6 Comments

  1. Shawn Pavlik on February 22, 2016 at 2:47 pm

    Tom-
    How do you answer liberal critics who say “That’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about DEMOCRATIC socialism, you know, like public education, police forces and fire departments, roads, etc.”? I’d like to see a post on this subject if you have the time.



    • quinersdiner on February 22, 2016 at 3:22 pm

      Great question. Simply put, socialism takes from producers and redistributes to non-producers, breeding dependency and eroding self-respect. Free enterprise believes in the dignity of work; democratic socialism doesn’t, which is demonstrated by the lowest labor force participation rates under Obama since the dreary Jimmy Carter days. Socialism replaces the Church as the moral authority for a nation’s people, replacing priests, ministers, and rabbis with liberal elite who undemocratically impose new norms on the “little people” (see abortion, gay marriage, climate change, etc.) while trampling on religious liberty. Socialism penalizes innovation and success with punitive taxes, and when you tax something, you get less of it: less innovation, lower profits, less risk-taking, fewer cures, fewer jobs, less national self-respect. Two countries took diametrically opposing paths at about the same time to put these two systems to the test: Cuba chose unabashed socialism in 1959; Hong Kong chose unabashed capitalism in 1961. At that time, their national GDP per person was about the same ($2500 to $3000 per person). Today, Hong Kong’s GDP per person is $52,203; Cuba’s is only $18,796. Freedom produces prosperity. See Hong Kong. Economic coercion, in its grinding heartlessness, produces poverty and despair. See Cuba. Otherwise, Shawn, the two systems aren’t that much different. 😉



      • Shawn Pavlik on February 24, 2016 at 12:19 pm

        What about Europe and Canada? Both have taken on socialism to some degree, and both are successful to some degree.



        • quinersdiner on February 24, 2016 at 1:07 pm

          Both have considerably lower average gross and net wages than the United States, thanks to big government. American’s average gross wages are $9000 higher than Canadians’ (American dollars) and $14,000 higher than Germans’. If Americans want a pay cut, all they have to do is emulate Europe or Canada.



  2. kurtedjohn on February 22, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    I agree.



  3. oarubio on March 27, 2016 at 6:23 pm

    Socialism attacks free will. That alone disqualifies it as a moral practice.