The recent uprising and protests in Cuba have brought me to a topic I never thought I would be discussing in the United States as a serious one. It is a fact that there has not been one successful communist or socialistic country in the history of the world that has succeeded, and yet we have Americans who are pushing that very dogma to reach some “utopia”. Many who read the above few sentences will say, of course the Scandinavian countries succeeded at socialism.
To an extent, Scandinavian countries did have limited success at socialism, but they have since moved away from that form of government to a more capitalistic form, like ours. Even if we say, for the sake of argument, the Scandinavian countries are a success that is 3 countries out of more than 170 current countries in the world to have found the right mix. There are many more failures than those three and the countries who have failed have failed miserably.
Countries like Venezuela who next to the United States was the richest country in the Western Hemisphere failed quickly and dramatically to the point where people were and are eating rats in the streets so the “food” isn’t stolen while taking it home. Cuba happens to be the one country in the news right now with the uprising this past weekend and in today’s news cycle will likely be out of the news soon.
One statement that I read in doing research for this article was one from Norway in which a single person with no dependents paid 40% income tax, 25% sales tax and other taxes and fees. So, over half of a person’s income is taxed away just with those two taxes and that doesn’t include other fees and other taxes. In the same article it said that you would need to have 95% voluntary compliance to make a system such as that work effectively and of course that will never happen.
What it comes down to is that socialism will always fail. It promises prosperity, equality, and security and yet in Cuba, Venezuela, Soviet Union, North Korea, and many others it has delivered poverty, misery, and tyranny. Equality was only achieved because everyone (except the ruling class) was equal in their own misery. Basically, the concepts of Socialism go against human nature because incentives mean little to nothing in these countries and human nature desires a need to strive for something.
Our current system of governance is capitalism, and its strength can be attributed to an incentive-based structure. By socialism’s failure to promote the potential of its people through incentives a person’s humanity is deprived of the need to succeed. Socialism fails because it kills and destroys the human spirit.
The drive to socialism is constantly alluring to many because by giving up a “little freedom” a person will “gain more security” through the government. The bargain is tempting but it has never paid off. Those who enter that bargain end up losing both freedom and security. As such socialism will remain a constant temptation but will not produce the results that those who strive for it want.
Capitalism on the other hand has a proven track record of successes and plays a major role in setting people free from poverty and oppression. Capitalism promotes an air of enterprise and nurtures the human spirit. By providing a powerful system of incentives that promote thrift, hard work, and efficiency. Capitalism creates wealth unlike any system out there. The main difference between socialism and capitalism is that capitalism works.
Socialism causes misery and yet capitalism promotes wealth and the ability to gain individual value. The United States, for example, has created more millionaires and billionaires than the rest of the world combined. Of course, the argument against capitalism is that it only makes the rich richer. The fact is that even the poor get richer in a capitalistic society. Capitalism benefits all by lessening historical racial and gender disparities basically making anyone who has the drive to succeed have an equal potential for success. In the end, there is no doubt that capitalism is the right path to follow and while socialism has an attractive allure for some, the pitfalls are such that failure is more likely than not.
