The Idea of Socialism

There are currently a multitude of references to socialism and like-minded ideas these days, which prompted me to ask the question, what is wrong with socialism and ideas like it?

I believe the idea had lofty beginnings. It sounds utopia-like to desire equal footing for all people in all lands, but is that idea rooted in reality? What are the problems associated with an idea like this? Sadly, there are many?

Some of the cursory problems revolving around such a claim would begin with the reality of it: how possible would it be to bring this dream to reality? Sadly, it is impossible. Why? Simple, someone has to run the farm.

We can strive to make everyone equal but this social agenda, as perfect as it may sound, needs an administrator and a governor. As soon as those appointments are made... we are back to where we began... inequality. And, eventually, after many years, this lofty social agenda will have the same problems and same abuses as the ones before.

But, there is a deeper reason why these social-oriented agendas will not work. Socialism should be defined according to economic semantics as it is a means of economy. If we look in The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics and Liberty we will find socialism defined as "as a centrally planned economy in which the government controls all means of production." This is not the definition found in today's liberal media circles. Born out of a commitment to remedy the economic and moral defects of capitalism, it has far surpassed capitalism in both economic and social malfunctions as well as moral cruelty yet, it still lingers as a potential option. Agendas born in response or reaction to anything rarely produce anything worthy of emulating. Despite these issues, there is still yet a deeper and more spiritual reason for the malfunction of socialism.

Socialism operates on the premise that human beings are innately good and have tendencies towards good in response to fellow human beings. Scripture makes it clear... "But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith (Romans 3:21-25)." But, for those of you not wanting to trust scripture ( I believe it is the only thing you can trust in this world), I implore you to look at history, and the many many examples of social injustice that occur when all restraint is removed. Time and time again history reminds us that mankind, without restraint, can not be trusted. When one attempts to find one instance of utopia that has occurred as the result of man shedding the shackles of restraint... we only find examples of abuse and atrocities.

Socialism and all other premises similar will not work for many reasons, but there is one foundation reason above all that will prevent it from ever working: it assumes the wrong things about mankind. Socialism assumes that mankind is innately good and capable of doing good consistently and forever. There will be some who argue with this statement, but let me first explain my logic. This statement says nothing about good people for there are indeed good people in this world who do good for all the right reasons. The statement does not discount that, but socialism needs more than a few good people doing a few good things; it requires consistent prolonged goodness as a trait of all people.

In the end, socialism with no process of checks and balances in place to restrain itself, I believe, will be doomed to a miserable failure on a scale not seen. Let's think about what will happen if socialism is allowed to progress in such a manner. It will produce two classes, those in power and those not. It will produce mediocrity and nothing excellent. It will produce poverty. How do I know this? Simple, history has documented it.

I do acknowledge that the desire for socialism is rooted in a desire to better our world. There is much to be fixed in this fallen world in which we live. This desire to ask the government to remedy all of our ills may come from a failure on our part as Christians. We are called to do some of the things government and civic organizations are currently doing. My statements here do not absolve us from our responsibilities in any way, but let not our failures cloud our judgment of what we know. Government is made of sinful men and women who, given unbridled power, will almost certainly repeat the mistakes of the past. Blessings!