The most important thing IMHO is not the better standard of living in the west.
It is precisely that one side, the conservatives, don’t want to force everyone to do ANYTHING, with the exception of respecting other people’s constitutional rights.
-Not so on the left.
Socialism will treat you like a child. Tell you what to do for a living. Where to live. What you are worth. What you can say.
- And what you can think-
And if you resist, they put you in a "reeducation camp" or "disappear" you.
I visited Mongolia a couple of years ago. It is a beautiful country, but I could see signs of the spiritual depredation caused by socialism everywhere. Cultural sites were run down, in bad need of repair and fresh paint. I could go on about everything I saw, but don't really want to write a novel right now. I will just say that the difference between Mongolia (helped by the Soviets since the 1920s) and Korea (helped by the US since the 1950s) is vast.