WHY COMMUNISM OR SOCIALISM CAN NEVER WORK!!

Socialism/communism are utopian forms of existence/government. In their conceptual philosophy, they are very attractive. They propose an existence where everything is owned and controlled and distributed by the “State”. An oversimplification of its overriding theme is “share and share alike”. And while that is an exceptional and admirable existence dream, here on earth, that dream has no possibility of ever existing successfully. Why not, some may ask? Because it simply defies human nature, ignoring the drastic world views held by different nations around the world.

For socialism/communism to work, there are four assumptions that must be assumed true:

1. Mankind is basically good by nature
2. Every person would be satisfied with whatever they are given, and would not aspire to “...more.”
3. The “State” will always do what is “right” for the people.
4. The “State” will be allowed to exist without interference from other countries/states as long as it does not interfere with those other countries' internal or external operations.

Let us look at each of these assumptions in more depth. First, we must examine mankind's basic human nature; e.g., is it basically good, or bad by nature? We can get very deep into the debate on this subject, but at its very basic nature, to determine whether or not our nature is good or evil, we can simply look at very young children. By their nature, virtually all children come into this world selfish. Left alone, children do not like to share, will, by nature, set up a hierarchy among their social and even family structures that determines who the dominant member of the group is, and will resists changes that go against those character traits or hierarchy.

For those that are of the Judeo-Christian faith, there is also biblical scripture that indicates this assertion. Romans 3:23 (NKJV) says “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” John 9:34 says “They answered him, 'You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?' So they put him out.“

Countless experiments have been done proving that we come into this world with a sinful nature, and only by correction and the enforcement by others of God's an/or man's laws do be become able to co-exist with other humans in a civilized way. Even those who proclaim themselves as Christians acknowledge that every day we sin, and only through redemption received through confession and repentance of our sins can we re-establish our covenant and personal relationship with the Father.

The second assumption, e.g., every person would be satisfied with whatever they are given and would not aspire for “more”, has been proven to be totally unsustainable and unworkable through the human experiment for centuries. For recent examples, look at the Soviet Union, Cuba, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Germany, even today places like Greece, Italy, France, North Korea, Iraq, Libya, Syria, places where the “State” has supposedly tried to take care of its peoples and control them, but they have exploded in revolt or have regressed in the condition of their people overall because of the human nature's resistance to domination, to having their freedoms restricted, and to having been taken over by cruel, oppressive dictators or regimes. It just does not work.

The failure comes because in most free societies, the State itself has no means to generate revenues other than through taxation, fees, tariffs, and /or conquests. Since the world went to basically a system of paper money, a medium of exchange with no real value except that which is established and guaranteed by the governments themselves, government's ability to buy goods and services from other countries depends upon the world's valuation of its currency. Whether the country directly owns the products and goods sold to internal and external markets, or whether it taxes the individuals living in the country to raise the capital needed to operate, in general, the world operates based on paper, and even non-existent paper or coins through electronic transactions for the exchange of goods and services between countries. This which means that no longer is a government's ability to operate entirely dependent upon goods and services provided from internal means; all governments must now operate in a global economy where opinion, and the reliability and productivity of its citizens helps to determine the valuation of its currency, and therefore its ability to buy goods and services from other countries..

The evolution of electronic communications systems (telephone, computers, wireless communications, access to the World Wide Web and the Internet have made it virtually impossible for repressive regimes to restrict their citizen's awareness of the economic conditions in other nations. This awareness of economic and social conditions around the world has vastly increased mankind's unrest with their own state of affairs, especially in the underprivileged nations of the world. Demand is increasing world-wide for “more”; more goods, more freedoms, more money, more of everything that those in underprivileged areas see those in more privileged areas enjoying.

Mankind, by nature, wants freedom. They resist either overtly or covertly any force that tries to take that freedom away or restrict it by oppression. We see that resistance to having our freedoms restricted throughout every species of living creature on the earth. Try to cage any animal and see the resistance that is put up. Take any animal that has been living in a cage even since birth, and take it out of that cage, eventually, it will leave to never return unless stopped. Even plants want to grow and expand. Restrict a plant's space in which to grow, and eventually it will wither and die. Allow a plant unlimited access to growth and it will continue to grow until its limbs can no longer support that growth. That is a law of nature. Nothing, nor no one want to be constrained. Freedom and growth are instinctual goals for every living thing.

The disproving of assumption number one is also the proof that Assumption number three will always be proven false. The “State” is nothing more than a structure of constraints and guidelines by which those under its coverage receive their boundaries of behavior. Depending upon its structure, those guidelines and constraints are determined by individuals comprising the “State”, either through elected and/or appointed officials or by a supreme ruler who then imposes his/her will on the people through force, with, of course, innumerable variations that include some of both.

History is again our best teacher here of the fallacy of believing the State will always do the “right” thing for its people. Since recorded history began, mankind has seen innumerable examples of governments being established by dictators and monarchs which have, over time, been overthrown or conquered by force, both internal force and external force. Likewise there have been numerous cases where democracies and republics have been established, and, over time, decayed through weakness or internal corruption to the point that they have been removed/replaced through internal or external force. Thomas Jefferson, America's third President, stated his beliefs about government's ability to do the “right” thing all the time for its citizens, when he said these famous quotes:

1. “The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. “
2. When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
3. What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance?
4. Most bad government has grown out of too much government.
5. A little rebellion now and then is a good thing and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.
6. “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows us that as a government grows, liberty decreases.” 

Jefferson knew from his experiences dealing with foreign governments that the older established governments of Europe were all basically corrupt and self-serving, caring little for the people they governed. History shows us time and time again that as individuals get a taste of power and privilege at the expense of those they govern, with very few exceptions, their lust for more of that turns even the most honest and caring individuals into self-serving, greedy individuals with little concern for their constituants. Even in our nation's young life, we can see the fallacy of this type of argument that the States will always do what is best for those it governs. We have seen and had recorded in minute detail the rise and fall of virtually every type of governmental structure known to man. Germany and Japan rose through military power as the AXIS powers with the intent of destroying and/or dominating every other form of government on the earth. Why, because internally they did not have all the materials/resources they needed to exist at the level they wished and to install their idea of the “State” as they envisioned it, so they had to take from others in order to create and sustain their vision of a utopia on earth. The same with Communism/Socialism throughout the world, especially evident in the Soviet Union and its efforts to establish a world-wide Communist Utopia. It, too, failed because of its evolution into one of the world's most oppressive and cruel empires.

Even here in the United States, we are seeing the degradation of our freedoms through the growth of government controls and regulations. Whether well-intentioned, or diabolical in nature, America's elected officials have continually regulated and legislated away the rights of the majority of its citizens in an effort to create a totally equal society, where no-one will have any kind of privilege or advantage over another. That society can never exist, because there will always be individuals that want “more”, and when they cannot get “more” by conventional means, will either try to force government to give it to them, or will try to take it away from those with more by whatever means they can. Well intentioned or devious individuals in positions of government with the ability to socially engineer change have, over the last sixty years, tried numerous attempts to govern people out of poverty with a dismal record of failure. Again, a failed approach that has been tired over and over and, in the past, has failed every time. Laws have been passed which supposedly prevent any type of discrimination by one person or one company against another, but the realities are that for every law that is passed, unscrupulous people will find a way to circumvent or hide their violations of that law. The only way mankind has ever raised its economic, social, and political status has been to work for it, and to have government basically get out of mankind's way.

Regulations implemented to supposedly prevent as much opportunity for man to injure his fellow man have made it virtually impossible for someone to start a new business today because of the costs of complying with these needless regulations. Government officials have continued to expand their ideas of the government's responsibilities to take care of its citizens, which has in turn, driven up the costs of government to a point where the government cannot sustain its give-away programs without excessive taxation or borrowing, and because people who realize they can vote themselves something for nothing, will elect individuals who promise them that something for nothing. Whether they realize there really is nothing “free”, that somebody will pay for it somehow, does not seem to matter. It is a fallback to that “looking out for #1” mentality that exposes the underbelly of man's selfish, evil nature.

The Fourth Assumption has never been proven true in all of recorded history. Stronger nations inevitably have reached out and taken resources from weaker nations throughout recorded history. It is said that when Alexander the Great finally conquered all of the known world at his time, he sat down and wept because there was nothing or no one else left to conquer. America, in its short history, has proven to be the only nation in history to disavow the goals of conquering other nations by force to expand its availability of resources needed to sustain its economic and social growth. No other nation has ever conquered so many nations in battle where it was attacked from outside forces, then after vanquishing those nations in battle, turned around and expended its own resources to re-establish those vanquished nations as independent, free economic, social, and politically free entities. But that government has grown more and more oppressive and has degraded so drastically from a moral and spiritual perspective in the last sixty years, that it, too, has begun to resemble those evil empires that we so recently have fought to overthrow.

In summary, until not only America, but the entire world realizes that history assures the continual appearance of evil and/or corrupt individuals and governments because of the sinful, evil nature of mankind, the social, economic, and political dreams of some type of utopian socialist or communist type of government will continue to rise and, eventually, be destroyed. Not until mankind can rid itself of its sinful, evil nature completely, could socialism or communism work, and since history has proven that likelihood virtually unthinkable, the probability of a utopia existing on this earth is absolutely zero until the second coming of Christ and the casting of all evil spirits into hell for eternity occurs.

Until then, the struggle against oppressive governments will continue, and until people realize that no government should ever be trusted to provide for the needs and freedoms of its people, the dreams of that utopia will continue to be contemplated upon, and tried, and proven unworkable time and time again.

“The definition of insanity is the belief that by doing the same thing over and over again, one can expect a different outcome to occur”.