What’s Wrong With Socialism?
Today, it is becoming more and more
commonplace to hear people in the
My response is always: “You’ve got to be kidding!”, and then I really lay into them.
What’s wrong with socialism, specifically, is that it violates the fundamental rules of morality as expressed in the Ten Commandments, specifically the 1st, 5th, 8th, and 10th Commandments, and it also violates both the written law and the rule of law concerning private property as established under the Constitution of the United States of America. You see, both the Ten Commandments and the Constitution are based on recognizing and acknowledging the absolute sanctity of the inviolable Right of the individual to acquire, own, possess, and accumulate ever greater amounts of his own personal private property through the application of his own labors and the exercise of his own mind and body in pursuit of specific and focused business dealings and undertakings voluntarily contracted for with other persons.
This fundamental right of the individual, to improve his lot in life through the productive application of his or her own labors and mind, is the bedrock foundation and philosophical basis of our Christian/Judeo society, morality, and law, and it is the difference between being, remaining, and growing as a nation of free men, as opposed to becoming and simply existing as a nation of slaves to serve the “State”.
Socialism, of course, is based on exactly the opposite principles regarding private property. It is a philosophical, and legal system of social existence based on the abolition of private property[1] (not its sanctity), and the alleged legal right of the “State” (the government) to take from individuals whatever it deems or claims is necessary (or expedient) to serve the immediate needs of the “State” and its programs.
Theft is Theft. Taking from one person, by another person, or group of other persons, for that group or its interests, is just organized theft – also known as crime. When the so-called law, allows the gang called “government”, to steal wealth from the People with legal impunity, then the law has lost its moral basis and will destroy more than it preserves in that society. The more organized theft that the law of the land allows, the less productive the society becomes, and the more tyrannical its rules and rulers will be. Taking the wealth, of even just the politically unpopular groups of people, is fundamentally immoral, as it constitutes nothing but theft, and always leads to abuse, rot, corruption within the government and its resulting social deterioration. This of course is the manner in which, and the power upon which, Adolph Hitler rose to power in Nazi Germany, and under this sort of system of legalized theft, that is always an imminent threat, because absolute power ultimately corrupts absolutely those that wield the power.
The 8th Commandment of course is
“Thou shalt not steal”, and while I
do not advocate the mixing of religion and government in law, it seems to me
that a government removed too far from the fundamental, universal religious
moral foundations of its people, like the basic commandments (murder, theft,
false witness), and that is literally stealing
wealth from the people in the name of tax,
is not a legitimate government over those people. Is
there anyone in
Fortunately, the Constitution of the
To allow the government to steal in the name of tax, from the people it governs, is to extend to the government (in place of God) the power of God to give and take from man. A power that is then ruthlessly exercised at the government’s discretion, rather than under God’s will. So, in adopting “socialism” one replaces in his society and in his life his faith in God, with a blind trust in government, which elevates the government above God within our own lives, which violates the 1st Commandment to us: “I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other God before me.”
Additionally, in adopting “socialism” as
one’s philosophy for social existence and life, one’s parents, in their old
age, are left to the “State” to be cared for, rather than to be cared for by
their own children. While being relieved
of this emotionally and economically draining perceived “burden”, to care for
our parents in their old age and senility, may seem appealing at first, in
retrospection it plainly and clearly violates the 5th Commandment: “Thou shalt honor thy mother and father”.
Finally, the entire philosophical basis for socialism, its immoral temptation as it were; that each man can and should have what every other man has, violates the 10th Commandment: “Thou shalt not covet”. This of course, is the entire appeal to the common man about socialism, the false belief that the socialist government will (be able to) give him everything that he sees the wealthy today possessing around him. It plays on the human spirit’s inherent natural temptation to covet, desire, and want, that which the others around you already have. But living your lives and running your society strictly based on that covetousness, as socialist societies do, is fundamentally immoral, as that violates the 10th Commandment.
Of course this is all confirmed
immediately when we simply review the first two planks of the Communist Manifesto providing the basic systematic foundation for a socialist society,
with the 1st Plank being the abolition of private property, just as
described above, and the 2nd Plank being the income tax, which
immediately interferes with and takes direct control over the individual’s
ability to better his lot in life by working hard (or smart) and saving what he
earns in order to accumulate wealth and property.
So, what’s wrong with socialism is that it is repugnant to both the Bible and the Constitution because it is fundamentally, immorally based in covetousness, government theft, and the destruction and abolition of the individual’s right to own and acquire private property.
Consequently,
IT WILL RULE YOU, NOT EMPOWER YOU, OR
(ONLY
INTELLIGENT HARD
And
that’s what’s wrong with socialism!