The lunatic left is proposing another baby step towards socialism. On July 26th, Representatives Barbara Lee (CA-12), Summer Lee (PA-12), Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), and Rashida Tlaib (MI-12) proposed the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act. It is yet another attempt to use taxation to, as Barack Obama would say,
“Spread the wealth around.” They wish to be modern day Robin Hoods – taking from society’s most productive, and giving to society’s most dependent.
Although the act has no chance of passing, it does illustrate a disturbing trend – Democrat willingness to use envy to advance its socialist agenda. Barbara Lee and her cohorts are the devil, whispering in our ear to violate the “Thou shalt not covet” commandment in the name of social justice. Unfortunately, they are also advocating an economic model which is inherently self-destructive. It’s almost as if Satan wishes us harm – go figure.
Socialism is fundamentally flawed. To understand its flaw, we need to examine its economic alternatives – capitalism and communism.
Capitalism requires private ownership of property and the means of production. Property rights are sacred in capitalism, and people are allowed to keep the fruits of their labor. Since labor comes with rewards, people are incentivized to work hard, and productivity is maximized.
Capitalism rewards individual achievement, but it depends on honoring individual rights. For it to work, people must be allowed to own property and choose how to lead their lives.
However, the distribution of the resulting bounty is unequal. People who work the hardest and the smartest get the greatest rewards. Because rewards are dependent on personal choices, there will be differences in individual standards of living. Some people will be rich, others will be poor, and most will be in the middle. However, everyone will have unlimited opportunity. Each person’s standing in the economy is dependent on their choices.
But capitalism has a vulnerability. It creates envy. Consequently, it also provides the opportunity for unscrupulous politicians to pander to that envy with legislation like the OLIGARCH Act.
Communism requires state ownership of property and the means of production. It promises equity – which sounds idyllic until observed in practice.
According to Karl Marx, the objective of communism is: “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” In his model, workers are to donate the fruit of their labor to the commune (state) and receive back from the commune what they need to survive. The state manages production and controls the distribution of rewards. Citizens are merely worker bees serving the hive. The needs of the commune supersede the rights of the individual.
But when humans are denied the rewards of their labor, they tend to minimize their labor. It’s a human nature thing that Karl failed to account for in his manifesto. Humans work for rewards. When work is disconnected from reward, minimal work will be done.
Therefore, the only way to maintain subsistence level production in a communist system is through force. Individual rights are waived for the needs of the commune, and the whip is applied to achieve the necessary work output.
Communism inevitably uses force to place individuals in the service of others – slavery. The greatest application of slave labor the world has ever known, is being practiced right now in communist China.
Communism also has a vulnerability. The human yearning for freedom creates unrest in a communist system.
Our political left is promoting socialism as a compromise between capitalism and communism. It allows private ownership of property, but uses redistribution to improve equity. However, it is an ill-conceived attempt by the economically illiterate to mix two fundamentally incompatible systems. When gasoline is mixed with water, it doesn’t become weak gasoline. It becomes useless toxic waste. Similarly, when capitalism and communism are mixed, it is not a workable economy. It is a flawed economic system which is destined for collapse.
Since socialism leaves the means of production in the private sector, the left argues that it will provide the abundance of capitalism. But with taxation and redistribution, they intend to provide more equal distribution of wealth. The government just needs to take a bit from those that have too much – and don’t pay their fair share anyway – and give it to the less fortunate, who never acquired a work ethic. It should provide the wealth of capitalism with the equity communism. Perfect!
Except that isn’t what socialism provides. It delivers just the opposite of what its proponents promise. It doesn’t provide the wealth of capitalism with the equity of communism. It provides the poverty of communism with the unequal distribution of capitalism.
The redistribution of socialism limits the incentive for citizens to work. Part of their work output is being used for the benefit of others – hence less reward for themselves and more reward for those on the dole. Without incentives to avoid welfare, socialism converts welfare from a temporary emergency safety net, to a permanent way of life. Once that happens, a continually increasing population that accepts that way of life, demands a continually increasing redistribution of wealth.
Unfortunately, the redistribution diverts capital from wealth creation to wealth consumption. Money is taken away from developing products, building factories, and hiring people. It is instead used to support people who choose not to contribute to the economy. Productivity declines, jobs evaporate, the welfare ranks expand, the wealthy protect their assets, and the middle class disappears. As the number of economic dependents increases, the cycle of falling work output and increasing government seizure is perpetuated.
Venezuela began its experiment with socialism in 1998 when it elected Hugo Chavez to be President. With its rich energy deposits, Venezuela had the potential to become one of the most prosperous countries in the world. Instead, the rewards of productivity were attacked. Work output fell and government redistribution increased. A mere 25 years after its flirtation with socialism, the country has been reduced to poverty – with citizens raiding the zoo for food.
Socialism has never worked because it lacks the rewards required for voluntary work output, and the whip required for forced work output. It inevitably enters a death spiral of declining wealth and increasing redistribution until all the wealth is burned up. To paraphrase Margaret Thatcher: That’s when the socialists run out of other people’s money to redistribute.
Capitalism provides an abundance of wealth, but fails when we covet each other’s possessions more than our own freedom. Communism provides and equal distribution of poverty, but fails when we value freedom over security. Socialism simply destroys itself. It is a seductive invitation to an economic system which will eventually commit suicide by burning up everything of value.
Author Bio: John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, and American Free News Network. He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.
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