Of socialism and sociability (or: Orwell rolls in his grave)

2. April 2009 by admin.

These days, it seems the slide toward socialism (in which the means of production are partially or totally state owned and redistributive monetary policy is pursued) is not only inevitable, but overwhelmingly accepted (1). With Republican and Democratic leaders embracing openly socialist policy, general approval of our president’s unabashedly socialist actions, and recent public ownership of banking structures, insurance companies, and the auto industry, it seems that capitalism has lost the battle for the New World (2). But why has socialist policy been able to capture the hearts of Americans?

Since its inception, socialism’s claim to the moral high ground is that it employs the public resources and the means of production to further the benefit of the poor, which appears noble upon first glance and has tremendous appeal to the public. But upon further inspection, the analyst is hard pressed to find socially beneficial qualities resulting from a leftist governmental structure at all.

For instance, anyone in the civilized world could tell you what social behavior would be. Charity, responsibility, and regard for the law are readily recognized as not only being beneficial to society, but also timelessly preferable to their inverses known as selfishness, irresponsibility, and lawlessness. In short, we all know who a good neighbor would be based on the behavioral traits they engender and promote, and as such, the institutions that promote these traits are inherently sociable and positive. On the flip side, institutions that reinforce negative traits should be recognized as harmful and discarded as soon as recognized. Read the rest of this entry »

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