Humanity has only two basic choices
when it comes to economic systems; collectivism (socialism, fascism,
marxism, and communism) or individualism (laissez-faire capitalism).
Free-market capitalism, not the
bastardized cronyism we have now, helped create and maintain the
best, richest, most powerful nation this world has ever seen: The
United States of America.
That capitalism has generated
extraordinary wealth over the last two centuries is a matter of
historical record. No other system can match. That being said, why
are so few people willing to defend capitalism as the only truly
moral economic system?
Professors, journalists, and
politicians alike just love to sneer at free-enterprise. They call
it base, and callous, saying it dehumanizes, exploits, alienates, and
enslaves the people.
The mantra of the “intellectuals”
runs akin to this: Socialism is “morally superior,” despite its
record of abject failure across the world, because in it everyone is
“equal.” No one person has more than any other. Theoretically,
anyway. Anyone with even a shred of intellectual honesty realizes
that in the real world, socialism, like it's bigger, badder, and much
uglier cousin named communism don't work like that. There's always a
leader, or leaders, whose sole purpose is to ensure that the masses
are following the rules while they sit back and enjoy the fruits of
other people's labors.
Conversely, according to these same
“intellectuals,” capitalism is bankrupt of morals, despite the
unqualified success it breeds, and the prodigious wealth it creates,
because everyone is NOT equal. Well, their outcomes aren't equal.
Consequently, capitalism can only be defended pragmatically; we only
“tolerate” it because it works.
I could not disagree more with these
so-called “intellectuals” and their psychotic hatred of
capitalism. It's the only truly moral and
just socio-economic
system, for it requires people to deal with one another as equals, as
free, moral agents, trading or selling goods and services based on a
mutual consent.
Capitalism
is predicated upon the free and voluntary exchange between the seller
and the buyer. Coercion and fraud, while they do happen, are the
enemy of the free-market system, making it the only just
system.
Capitalism is both moral and just, as
it is the only system that rewards people based upon merit, ability,
and achievement. One's rise and fall within capitalism is determined
by the degree to which one uses his mind, how hard one works, and
yes, even a little bit of luck. What that rise or fall is NOT
determined by is one's “accident of birth” or station in life.
There's no “class” system in a truly free
market. One can be the poorest of the poor, but if you sell a
quality product, your fortunes will rise to the degree you work hard
to maintain the quality of that product and the continued demand for
it.
Are there winners and losers in
capitalism? Absolutely. If you're honest, industrious, prudent,
frugal, thoughtful, efficient, disciplined, and responsible, chances
are you're going to become a winner. Those that become the losers
are usually extravagant, impractical, inefficient, lazy, shiftless,
imprudent and negligent. Capitalism has a history of rewarding
virtue and punishing vice. This punishment/reward system is
applicable to the high and the low, from company executives to
janitors, from attorneys to warehouse workers.
Socialism, by contrast is nothing more
than a form of legalized theft. With socialism comes a ruling class
of “intellectuals,” bureaucrats, and social planners, who decide
what the people want, or what's “good” for society (sounds like
Washington, D.C. If you ask me). The State – and remember, it's
run by the aforementioned “ruling class” - then uses it's
coercive power to regulate, tax, and redistribute the wealth of those
who produce.
Socialism can be summed up with two
words: envy and “self-sacrifice.” Self-sacrifice is in quotes
for one, very simple reason – when that sacrifice has, in effect,
been mandated by the State, it's not really self-sacrifice,
is it?
Envy
is the desire to possess wealth like another may have, but that's not
all it is. It's also the desire to bring another person's wealth
DOWN to the level of one's own. Never mind that this hurts everyone
over the long-term. That part doesn't matter in the short-term way
of thinking that those who support socialism have.
Two of socialism's
greatest proponents, Hermann Goering and Bennito Mussolini,
summarized the “self-sacrifice” very nicely: The highest
principle of Nazism, Goering said, is that “Common good comes
before private good.” Mussolini claimed that Fascism is “a life
in which the individual, through sacrifice of his own private
interests...realizes that complete spiritual existence in which his
value as a man lies.” THAT is socialism's “morality.”
Socialism is the socio-economic
nightmare which institutionalizes that envy and “self-sacrifice.”
It is the system that uses the strength of the State to force the
producers to pay the way of the societal parasites. Does that remind
you of anything? Does the “Affordable Care Act” ring any bells?
Welfare, regulations, taxes, tariffs,
minimum-wage laws are immoral because they use the coercive power of
the state to organize human choice and action, they inhibit or deny
the freedom to choose how we live our lives, deny our right to live
as autonomous moral agents, and deny our essential humanity. All of
which, by the way, are diametrically opposite the Founders intentions
when they created this nation.
America is no longer a capitalist
nation (thanks, FDR. No really – thanks a LOT). We live under
what is more properly called a mixed economy – that is, an economic
system that permits private property, but only at the discretion of
government planners. Think cronyism - a little bit of capitalism and
a little bit of socialism.
When the government forcibly exchanges
wealth through taxation, when it controls business production and
trade through heavy regulations and other rules, it reverses the
winners and losers. Under the cronyism the U.S. suffers now, the
winners are those who cry the loudest for handouts, while the losers
become those who quietly work hard and pay their taxes.
Since the early 1930's, America has
been saddled with a mixed economy and the welfare state. As a
result, we've created two new classes of citizens. The first is a
debased class of dependents whose means of survival is contingent
upon the forced expropriation of wealth from working citizens by a
professional class of government social planners. The forgotten men
and women in all of this are the quiet, hardworking, law-abiding,
taxpaying citizens who mind their own business but are forced to
work for the government and their serfs.
Capitalism cannot, and will not, make a
return in this nation until there is a moral revolution in this
country. When we can rediscover, then teach our young people the
virtues of of being free and independent citizens. Then, and ONLY
then, will there be true social justice in America. Until that time,
we're wandering in the desert without a map, so to speak.
A friend of mine recently posted a meme
on Facebook with a saying that I find to be more and more appropriate
as I type this post. It said, “Liberals thinks everyone should be
equal at the finish line. Conservatives think everyone should be
equal at the starting line.” That latter part of particular
truism, ladies and gentlemen, is precisely what the Founders
envisioned when they created this great nation. ~ Hunter
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