ON TARGET

     3/11/19                                      By Dave Gunn

A Short Tutorial on Socialism

     The advocates range from the crusty, angry, curmudgeon Bernie Sanders to the young, fresh-faced, valley girl sounding Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, but the message is the same: the United States of America needs to adopt socialism in order to have an equal, just and moral society. No doubt, because of the combination of totalitarianism and socialism throughout world history, the proponents of socialism in America have adopted the more benign-sounding term, Democratic Socialism.

     So what is socialism? Can socialism be democratic? Why has a large segment of the Democrat Party embraced socialism? Do we already have a measure of socialism in America?

     Perhaps the best short definition of socialism is to be found in Russell Kirk’s book, Economics, Work and Prosperity, where he said socialism is “government ownership and control of the means of production.” So a socialist is one who does not believe in the private ownership of property or capital, but that all such should be owned collectively by the people as represented by their government.

     There is really only one problem with socialism. It simply does not work. In every place and time where socialism has been instituted, it has failed to produce anything other than poverty and totalitarianism.

     Socialism has been advocated throughout the history of mankind mostly by those who don’t really want to work for a living, or who covet the money and goods of another and believe they have the right to take some of it. Today we hear the socialists of the Democrat Party claim that the rich should “pay their fair share” of taxes to support their desire to buy votes among the lower classes. That the top 10% of wage earners already pay almost 50% of the taxes does not seem fair enough for them.

     In modern times socialism was incorporated by the French Revolution of 1789. We all know how that turned out. An increasingly totalitarian government instituted a blood-bath throughout France.

     Not deterred by that early failure, Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx produced the definitive work on socialism, titled The Manifesto of the Communist Party. Interestingly, the young socialists o the Democrat Party tell us that we already have socialism in American and cite as proof , a heavy progressive or graduated income tax, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and public schools, all of which were advocated in the above mentioned work.

     The Marxist template was taken by the communists of the Soviet Union. Despite various schemes to increase production on the collective farms, the nation could not feed its own. People don’t exert themselves when they have no stake in the profits of their labor. The government, in the name of “the people,” controlled almost every facet of life.

     The same was true in China, where a series of 5-year plans never produced the prosperity promised by the leaders. Only when China adopted a modified capitalism did the nation begin to take a place among the growing economies of the world.

     Perhaps one of the clearest examples of the failures of socialism is Venezuela. This nation was once the leading economy in South America. The socialism of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro has turned this once prosperous country into an economic basket case.

     An equal society? Yes, if universal poverty is your goal. A just society? Yes, if your view of justice is to take from those who earn and give it to those who do not.   A moral society? Yes, if you believe that governmental stealing and totalitarianism are moral.

     The main reason that socialism cannot work is that it goes against the principles of God’s Word. God told Adam, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.” It is God’s design that man work for his living. The upside of that is this: if a man will put in more sweat he will have more bread. So those with the ability, talent and willingness to work have more, and those who lack some of these qualities have less. Each receives benefit in proportion to his effort. That is called liberty and capitalism. That is as it should be.

[Dave Gunn is the nom de plume of Dr. David E. Gonnella, Pastor of the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, Alabama. The opinions expressed are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of the church or its membership.]