Can a moral case be made for taking the rightful property of one American and giving it to another to whom it does not belong? I think not. That's why socialism is evil. It uses evil means (coercion) to achieve what are seen as good ends (helping people).
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Walter Williams on Socialism
Here's an interesting article by Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, on the immorality of socialism. Here's a quote:
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2 comments:
I agree: I think forcing people to do anything, let alone what to do with their money, is a terrible thing. But everyone is so quick to point out what's evil and what's not. How evil is it that we're so unwilling to share? How evil is it that we're so gluttonous? How evil is it that we throw out more food in a year than many people in other parts of the world will ever eat over the course of their entire lives?
We've become so averse to the spirit of charity, we point out moral arguments against an economic system whose sole creation was to secure a decent life for people of no means (actually socialism is a political ideology; communism is the economic system).
I just think we bandy about words like "evil" and "hero" too often. I dunno; that's just me. It's true: communism doesn't work, but the spirit behind it was never evil; just the application.
I agree that the bar for qualifying things as "evil" is set too low. I wouldn't have used that word (that's why I used the word "immoral," which I think is more accurate). I also don't dispute that socialism and communism originated from noble intentions. The fatal flaw in those two ideologies is the mistaken belief in the goodness of man. In other words, when left to their own devices, people are selfish and greedy. That's true in all societies.
That's why an economic and political system of checks and balances based on the rule of law has proven over the centuries to be most effective. While it's not perfect, I think Churchill had it right when he said democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.
As it regards economics, Churchill was also correct when he said that the inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings, while the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
As long as there are people in this world, there will be a constant tug o' war between charity and avarice. Thankfully, we are blessed to live in a society that affords us the freedom of self-determination. Our responsibility as individuals within this soceity is to uplift others as we work to elevate ourselves. In other words, we must choose charity.
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