Bad Socialism Versus Good Socialism

By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

The reality is, the title of this article (Bad Socialism versus Good Socialism) is a statement that can't exist, because there is no such thing as "good socialism."  Whether it happens quickly, or slowly, socialism always ends in death and destruction.

Always.

In a socialist society the means of production is communally owned through government.  In other words, individualism, and individual incentive, is eliminated for the good of the collective, and then controlled by the benevolent forces of government (because we know government always wants what's best for us, and can be fully trusted).  But, when the collective is more important than the individual, the individual will not work for what's best for the collective because the truth is they don't have any individual incentive to do so.

As for the government owning the means of production, that's fine until people realize they have no incentive and no longer put forth their best effort.  Once that happens, government simply lowers the hammer and forces them to do as it wishes.

Socialism cannot exist unless producers produce at a high level, and producers won't produce unless they have an incentive of profit.  So, in the end, socialism collapses because eventually all of the producers become takers, and production ceases.

While for us that may be common sense, the younger generation does not understand these self-evident truths because the liberal left Democrats have been feeding them the fairy tale of socialism all of their lives, and without letting them know that when human nature slows down production, governmental totalitarianism will kick in to force them to work their fair share.

When I explain all of this to our latest generation of youths, today's young American socialists tell me, "maybe in the past that may have been true, but that's because the right people weren't applying socialist principles.  It will work much better in America because we have the right people to do it."

When I asked about the failure of Venezuela, I have been told that the destruction of Venezuela was not because of socialism, but because Maduro's government didn't have enough resolve to stand up against the international and American corporations that were working to destroy his efforts.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary