I ran into a long time acquaintance the other day and we talked about the past for quite a while but eventually the conversation got around to the most popular subject these days, Politics. She wasted no time informing me that she did care for President Trump. I replied by stating that I respect her opinion but I would like her to make a choice — I proceeded to ask “which would you prefer, having Mr. Trump as your president or living in Socialism.?”
To my amazement the lady had no idea what Socialism is.
I’m sure it must be an age factor being the lady had recently retired. I’m sure there isn’t a Millennial in the U.S. that doesn’t know all about Socialism, In fact over half of those under 30 years old prefer Socialism to Capitalism.
Nevertheless, I set forth trying to explain the difference between Socialism vs. Capitalism: First, I asked her if she knew what Communism is. She wasn’t quite sure but had a vague idea; so I gave the definition found in the Merriam Webster Dictionary: “Communism is a single party totalitarian government that owns the means of all production and distribution of goods.”
Then what is Socialism, she asked. Socialism, I replied, is Communism with one major difference … the government controls every aspect of production and distribution, as in Communism, but allows private ownership of the manufacturing facilities, farm lands and stores.
I had to add that there has never been a successful long-term use of Socialism by any country. The most recent example being Venezuela: others include Cuba, China, North Korea, Vietnam and Zimbabwe to name just a few.
Why does Socialism fail? The easiest way to explain a complicated issue is to use simple comparisons. In this case I prefer to use the Wait Staff at two different Restaurants. The first restaurant uses the Capitalist system, each member of the wait staff receives tips from appreciative customers usually based on how well the customer feels about the service. As a rule, the better the service the larger the tips. This is called an incentive and produces the best possible service available and usually receives the largest tips.
The second restaurant uses the Socialist system, whereby all tips are pooled and equally distributed. Everyone receives the same share from the tips, consequently there is no incentive to work harder to please the customers. As a result of using the Socialist system the service declined, the amount of the tips suffered tremendously. Customers stopped coming due to the poor service. Some of the wait staff left because of lost income and the constant turnover of new employees produced even lower quality service.
Venezuela recently went through a transition from Capitalism to Socialism with the same disastrous results. The unhinged government told the Venezuelan people that paying for the food in the stores was unfair and that the food belonged to the people. Whereby the people proceeded to empty the store shelves. There was no incentive for anybody to restock the shelves and finally there came a point when there was nothing left in the warehouse to restock.
Today’s Socialism may be disguised to confuse the unwary with such diversionary tactics as naming it Democrat Socialism. Don’t be confused, it’s the same game just a different name.
Socialism provides very little incentive to work as individuals; you’re just part of the herd with few personal responsibilities. This in turn leads to a non-productive life style and eventually a complete melt down of society, as witnessed in Venezuela.
This threat of Socialism is real and closer than you think; in fact Socialism is just a ballot box away.
Mark Schenck is the Scotland County Republican Party chairman.
