Socialism 101

by Don Harkey

OK... the word has been buzzing around for many many years and it has lost its sting. The word is "socialism". For my parent's generation, the word "socialism" implies evil. If they call someone a socialist, they are not being nice.

Interestingly enough, in the days of our founding fathers, the word "democrat" was considered an insult (not linked to the Democratic party) by most Americans, especially those who studied and understood government.

There is a cycle that can occur when words take on an overture of being "bad" without concentrating on the reason we think it is bad. The idea is brought up. It is widely proven to be bad. For a generation, the teaching is "socialism is very bad... enough discussion". The next generation then asks more boldly, "why is it bad?". Maybe it is good after all.

The question is very healthy and when a question is not answered for a generation, past knowledge and experience is lost. For many Americans, naming a policy as "socialistic" means that the policy is bad. For a growing number of Americans, however, they no longer see it that way. They want "change" and that may include embracing the concept once again that history has shown to be fatally flawed. I have several good, smart, ethical friends who are now openly in favor of socialism.

Let's walk through my evolution in understanding of government because as Winston Churchill said (I paraphrase) "If you are young and conservative, you lack heart. If you are old and liberal, you lack brains.". Like many people, I started off with liberal views.

Let me quote Karl Marx:

"From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."

In my younger days, I saw this type of thinking as progressive. It is idealistic to think that all people are equal and deserve equal "stuff", but socialism is an attempt at making that a reality. It is an attempt at Utopia or a perfect government. We all will do what we can so that we can all get what we need. It really sounds great. "What's wrong with that?" I hear people say both in person and in the media.

As I grew older and studied more history and government and began to understand more about how people are hardwired, I understood more about why these attempts at a perfect government ALWAYS fail miserably and lead to oppression. It is well proven that people are MUCH more motivated internally than externally. If I am paid to do something, I will do it only until the pay is stopped. If I feel that what I am doing is important and aligns with everything that I am, I will do it even if I am not paid (and sometimes I will pay to do it).

Motivation is a funny thing. You can take a given task and make someone feel less motivated by trying to give them an external reason to do it. I might volunteer for the Kitchen willingly and be excited to do it. If I am suddenly paid to do it, or forced to do it by an employer, then I feel controlled and considerably less motivated. Think about this in terms of children. When children feel controlled, they resist. When they feel like they have choices, they act freely. At a young age, I could get my son to drink his milk using this principle. "Jeffrey, drink your milk." was met with resistance. "Jeffrey, what color cup do you want for your milk." was met with enthusiasm. Autonomy is critical to motivation.

That's a major problem with socialism. When we all work for "the state" (which is a socialistic term for "the government" meant to distract the fact that "the state" has no unified voice, our autonomy is taken away. If I am a doctor and my fees are set by the state, I lose my autonomy and my motivation is greatly decreased. The impact of this is HUGE, and it isn't a theory. How many great inventions or innovations have come out of the Soviet Union, Cuba, China, or any other communist or socialistic country. Even Great Britain and many other European nations struggle with socialistic policies with the result being high unemployment, weak economies, and rampant corruption.

Even the smallest experiments in socialism with small towns of people all who believe strongly in the principles have failed and failed badly (including in America). Countries with socialized medicine allow "the state" (the government) to make health care decisions for its citizens including who will live and who will die. The best advancements in medicine come from countries with health care systems closer to the free market model (note: the United States does NOT currently have a free market health care system, but it is not fully socialized either). The best innovations and highest standard of living come from countries that utilize a free market model.

The other side of my argument for socialism as a youth was the problem of greed in a free market system. Why should one person be "worth" more than another person? This question has a fatal flaw. We often quote the Declaration of Independence saying that "All Men were Created Equal". This single statement is classically misunderstood. We are not all created equal in terms of our abilities or opportunities. A healthy child born to a middle class highly educated family has a much better chance to succeed than a special needs child born to a single parent low income family. This is a truth of life and it was the way our Creator chose to make it. Yet we as a society tend to look at God's act of creating us different as an act of injustice. This leads to the common parental response... "life is not fair".

No matter what system of government we put into place, we will be unable to cancel out God's "mistake" in making us different and putting us in different climates with varying opportunity. I worded that last sentence to make my point... God doesn't make mistakes.

Our mistake is how we measure "success". All men are created equal in that each has an opportunity to find great fulfillment and joy in life, even if it is not in the form of treasure and opportunity. A parent of a special needs child recently told me how much of a blessing the child was to them. This child will grow up with the same chance of being happy and fulfilled as any other child.

So where does the government come in to all of this? The answer is that it really shouldn't. George Washington often said that "government is a necessary evil" meaning that if we could find a way to exist peacefully without it, we would. However, we do the best we can. Our Founding Fathers devised a system of government that allowed people to have autonomy in how they live their lives. They can choose to learn, create, and give and be fulfilled. They can also choose to sloth, stagnate, and take and be miserable. This is the choice that our Creator bestowed upon us. This is what government should never take away.

Socialism, Facism, and other systems of government that aim for a "perfect society" do not work and lead to corruption and oppression of people. Our government is not perfect and was not designed to be perfect. It was only designed to be "more perfect" than other system devised in the past. Our Founding Fathers were pretty sharp and they conducted the worlds most aggressive strategic plan when they drafted our government.

President Obama does not hate America. He just doesn't understand it. To his credit, once he has been in office, he has appeared to be willing to listen and learn. He is getting a crash course in history and the way government works. He is backing off of policies he trumpeted on the campaign trail. I only hope that his continuing "on the job" education outpaces Congress and their ability to change our system in a way that history has shown to lead to certain failure.