Opinion: The Dangers Of A Socialist Government

I started to write an article about socialism and, in the end, I guess I did. But I did not write the piece I set out to write because the information I found threw me for a loop and I had to change course.

A number of my immigrant friends are expressing fear and concern over Americans embracing socialism. Russian, Dominican, and Korean friends have reached out to me for assurance that we as a people know better, so I decided to write an article to assuage their fears.

I’m afraid I did not do that.

The first thing I try to do when writing is to provide readers with a source from which they can check basic background information I provide. I figured there would be no better place for this than a History site and an article entitled “Socialism: Definition, Origins & Countries”…

If you were a teenager choosing a political party for the first time, you’d be really baffled as to why you hear random weirdos shouting that socialism is bad. After all, the socialists gathered to defeat the fascists! This History website told me so.

I read it twice, then I asked my husband to read it, to make sure I was understanding everything being said. It was like rainbow-colored dog poo on the living room floor; I’m equal parts disturbed, annoyed, and confounded.

“Socialism describes any political or economic theory that says the community, rather than individuals, should own and manage property and natural resources.”

Socialism is not community-owned, it’s government-owned. In addition to controlling rules and laws, the government will also control the means by which you can or cannot earn. Once they control who can generate income and how much, you become a slave to the state, and once you become a slave to the state, the state becomes your slave owner and treats you accordingly. It is commonly said, you can vote yourself into socialism but you can’t vote yourself out of it.

There is no such thing as democratic socialism. There are capitalist countries that, due to their wealth and small population, can have robust social welfare programs. Nordic countries, which are often touted as examples of successful socialism, are constantly trying to remind the world that they are not in fact socialist.

Here you can see U.S. News idolizing Denmark’s social policies and quality of life, completely ignoring that the Danish population pays very high taxes, they require anyone on their social welfare programs to have a job, they are a small population with very little racial diversity or immigration, and they have a strong national identity. That’s basically a list of everything the left is against, while also still wanting socialism or extensive social welfare programs.

Besides Nordic countries having minuscule populations, usually the size of a U.S. city, they are also notoriously absent from global affairs. The United States pays for the defense of the majority of these countries, while also feeding and supplying other countries around the world. Are supporters of socialism willing to stop humanitarian aid efforts worldwide to fund their programs?

Despite the different kinds of socialism or socialism-turned-communism tried, it has proven itself to be the deadliest political system in the last 100 years without exception. Ethiopia – 1,343,610 people died. Vietnam – 1,670,000. Afghanistan – 1,750,000. Korea – 3,163,000. Soviet Union – 58,627,000. China – 73,237,000. Say these numbers slowly, out loud. These are simply the numbers of people killed by their governments (including political assassinations and ethnic cleansing) or starved to death under their policies. It does not include casualties from wars with other countries. All of these deaths happened at home. I purposely left off Germany because most tend to know that millions died at the hands of their own government, but here is a reminder that they were also socialists who simply added nationalism to their ideology.

These numbers are one of the many reasons I have friends who are concerned. There’s also behavior like AOC and other leftists suggesting we compile a list of Trump supporters. She’s a freaking nut bag. But the biggest concern is the number of Americans who support socialism without knowing some of these basic facts. I just read a “history” article that made socialism sound like a benevolent system of fairness that simply hasn’t been able to find its footing in the world.

No, absolutely not. It’s evil and it’s deadly. It’s an idea that lends itself to large-scale, uncontrollable levels of corruption. It encourages slovenly behavior, and it’s based on the envy and condemnation of those who are successful in life. It hasn’t worked because it doesn’t work, and those who praise it should remember that the leaders of the revolutions are usually the first to go.

If you look up fascism you will find a list of all the horrors associated with it, and rightfully so. But you also find connections that weren’t there before – capitalist, nationalist, racist…I looked it up years ago, so imagine my shock when the actual DEFINITION changed.

If you look up socialism you will find some dates and locations, and a few fluffy paragraphs of the buzz words sprouted by current ill-informed leftists. There will be very little about the dangers of this ideology.

Those who witnessed the horrors of socialism are dying out or are already gone. That doesn’t mean their lessons should leave with them. I suggest everyone start hoarding old history books before the revisionary movement erases everything that offers perspective, and watch old documentaries with your kids if you’re able to find them. A lot of adults these days know that socialism is bad but can’t quite articulate it to the curious young adults around them. It’s time to start arming yourself with statistics and knowledge. You’re combating arrogant mindsets influenced by social media and agenda-driven professors. It’s not like you can simply send kids to the internet to find the truth these days. It’s up to all of us to be able to provide wisdom and information.

I couldn’t tell my friends that all Americans know better than to follow that disastrous path, but I did tell them that I know many common sense libertarians and conservatives who will not let progressives drag us into that nightmare.