Socialism vs. Capitalism II
Socialism vs. Capitalism II
By
Ken Eliasberg
In dealing with the “ism” schism that is the real issue that Americans have grappled with for some 80 years, I suggest that we address it in 3 separate contexts: (1) the reader’s personal experience with government, (2) an objective analysis of socialism as it has been institutionally adopted on the world, national, and regional scenes, and (3) its theoretical appeal vs. its practical and realistic limitations. Having addressed the personal aspects last week, let’s take a look at the results that socialism has visited on the world in a number of different contexts, i.e how has it fared on those occasions when it was actually operative in a governmental context as opposed to just so much academic dialogue? Not very well, as we shall see and as was pointed out just last month in this newspaper (7/9/15 issue) in an excellent column by J.J. McDonough entitled The Joys of Socialism! (an obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to this form of governmental oppression).
Globally.- As J.J. pointed out, socialism has been tried (and continues to be the governmental expression of choice (?)) in a number of countries, but let’s just look at 3 in which it has played a lethal, not to mention ineffective, role in that country’s well-being — Russia, China, and Cambodia. And, if I appear to be using Socialism and Communism interchangeably it’s because I view the former as little more than a pit stop on the way to the latter; both systems employ a degree of governmental control that I find incompatible with what has worked, if sometimes fitfully, so well for America, and why America has become the super power (in every positive sense in which that term can be used) that it is.
Russia.- Russia, over the course of the 70 years that Communism reigned supreme, achieved super power status as the result of its grit during WWII (in which she lost over 20 million of its citizenry), its natural resources, and its general willingness to use brutality to hold on to its power structure. Run by ideologues and kleptocrats, it found it necessary to kill some 30 million of its citizens in its effort to establish a communist Utopia (and, by the way, that’s what it’s all about for these left-wing ideologues — creating heaven on earth (Utopia)). Unlike China, who followed in her wake, Russia never achieved any measure of capitalism — how many items in your home are or were made in Russia? — and was ultimately bankrupted by the U.S. under Reagan (although left-wing historians would like to have you believe that it was Gorbachev’s enlightenment that ended the cold war, it was Reagan who, sensing that the Soviets could not run a guns and butter economy over a very extended period, stepped up the level of economic competition, ultimately bankrupting the Soviets). Reagan was right; the Soviets just ran out of money, reminding us of Margaret Thatcher’s assessment of why Socialism doesn’t work, i.e. “eventually you run out of other people’s money” (Obama seems to be testing the outer limits of that theory in his multi-trillion dollar proposals).
China.- Following in Stalin’s brutal foot steps, Mao, in his great leap forward, slaughtered over 40 million of China’s citizens. Here, however, there appears to be a major difference in the way things will end. China is moving at lightning speed toward Capitalism (again, use the test of how many items in your home are made in China to gauge just how far they have come). China, while still an oppressive regime, is not economically repressive; capitalism is beginning to flourish. And, that being the case, on the theory that economics might prove to be a leading indicator, China might move toward Democracy. People with T.V. sets, automobiles, and refrigerators tend be capitalists, and once you uncork that bottle, you’re not going to get the cork back in. The Chinese have already changed the economic ground rules for their evolution; I believe it’s only a matter of time before the political ground rules follow suit. It will be a socialistic failure but a capitalistic success.
Another country that has moved away from Socialism, and is moving rapidly to becoming a huge capitalistic success, is Israel; they have freed their innovative and creative forces, and, now that that energy is not governmentally tethered, Israel is in the forefront and on the cutting edge of technology. Both of these countries demonstrate the limits of governmental restraint. For a brilliant expose of Israel’s economic evolution, I recommend George Gilder’s recent book, The Israel Test, Richard Vigilante Books (2009),
Cambodia.- This, thanks in part to the bleeding heart anti-war movement in this country, became a real horror story. When our left-wingers forced us out of Southeast Asia, the result was a carnage in which some 2 and