve what is, in fact, a vast matrix of laws and regulations that destroy property rights by requiring homes, farms and other structures be sold to the government in order to create "a viewshed", i.e., an area "returned" to its natural state or to declare property to be a "wetland" because the occasional migrating bird may show up.

I oppose the use of "endangered species" laws to deprive property owners of the right to improve a site or deny the development of structures such as hospitals, schools or the building of new corporate campuses, factories or retail outlets that generate jobs and expand the economic base of a community.

I oppose the unnecessary mandated cost of having to "recycle" waste that is often more expensive than merely creating additional landfills. This is the case of laws that require people to separate glass and plastic, and to bundle newspapers.

I oppose the expansion of purely socialist programs such as Social Security or Medicare that deny people the right to allocate their own money to their own needs. These programs not only are running out of funding, but in the case of Medicare have now added trillions to an existing system rife with waste, further denying people choices about health providers. These programs in effect undermine personal responsibility in the name of "social justice" and, in the case of Social Security, not only is the money taken from one’s paycheck (nearly half of every earned dollar), it is then taxed again as income.

At the San Paulo Socialist Congress, the primary message was the advocacy of "global governance" when anyone paying any attention to the failure of the United Nations to achieve any peace anywhere in the world is there for anyone to see. This is the same UN that wants the power to tax all financial transactions, have its own private military and a judicial system that would supercede our own. Moreover, the UN’s roster of member nations is filled with those that are either outright despotisms as in the Middle East or which are communist dictatorships as is the case of Red China, North Korea, and Cuba.

The Socialist Congress declared, "The global divide between poverty and wealth has reached intolerable proportions" and decried "the mounting pressure on natural resources" that makes "the current model of globalization unsustainable." This ignores the fact that the Western model of capitalism works and those nations that do not embrace democracy and capitalism suffer for that failure. Only the expansion of democracy and capitalism can insure that Third World nations can catch up, but many are rife with tribalism, superstition, despotism, and other impediments that impede the creation of jobs, entrepreneurism, and wealth.

The Socialist Congress called for "global ecological balance" whatever that means! There is no way to achieve ecological balance in areas of the world where vast deserts exist. There is no way to create wealth in areas where timber cannot be harvested. There is no way to create wealth where access to natural resources such as coal, oil and gas is denied. Wealth that is seized by tyrants like Saddam Hussein and other oligarchies leaves the people of these nations impoverished and denies them justice.

What the Socialist Congress offers is a program of ever-expanding government control of the lives of everyone on the Earth, ignoring the fact that government at any level unfailingly does a poor job by comparison with the free market forces that respond to the real needs of people and does so affordably because they must be competitive. The world does not need "global government" and Americans clearly need far less government involvement in every aspect of our lives.

There is no greater tyranny than that imposed "for your own good." That is the antithesis of freedom. That is the essence of socialism. Our government, "conceived in liberty", cannot survive the tender mercies of socialism. The recent Socialist Congress, totally unreported by our mainstream media, demonstrates that this destructive, regressive economic system remains the ultimate threat.