NASA  image of North and South Korea at night

 Socialism was invented by two near-do-wells of the 1800’s, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Neither ever held a permanent job. Marx was an alcoholic who relished in bar-room brawls, and Engels embezzled from his father’s textile business to support himself and Marx; they were not your standard individuals who understood economics or could create new economic theory and influence the whole world to abandon capitalism.  Yet they did! Socialism was created de novo, without any trials or previous experience. In 1917, Vladimir Lenin fomented a revolution that turned a feudal imperial government into a Communist government.

Both my parents lived under communism and eventurally escaped because their lives were threatened. Communism became the philosophy that governed the USSR: Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. These were the first and only socialist countries at the time. In 1991, the countries of the USSR collapsed, and all became capitalist, a dramatic failure of communism that ought to serve as a red light for any future countries that adopt that system of government.

And by the way, the Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, are not socialist. Just Google them! From 1970 to 1990, Sweden experimented with socialist ideas, but after 1990, when many successful industries like IKEA left the country, they abandoned all traces of socialism, lowered taxes, eliminated inheritance and property taxes altogether, and became successful again.

The USSR is not the only failed communist government. Numerous other countries have had similar experiences. In 1977, Israel’s Labor Party was replaced by the Likud Party led by Menachin Begin. He invited American economist Milton Friedman to consult on their struggling economy. Friedman’s advice: “Let your people be free!” Begin changed Israel from a socialist  to a free-market economy, and very quickly the country became one of the richest nations in the Middle East.  After the war, England nationalized many of its major companies, but its economy became unsustainable and was changed back to a free-market capitalist approach under Margaret Thatcher and has thrived ever since. India became socialist until Indira Gandhi’s son turned it back into a free-market system. It now is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. After the USSR’s dissolution, most of the “client states of the Soviet Union are now free-market capitalist countries, including Poland, Romania, the Baltics, Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Ukraine, despite its existential war with Russia. Then there is Venezuela, a country with vast natural resources, run into the ground by Communist Hugo Chavez, succeeded by Nicolas Maduro, both contributing to the turning of a rich country into one of the poorest, with people fleeing because of lack of food, lack of social structure, lack of jobs, and lack of freedom. Cuba is another communist failed island nation that was the pearl of the Caribbean, turned into a nation that lacked the basics of a decent life: food and energy. Good work, Fidel and others of that family, for demonstrating how not to run a country.  How about North Korea? Have you seen the lack of lights at night in North Korea, especially when compared to South Korea? That alone should shut up the likes of Talarico, Abdul El-Sayed, and the rest of the DSA (Democratic Socialists of America) crowd.    

Communism is unable to self-correct. Opposing opinions are treated as a threat rather than valuable input for improvement. Feedback is eliminated and not tolerated. When communism rejected Mendelian genetics and replaced it with Lysenko’s mistaken concepts of the transmission of acquired characteristics, it produced failed agricultural targets and famine; but because that did not fit communist ideology, rejecting Lysenko’s ideology was not what communism was about. Theory trumps reality. The theory that was in concert with communism was what was preferred, even though thousands died of starvation. Communism does not reward the individual who works harder, longer, and smarter. It goes with the average, not the overachiever. Entrepreneurial activity was not only discouraged, but it was criminalized. If you managed to grow more potatoes in your field and sold the overage at a profit, you were put in prison. Private enterprise was a prosecutable crime. Why work harder if it does not gain you an advantage? Communism eliminates the drive to do better, to do more, to work faster, smarter, and be more productive. Outcomes are measured against political targets invented by the central committee, which routinely either overestimates or underestimates the productivity of the workforce. Free market forces are much better at determining what the population needs and wants and regulating supply and demand.

Communism has failed most everywhere and whenever it has been tried. Is that not enough? Do we need to try it here in the USA? I know what the DSA will say. Yes, because we (the DSA) will do it correctly. So why did the twenty-two or more countries that I mentioned above not do that? They could not -Communism is rigid. Their system is not capable of fixing its flaws like a democracy that has a tripartite government that constantly corrects its flaws under checks and balances created by our Founding Fathers, the product of the Age of Enlightenment, not two morons!