How & Why Socialism Works
There are certain rules that functional socialist societies have in common. In this section we will look at some of these rules.
Rule #1 – All truly functional socialist societies are agrarian in nature.
The reason why agricultural collectives work so well is rooted (no pun intended) in the very nature of agriculture. Under even minimally favorable circumstances, agriculture always yields an increase. For example: A single grain of wheat will grow a stalk of grain, but that stalk will grow a head containing 50 to 60 new grains of wheat.
Examples of some of the successful socialist agrarian societies are Amish Mennonites, the Hutterites, and the Jewish Kibbutz movement.
Rule #2 – A truly functional socialist society is founded on unanimous consent and depends on a high level of conformity.
Rules for the society must be strictly adhered to. In most cases violation of the rules are met with strict disciplinary action and repeated violations result in expulsion from the community. Once expelled, the violator is shunned by the community and no communication may be received by any member of the community from the violator.
Unanimous consent means that every member of the society voluntarily relinquishes his/her right to ownership of real estate or personal property and freedom of speech & thought. Differences of opinion and dissent cannot be tolerated because the society depends on total harmony (conformity). All individual rights must be relinquished for the greater good of the community.
Because of the amount of control that these societies hold over the individual, all socialist societies must be classified as cults.
Rule #3 – The worst danger to a socialist system is the failure to contribute, conform, or consent.
If a member of the society does not voluntarily contribute his/her labor, he/she must be either compelled to contribute (which amounts to forced labor) or expelled. If a member of the society does not conform to the community rules or give his/her consent to the rules, he/she must be expelled for the good of the community. Expulsion amounts to a death sentence because the expelled person has no possessions and can take no resources from the community. He/she must rely on the generosity of strangers or die. The traumatic psychological effect of being expelled from one of these cults can last a lifetime.
As a former cult member, I can tell you that no one who is inside of a cult knows that they are inside of a cult.
How & Why Socialism Does Not Work
It is very easy to find small numbers of people (many with a common religious perspective) who will consent to relinquish their liberty for the good of the community, but when it comes to larger numbers it is nearly impossible to hold a socialist society together. For most people individual liberty is the most important thing. This is why socialist countries must build fences – so that their citizens do not escape. Dissenters are sent to “reeducation” camps or gulags.
Because the majority of people value individual liberty, every large socialist society descends into tyranny. The examples are many:
Robespierre's “Reign of Terror” where up to forty thousand Parisians lost their heads to the guillotine.
Mao Ze-Dong's “Cultural Revolution” claimed between thirty and seventy million Chinese lives.
Pol Pot's “Killing Fields” claimed 1.7 million lives.
Josef Stalin was responsible for the termination of 23 million lives.
Kim Il Sung was responsible for the termination of 1.6 million lives.
Here is the great irony: everything is “free” in a socialist society (i.e. free housing, free health care, free education); while there is a great “cost” for freedom.
Social and Economic Justice
Nearly all of the 613 mitvot (commandments) of the Torah deal with actions/deeds. It could be argued that “love the Lord your God” and “love your neighbor” deal with thought rather than action, but love is expressed only through action. Only the “Tenth Commandment” deals exclusively with thought – and it is this thought which is the root of all evil. The commandment say, “You shall not covet...” Covetousness is envy of others for their wealth, status, etc.
The concepts of social and economic justice have their roots in covetousness, The idea that you can take from the producers and redistribute wealth to the non-producers is just plain immoral.
It is not an accident that most socialist are atheists. Because they do not believe in the providence and sustenance of the Creator, they live under a delusion of scarcity. The reality, however, is that we live in a world of abundance. So much so that even if the population were to reach 50 billion, we would still have more than enough of all the resources that we need to sustain the typical American lifestyle – and I mean for all 50 billion. Just one illustration of this is the fact that there are no depleted oil reservoirs – they keep refilling themselves. Even more amazing than this is the fact that we don't even need to use oil or coal if we don't want to. Nuclear power is among the safest, cleanest and cheapest energy sources on earth. Even more incredible is the fact that free energy is easy to obtain by methods similar to those first discovered by Nikola Tesla at the end of the 19th century (which our own Department of Energy is suppressing).
Yes we can sustain a population of 50 billion by utilizing the non-utilized farm land. If you do any air travel, you know this to be true. If you fly over any country on earth, you see mostly vacant and non-utilized farm land. I knew this was true of America (because we are such a young country), but the first time I flew over Europe, I was amazed by how small the urban areas were when compared to the vastness of the forests and farm land. Currently in many parts of the planet, the deserts are beginning to recede. This is because, while excess carbon in the atmosphere does not cause global warming, it does cause more greening of the planet.
While we do not have a scarcity of resources, we do have a scarcity of utilization of resources. Those who have a mindset of scarcity are always trying to conserve resources, which stifles growth and prosperity. Individual freedom combined with free markets is the greatest single engine for prosperity. The United States went from ox cart to commercial airliner in only 200 years – and the ox cart had been with us for 5,000 years.
