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Capitalism vs. Socialism
Townhall.com ^ | May 30, 2018 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 05/30/2018 6:23:38 AM PDT by Kaslin

Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people prefer socialism to free market capitalism. That, I believe, is a result of their ignorance and indoctrination during their school years, from kindergarten through college. For the most part, neither they nor many of their teachers and professors know what free market capitalism is.

Free market capitalism, wherein there is peaceful voluntary exchange, is morally superior to any other economic system. Why? Let's start with my initial premise. All of us own ourselves. I am my private property, and you are yours. Murder, rape, theft and the initiation of violence are immoral because they violate self-ownership. Similarly, the forcible use of one person to serve the purposes of another person, for any reason, is immoral because it violates self-ownership.

Tragically, two-thirds to three-quarters of the federal budget can be described as Congress taking the rightful earnings of one American to give to another American -- using one American to serve another. Such acts include farm subsidies, business bailouts, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, welfare and many other programs.

Free market capitalism is disfavored by many Americans -- and threatened -- not because of its failure but, ironically, because of its success. Free market capitalism in America has been so successful in eliminating the traditional problems of mankind -- such as disease, pestilence, hunger and gross poverty -- that all other human problems appear both unbearable and inexcusable. The desire by many Americans to eliminate these so-called unbearable and inexcusable problems has led to the call for socialism. That call includes equality of income, sex and race balance, affordable housing and medical care, orderly markets, and many other socialistic ideas.

Let's compare capitalism with socialism by answering the following questions: In which areas of our lives do we find the greatest satisfaction, and in which do we find the greatest dissatisfaction? It turns out that we seldom find people upset with and in conflict with computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores. We do see people highly dissatisfied with and often in conflict with boards of education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services.

What are the differences? For one, the motivation for the provision of services of computer and clothing stores, supermarkets, and hardware stores is profit. Also, if you're dissatisfied with their services, you can instantaneously fire them by taking your business elsewhere. It's a different matter with public education, motor vehicles departments, police and city sanitation services. They are not motivated by profit at all. Plus, if you're dissatisfied with their service, it is costly and in many cases even impossible to fire them.

A much larger and totally ignored question has to do with the brutality of socialism. In the 20th century, the one-party socialist states of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Germany under the National Socialist German Workers' Party and the People's Republic of China were responsible for the murder of 118 million citizens, mostly their own. The tallies were: USSR 62 million, Nazi Germany 21 million and PRC 35 million. No such record of brutality can be found in countries that tend toward free market capitalism.

Here's an experiment for you. List countries according to whether they are closer to the free market capitalist or to the socialist/communist end of the economic spectrum. Then rank the countries according to per capita gross domestic product. Finally, rank the countries according to Freedom House's "Freedom in the World" report. You will find that people who live in countries closer to the free market capitalist end of the economic spectrum not only have far greater wealth than people who live in countries toward the socialistic/communist end but also enjoy far greater human rights protections.

As Dr. Thomas Sowell says, "socialism sounds great. It has always sounded great. And it will probably always continue to sound great. It is only when you go beyond rhetoric, and start looking at hard facts, that socialism turns out to be a big disappointment, if not a disaster."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: capitalism; freemarketcapitalism; socialism
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To: PSUGOP
A few weeks ago, my pastor said God didn’t care about economic systems, socialism vs capitalism. Humans argue about such things, but God is above all this.
SOME writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins. Society is produced by our wants, and government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness POSITIVELY by uniting our affections, the latter NEGATIVELY by restraining our vices. The one encourages intercourse, the other creates distinctions. The first is a patron, the last a punisher.

Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries BY A GOVERNMENT, which we might expect in a country WITHOUT GOVERNMENT, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other lawgiver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expense and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others. - Thomas Paine, Common Sense (1776)

Cynicism towards society - and towards God - is a necessary and sufficient condition for socialist ideology. Cynicism is the opposite of faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God.

21 posted on 05/30/2018 7:32:34 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion (Presses can be 'associated,' or presses can be independent. Demand independent presses.)
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To: ealgeone

Very interesting statistics. Our output of large ships (6,771) is absolutely incredible. And at that time they were made with good ‘ol American steel...


22 posted on 05/30/2018 7:39:27 AM PDT by poconopundit (MAGA... Get the Spirit. Grow your community. Focus on your Life's Work. Empower the Young.)
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To: Kaslin

Bttt.

5.56mm


23 posted on 05/30/2018 7:43:24 AM PDT by M Kehoe
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To: poconopundit
Very interesting statistics. Our output of large ships (6,771) is absolutely incredible. And at that time they were made with good ‘ol American steel...

Yep...it is very impressive.

Question is.....could we mobilize industry today and repeat if we had to.

24 posted on 05/30/2018 8:01:14 AM PDT by ealgeone
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To: Kaslin
This is a debate that's far simpler to resolve than many claim.

Capitalism=West Germany....Socialism=East Germany

Capitalism=South Korea.....Socialism=North Korea

25 posted on 05/30/2018 8:13:24 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (You Say "White Privilege"...I Say "Protestant Work Ethic")
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To: PSUGOP

Most of them are Liberal. Our priest is certainly and so was the one before him.

I like sending him articles about how Christians are treated outside the US


26 posted on 05/30/2018 8:34:40 AM PDT by SMARTY ("Nearly all men can stand adversity...to test a man's character, give him power." A. Lincoln)
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To: Kaslin

Global capitalism is a disastrous race to the bottom. We need tariffs and we need them now.


27 posted on 05/30/2018 8:38:57 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: Kaslin

Capitalism is a business model. It exists everywhere to some extent. Socialism is a form of government. Red China, for example, may have a socialist (aka communist) form of government, but its economy is very capitalist, which should have Karl Marx spinning in his grave.


28 posted on 05/30/2018 8:48:57 AM PDT by AlaskaErik (I served and protected my country for 31 years. Progressives spent that time trying to destroy it.)
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To: Bayan

“Only the historically ignorant can believe Socialism is a good thing.”

I believe it was PJ O’Rourke that said, “Socialism is Communism one drink at a time.”


29 posted on 05/30/2018 8:58:15 AM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Proud member of the DWN party. (Deplorable Wing Nut))
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To: Skepolitic
The problem is that the vast majority of Americans are socialists to one degree or another. And, to a very large extent, the ________(?)

Seem to be some missing words here.

30 posted on 05/30/2018 8:58:32 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: a fool in paradise
I haven’t seen millionaire and billionaire advocates for Socialism (think Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and Bernie Sanders) and explicitly named Communism (think Jane Fonda) give up their wealth or status or move to a Socialist or Communist nation.

They've got theirs; they know socialism will prevent others from doing the same, maintaining their own status as the elite. If everybody else was rich, they'd be unremarkable.

31 posted on 05/30/2018 9:01:22 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: EQAndyBuzz
I believe it was PJ O’Rourke that said, “Socialism is Communism one drink at a time.”

"The problem with socialimsm is that you eventually run out of other people's money."—British PM Margaret Thatcher

"The goal of socialism is communism."—Vladimir Lenin

32 posted on 05/30/2018 9:03:40 AM PDT by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: Kaslin
"Several recent polls, plus the popularity of Sen. Bernie Sanders, demonstrate that young people [who have been educated in the US Public School system] prefer socialism to free market capitalism are as dense as a neutron star when it comes to understanding how to maximize individual opportunity and wealth."
33 posted on 05/30/2018 9:06:12 AM PDT by sargon ("If the President doesn't drain the Swamp, the Swamp will drain the President.")
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To: Skepolitic
...this socialist indoctrination causes the vast majority of Americans to believe all sorts of nonsense about the benevolence and wisdom of government and its public servants.

Regrettably, the servants have morphed into masters. That must change.

34 posted on 05/30/2018 9:06:35 AM PDT by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: Kaslin

bookmark


35 posted on 05/30/2018 9:17:40 AM PDT by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Kaslin

Where/when does this start? Tag.


36 posted on 05/30/2018 12:00:10 PM PDT by upchuck (The problem: parents doing their careers instead of raising their kids. h/t: Wyrd bið ful aræd)
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To: Kaslin
As always, Dr. Williams is right & to the point.

Our own piece on Socialism: Lies Of Socialism.

37 posted on 05/30/2018 12:07:25 PM PDT by Ohioan
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To: Kaslin

I am my private property


The corollary to this is, “I own myself,”
which is a surprisingly controversial statement
on conservative forums.


38 posted on 05/30/2018 12:18:11 PM PDT by sparklite2 (See more at Sparklite Times)
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To: Kaslin

bump


39 posted on 05/30/2018 5:31:21 PM PDT by foreverfree
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To: BitWielder1

People in the US like the idea of taking from the rich, until you point out to them that, in the view of the majority of the population of the Earth, even the “poor” of the US are rich.


40 posted on 05/30/2018 5:38:44 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (Socialists want YOUR wealth redistributed, never THEIRS!)
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