All forms of statism are despicable because they’re morally and practically evil.
They’re morally evil since they’re based on coercion. And they’re practically evil since they deliver such awful results for ordinary people.
The good news is that some forms of statism are widely discredited. Outside of universities, you don’t find many people who defend and advocate communism. And other than a few lonely cranks, you don’t find many people who defend and advocate national socialism and other forms of fascism.
But for some inexplicable reason, you still find some folks who harbor positive feelings about socialism.
To be sure, that opens up a bunch of questions, such as whether they even understand that socialism – at least in theory – involves government ownership and operation of the means of production. Such as the United Kingdom in the post-WWII era.
For what it’s worth, the fans of Bernie Sanders probably don’t understand anything about economics (goes without saying, right?) and they probably think that socialism is simply a system with lots of redistribution. Such as modern Denmark (even though that nation is just as market-oriented as the United States).
I’m not sure how we educate these people, and I doubt these three photos will have much impact on them, but I chuckled when this showed up in my inbox.
I guess the top photo might be Detroit. The second photo could be Cuba. And the last photo might be where Al Gore lives.
If that’s the case, the first is actually an image showing the destructive impact of the welfare state and the third is actually an image the benefits of insider cronyism, but let’s not get hung up on details. The real point is that corrupt insiders are the only real beneficiaries of big government.
P.S. Two of the most popular columns I’ve produced involve semi-amusing stories that highlight the failure of socialism, redistributionism, and collectivism. “The Tax System Explained in Beer” and “Does Socialism Work? A Classroom Experiment” succinctly capture why it’s very shortsighted and misguided to have an economic system that punishes success and rewards sloth.
P.P.S. Yes, socialism breeds misery, but it also generates some clever humor. See here, here, here, here, and here.
P.P.P.S. And even though self-proclaimed socialists pontificate about sharing and compassion, their ideology actually promotes a bad kind of selfishness.
by Dan Mitchell