4 thoughts on “#ProTip To “Democratic Socialists””
A point of language: When a leftist hears “Capitalism” they hear “Rule by the wealthy.” The idea of an economic order governed by mutual consent does not enter their minds. Some may not believe it possible for people to interact without the specter of one coercing another, which may tie in with other abuses seen on the left.
As the InstaPundit noted, “Under capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under socialism, the powerful become rich.” That explains some of the appeal of socialism. They believe they’ll be the ones calling the shots instead of getting shot. Those are the “useful idiots” Stalin was talking about. They make good cannon fodder for the revolution and then get pushed aside by the sociopaths (e.g. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc.) who seize power. I saw a comment yesterday that was pretty good: “Socialism is where a gang of criminal steal a country and punish the citizens for the crime.”
The problem is that we can all recognize how life isn’t perfect but few accept that everything can’t be fixed overnight. The best way is to enable individuals to solve, or support solving, the the problems that are important to them.
Modern entrepreneurship is currently framed as solving problems for other people while making enough money to cover costs and make a profit. But business isn’t the only the only way to solve problems. Having enough extra time, money, and/or expertise (gained through a higher standard of living because of free enterprise) allows people to support philanthropy. This creates a cycle of improvement across all society. It is unequal in the sense that not everything sees the same rate of improvement but it is also serendipitous where improvements in one area lead to unexpected/unplanned transfers into other areas. For example, PC gaming and mining bitcoins driving GPU development that then benefits astronomers.
The same is true for the medical industry and while many people think the government could just pay for everything, it is very persuasive to point out that industry being responsive to the whims of just one customer is far less effective than one that responds to the needs of hundreds of millions of customers.
Rather than arguing about whether or not Denmark really is socialist socialist, we need to be using persuasion through explaining cycles of discovery and then teasing out real world examples from the present and through out history that explain/illustrate why free commerce has created the standard of living we enjoy today and that if we want a better future that this is the method that should be used even if it takes time to solve problems.
explaining cycles of discovery and then teasing out real world examples
Challenge to the commenters. I can think of a few examples but I have seen the discussion here on the pedantic minutia of history and sometimes business. Can anyone think up some examples of developments in one business or field leading to unexpected advances in another? It is really so commonplace that it isn’t noticed as something special but there has to be some good examples out there that stick out or are so mundane that no one would ever expect they had such a large impact.
A point of language: When a leftist hears “Capitalism” they hear “Rule by the wealthy.” The idea of an economic order governed by mutual consent does not enter their minds. Some may not believe it possible for people to interact without the specter of one coercing another, which may tie in with other abuses seen on the left.
As the InstaPundit noted, “Under capitalism, the rich become powerful. Under socialism, the powerful become rich.” That explains some of the appeal of socialism. They believe they’ll be the ones calling the shots instead of getting shot. Those are the “useful idiots” Stalin was talking about. They make good cannon fodder for the revolution and then get pushed aside by the sociopaths (e.g. Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc.) who seize power. I saw a comment yesterday that was pretty good: “Socialism is where a gang of criminal steal a country and punish the citizens for the crime.”
The problem is that we can all recognize how life isn’t perfect but few accept that everything can’t be fixed overnight. The best way is to enable individuals to solve, or support solving, the the problems that are important to them.
Modern entrepreneurship is currently framed as solving problems for other people while making enough money to cover costs and make a profit. But business isn’t the only the only way to solve problems. Having enough extra time, money, and/or expertise (gained through a higher standard of living because of free enterprise) allows people to support philanthropy. This creates a cycle of improvement across all society. It is unequal in the sense that not everything sees the same rate of improvement but it is also serendipitous where improvements in one area lead to unexpected/unplanned transfers into other areas. For example, PC gaming and mining bitcoins driving GPU development that then benefits astronomers.
The same is true for the medical industry and while many people think the government could just pay for everything, it is very persuasive to point out that industry being responsive to the whims of just one customer is far less effective than one that responds to the needs of hundreds of millions of customers.
Rather than arguing about whether or not Denmark really is socialist socialist, we need to be using persuasion through explaining cycles of discovery and then teasing out real world examples from the present and through out history that explain/illustrate why free commerce has created the standard of living we enjoy today and that if we want a better future that this is the method that should be used even if it takes time to solve problems.
explaining cycles of discovery and then teasing out real world examples
Challenge to the commenters. I can think of a few examples but I have seen the discussion here on the pedantic minutia of history and sometimes business. Can anyone think up some examples of developments in one business or field leading to unexpected advances in another? It is really so commonplace that it isn’t noticed as something special but there has to be some good examples out there that stick out or are so mundane that no one would ever expect they had such a large impact.