There is so much talk on the news about socialist this and socialist that, that it is hard to keep things in context. Some say that Obama is a Socialist. Others say we've been a Socialist State ever since FDR introduced Social Security. And the truth is when I was in school these things all fell under the evil term Communism. So we really didn't learn about this "evil empire" thinking. So here goes my attempt to understand all this.
You have to start with a man named Karl Marx. He lived in the 1800's and wrote a book called "The Communist Manifesto". This book was more or less a road map for a new philosophy of how to handle society, economies, and governments all in one package. At this time in history, rich people are referred to as "the bourgeoisie". It was believed that these rich bourgeoisie would use Capitalism and the industrial revolution to enslave working people. So the first step to helping empower the working class was to introduce Socialism or a Workers State. But realize in Marx's book, Socialism is an economy that is added on top of Capitalism. Yes Socialism is about redistributing the wealth of a society, but it needs Capitalism to continue to work for wealth to still exist. So understand that this was an effort to but power in the hands of the "working class" and take it away from the "bourgeoisie". The key is the working people.(I'll get back to working people in a minute) Then once the wealth was redistributed, you could enact Communism. Communism is a form of government built on a Socialist economy that is built on Capitalism. In a true Communist society everyone does his or her job and everyone is paid equally. If you are a Science Fiction fan, Star Trek is the Utopian model of Communism, everyone working to do his best to do his job and all their needs are cared to without need to ask or pay.
Here is the big problem with all this. No where in Karl Marx philosophy is anyone given a "free ride". Marx makes the assumption that everyone will continue to work hard and do their fair share. While his full intent was to take money and power away from the rich, he never had any mind to give that money or power to a "non worker". Some kind of way we've twisted this empower the worker philosophy into enslave the worker to pay for the non worker. Take a closer look at our nearest Communist neighbor, Cuba. The poor Cubans with no job don't get freebies. They don't get equal housing, but that's what we sell as Socialism here in America. You see when you take away from one to give to another, resentment sets in. When resentment sets in people stop working as hard or stop working altogether. Why work for something if I can just get it for free. Sooner or later, no one is working and the means to make wealth is vanished.
Again the key is working people. As a nation we have focused on both ends of the spectrum. Either bail out the giant corporations that are to big to fail or subsidize the lazy that are to apathetic to do anything. This strange, made up Socialism leaves out the most important part of the puzzle, working people. People who take pride and ownership in their job, community, and nation. I fear this new cooked up form of Socialism will squeeze those people out of existence.
True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what's right.
- Brigham Young
