At their very core, socialism and communism represent the height of human arrogance, for they assume man is capable of managing that which he is not. Some things are simply unknowable. The reasonable accept this as fact. The arrogant refuse such admissions. None of us truly knows how a seed becomes a tree. At best pretending to have such knowledge incorporate...s assumptions, elements of theory, speculation, faith or all of the above. The very notion that we human beings, with our pea-brains, can somehow figure out everything is asinine. Is arrogant. Yet hardcore socialists believe that select individuals are more knowledgeable and capable than the ever present yet wholly invisible economic forces of free-market capitalism. And for that belief they are incredibly arrogant.
cap•i•tal•ism – noun : an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, by investments that are determined by private decision, and by prices, production, and the distribution of goods that are determined mainly by competition in a free market
Quick -- how many eggs were necessary to meet the demand for them in Dallas, Texas today? You have no idea. Guess what? Neither does anybody else. No one has the foggiest idea how many eggs were needed in Dallas today nor does anyone know how many will be needed tomorrow. Capitalism works because no one, that is – no single individual, is in charge! Today in New York City there was the exact right amount of bottled water for sale, the correct number of televisions, no one who wanted a CocaCola, Baby Ruth bar or cup of coffee today was forced to go without (assuming they could afford it). There were enough tires, the correct amount of roast beef and anything else you can image. Same was true in Miami, Fargo, Los Angeles and Baton Rouge too. Know why? Because free markets are, by necessity, efficient.
Does anybody, even the most wholly sold-out socialists, truly believe that if we had a “Czar of Domestic Coffee Distribution” working in Washington D.C. that overages or shortages of coffee wouldn’t be daily occurrences in New York? Of course they would. Because no human being, as intellectually gifted as he or she may be, can grasp and manage the unmanageable.
No other economic system in the history of planet earth has provided more wealth and a higher standard of living than capitalism. No governing entity has ever proven itself superior at managing means of production and satisfying even basic human needs better than an open markets capitalist structure. Yet we now find ourselves living under a government that seems convinced it can manage supply, demand and wealth production better than a free market system.
Some months ago I hosted a radio show in which we interviewed an economist/escapee from the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. A brilliant man who talked extensively about government-control of the economy and means of production and the disastrous results that left millions in abject poverty and ultimately broke a nation. For as absurd as it sounds -- appointing a Czar of Coffee Distribution and expecting it to work -- that is exactly what the U.S.S.R. attempted to do.
Government attempted to control everything. To the point that if you wanted or needed a haircut you had to wait until the designated days for individuals with names beginning with the letter yours began with to show up at the barbershop and get in line for a cut. Those lines are now infamous. Pictures of people in line for bread, haircuts, beans and every other form of basic sustenance were seen far and wide, even in days before the internet, and ultimately the nation crumbled.
We in America see such things and can be lulled into thinking, “can’t happen here.” Well my friend, I can tell you several things about your life and I don’t even know you. For instance. I know that the toilets in your home use 1.6 liters of water per flush. How do I know that? Because the government has mandated it. I know that, come a short while from now, you will not have any 75-watt incandescent light bulbs in the lamps in your home? How do I know that? Because the government has mandated it. And not only do I know what bulbs you do not have, I also know what bulbs you will have. How do I know? Because I’ve read the “Energy Independence and Security Act” of 2007.
Other examples abound but let’s stick with light bulbs. The phasing out of one product and forced introduction of another via this law, runs completely contrary to capitalistic thought. In a true capitalist economy where no one is in charge and free market forces reign, if these new squiggly bulbs were superior (yes, that is their technical name) they’d need no government intervention to gain a hold in the market place and earn market share. If they used less electricity resulting in lower power bills for consumers and provided an equal (or greater) amount of light at a competitive price - people would buy them! There would be no need for big brother to tell us, “These are the bulbs you’ll be buying now.” Anymore than the need for him to tell us, “This is how many gallons you’ll get to flush with.”
History has shown how this happens. It starts with the seemingly mundane: the state will provide for you; will assure you have sustenance; will educate your children; will see to it you have adequate healthcare; will maintain our crumbling roads and bridges; will determine what best belongs in your light bulb sockets, how many gallons of water your toilet may use when it flushes, how many miles your auto must go on a gallon of fuel; and the state will determine which business enterprises should be allowed to fail or be bailed out.
It leads to the less mundane and more personal: the state will decide how many and what types of vegetables you may grow for sale in your backyard garden; how many times per year you may travel outside the nation’s borders; will decide when monitoring your private communications are in the national interest; will determine when you’ve earned as much money as one person need earn; how many firearms, how much ammunition and how much capacity to deliver that ammunition you really need; the state will determine if and when we have over-taxed our resources through regional over-population and take measures to control future population growth and/or distribution.
But it ends in a dark place: you are to worship and be loyal to the state, not the Creator - for it is the state from which we derive our rights, our liberty, our freedoms, and our independence.
There’s little question that individuals in government and positions of power who attempt to control our lives and economy in such fashion genuinely believe they’re doing the right thing. They believe they are functioning in a manner that’s in the best interest of Americans. But then so did the architects of the Soviet economy. These of today are just as wrong as those of yesterday. Well-intentioned as they may be, they are wrong and they are initiating a cycle of governmental control and diminishment of individual freedoms that history has shown, always ends in the same way. Such people are not stupid, they are arrogant.
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