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 Socialism is strangely impervious to referendum in real-world
experience. Over the past hundred years, there have been dozens of attempts to
build socialist dynasties. The Soviet Union, Maoist China and Venezuela thought
they were too big to fail. Yet die hard socialists will claim they failed
because were "hybrid-socialist." None will admit they failed because socialism
is a Ponzi scheme.
Given the recent resurgence of socialism, especially now that it is embraced by
the left and we have socialists at every level of American government, it's time
to re-visit all the reasons why socialism fails. It's also time to dispel the
myths about socialism, especially "hybrid socialism." Since the left is
replacing capitalism with socialism one law at a time, it's time we look at real
time modern socialism.
If socialism is a failed experiment, why do so many on the
left, especially our youth, favor socialism over capitalism? Simply because
politicians like AOC and Bernie Sanders tell them Scandinavian capitalism is
socialism due to their abundant social welfare systems. The left has perpetrated
this urban legend to justify building an elitist power base that is maintained
with federal dependence.
Contrary to the Sanders narrative, the success of Nordic countries like Sweden,
Denmark, Norway and others is antithetical to a model welfare state. Their
standards of living, low poverty, generous education systems, and single-payer
health care programs are all paid for by the people. They are not a gift from
the government. Their average income tax rates are over twice of that in
America.
"I repeat! Denmark is not a socialist country. It is driven by the free
markets."
– Lars Rasmussen
Scholars Assar Lindbeck and Nima Sanandaji conclude the success of the Nordic
model roots in its culture and the free markets. The Scandinavian countries of
Sweden, Norway and Denmark have a combined population equal to New York City.
Their societies rely on high levels of social trust, a robust work ethic and
considerable social cohesion; contrary to the principals of socialism.
Those who pontify the merits of socialism don't understand it; or they are the
few elitists that will profit from it. It is a system of wishful ideas
inconsistent with market and human reality. Socialists promise equality and
security without investment, but deliver equal misery, insecurity and tyranny.
Since socialism is a pyramid scheme of collective ownership,
once people conceive they are not getting their fair share, government
sequesters all economic resources and rations them back to society. This
continual demise of collectivism transforms socialism into irreversible
totalitarianism.
This is recorded historic fact, not fiction. "The goal of socialism is
communism."
– Vladimir Lenin
When socialism's foundational pyramid collapses, it transmutes into Communism.
Then citizens become subjects under Marxism. Their only reversal of fortune is
to escape to capitalist nations.
 America has a long history of rescuing those fleeing from oppression and
liberticide. After WWII as socialism and Communism consumed Europe, the U.S.
accepted more refugees than any other free nation. Over 100,000 Jews fled
Germany and hundreds of thousands of Latvians, Lithuanians, Croats, Ukrainians
and Estonians escaped Europe and came to America for freedom and liberty.
In 1959, when Castro seized control of Cuba, he confiscated all U.S. businesses.
Fearing a U.S. invasion, Castro asked the USSR to send nuclear missiles to Cuba.
It took two tense weeks for the USSR and JFK to agree to remove U.S. missiles
from Turkey in trade for the Soviets removing their weapons from Cuba. When
Cubans realized America could not liberate Cuba, they fled to America.
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Anxious to escape socialism, they risked their
lives in makeshift watercraft to make the dangerous, 90-mile journey
to the shores of Florida. Although many perished, over a million
made it to the U.S.
"Cuba is not communist nor socialist but a well planned nation of
social justice."
– Fidel Castro
This month, thousands of Cubans protested in the
streets over the shortage of food and medicines and harsh
restrictions on free speech. President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed it
on the 1962 U.S. "policy of economic suffocation" against Cuba. He
said, "These protests are against the U.S. not Cuba."
He called the protesters hired mercenaries to destabilize the nation
and restore Cuban capitalism. Diaz-Canel cried out, "The order to
fight has been given, into the street, go Cuban revolutionaries!"
Many protests were broadcast on social media, showing marchers
shouting slogans against the government and the president, calling
for reforms. People overturned police cars and looted state-owned
stores that overcharge Cubans for the most basic necessities, such
as food and medicine.
After decades of providing a haven to Cubans fleeing Communism,
Biden's Homeland Security's Alejandro Mayorkas told Cubans: "Let me
be clear: If you take to the sea, you will not be welcome in the
United States." A Black Lives Matter spokesman criticized the U.S:
“The people of Cuba are being punished by the U.S. because the
country has maintained its commitment to sovereignty."
Fidel Castro said, "I liberated Cuba from capitalism." Under Fidel
Castro’s Communist regime, an economic crisis plagued the country
since the 1959 Revolution. The economy was on life support from the
USSR until it collapsed in 1989. By 1993, Cuba's GDP declined 35%.
Their government health care fell into ruins. No new housing has
been built since 1960. The peso continues to lose its value with
inflation.
"I find capitalism repugnant. It is filthy, it is
gross, it is alienating."
– Fidel Castro
For years, Cubans made the impossible possible in homemade vessels
fighting the swift currents of the Straits of Florida to escape
Castro's Marxism. These refugees were seeking freedom from tyranny.
They brought value to America in return for the opportunities in a
free capitalist nation, unlike those who are crossing our borders
today only to get a free ride from American taxpayers.
Real socialism is not an urban legend. It is thriving 90 miles south
of Florida. We need not look any further than across the bay to see
how people live in a real socialist state. We see what life is
really like under a Marxist regime. Life for Cubans proves the
socialist pipe dream the left used to capture the hearts of
millennials is an urban legend about a fairyland that never existed
and never will exist.
Socialism appeals to those that feel the world owes them a living
simply because they exist. They expect equality without equal
investment. They believe those that have more must give something to
them because they have less.
"The reason this country continues its drift toward socialism and
big nanny government is because too many people vote in the
expectation of getting something for nothing, not because they have
a concern for what is good for the country."
– Lyn Nofziger
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