What’s So Bad About Socialism?

Recently, I was having lunch with a friend and this question came up:  How do you explain to people that Socialism is a bad idea?  In a culture where more and more Americans expect government (or “the rich”) to bail them out of their financial problems, why wouldn’t somebody want more – instead of less – Socialism?

 

So, that’s the purpose of this post:  To try to explain what’s so bad about socialism.

 

First, two definitions.  The dictionary defines Socialism as “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods”.  Now, that’s the technical definition, but in our “post modern” world says experience is king.  The idea that “something may be true for you, but it isn’t true for me” now passes for what used to be called critical thinking.  And so, in deference to the “new wisdom” that experience is more important than rational thinking, I think we need an experience-based definition of Socialism.

 

Of Toy Sales and “Spreading the Wealth” Under Socialism

 

Back when I was in fourth grade, three of my friends and I decided to have a neighborhood toy sale.  We had model airplanes, army men, comic books, board games, and other stuff we didn’t want any more, so we decided to sell them.  We set up shop on the sidewalk in front of Tim’s house and waited for customers to show up.  Hardly anybody did.  So, I got on my bike, loaded some toys in my bike basket, and rode around the neighbor hood selling my toys and directing kids back to our sidewalk sale.  My mother called the local newspaper, and they sent a reporter out to take some pictures and do a story on our little enterprise.

 

At the end of three days, we had made a whopping $12.75.  Now, the original idea was that each of us would get the money from the sale of our own personal toys – we’d kept track of that, just like our moms did when they had a garage sale.  My toys had brought in a little over $7.00, so that was what I was expecting to get for my efforts.  Another kid, Eric, said we should divide the money equally between all of us.  He said that would be more fair, and so instead of getting my $7 and change, I got $3.19.  Eric, of course, made more money this way than if he’d only gotten the $1.50 from the sale of his own personal toys.  One of those toys, a broken model airplane for $.50, and been featured in the newspaper article that got printed in the Goshen News.

 

When I asked Eric where he got this idea about sharing the money instead of giving it to the people who earned it, he said “This is Socialism, it makes sure that everyone shares equally.” 

 

 

So, What’s So Bad About Socialism?

 

  Looking back as an adult, here’s what I took away from that experience with Socialism way back in fourth grade:  Socialism can only work if the hard working individuals (I was the one who rode his bike through the neighborhood drumming up business) do the “heavy lifting,” because only then will there be any wealth that “everyone can share fairly.”  But here’s the rub.

 

Why should the hard working people who have the ideas, the drive and the work ethic to get things done, start businesses, and create jobs for others IF they don’t get to take a greater share of the profits to reward their greater share of the effort?  If these people don’t have an incentive to go out and bust their butts, they will eventually decide to sit back and do just enough to get by.  And if that means everyone ends up starving, fine.  At least that way, everyone will starve equally.

 

But, one might object, shouldn’t we help others?  The answer is: OF COURSE WE SHOULD.  But we should not confuse charity and helping those less fortunate than us with the creation of a socialist state.  Socialism is a government run system that ultimately forces some people to do what the government says they should do.  It kills creativity and the motivation to succeed.  Helping others is something God has called all of us to do, volunteering not because we are forced to, but because it is the right thing to do.

 

Years ago, I volunteered at a local homeless shelter.  For five years, I met with one man, Richard.  He went through a lot of ups and downs in his journey from dependency to self sufficiency.  At one point, he stayed with my family for three weeks after showing up on our doorstep after having attempted suicide.  Mine is not a unique story.  Countless Americans across this country volunteer their time and treasure to help others.  But they do it voluntarily.

 

In my experience, those who advocate Socialism feel guilty because they haven’t “labored in the trenches.”  So, to avoid the guilt of not helping others one-on-one, they decide to tax everyone so they can pay government bureaucrats to take care of “those unfortunate people.”  This justifies their laziness – whether its laziness in preferring to live off the labor of others, or laziness in not doing the hard work of helping a neighbor in need.

 

In the end, Socialism and the idea that we can just “spread the wealth around” creates a lazy society.  And a lazy society in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive will quickly loose ground.  In the end, that is a consequence that Americans can ill afford.