As SLL found out from comments on this website and the guest post on The Burning Platform to “The Scourge of Socialism,” you can never have a coherent discussion with socialists because the only socialism they will admit to is fantasyland socialism, not any of socialism’s countless real world failures and horrors. From Lawrence J. Reed at the Foundation for Economic Education, fee.org:
Have you ever tried to nail Jell-O to the wall? It’s easier than getting a socialist to stand pat on what socialism is, which makes socialism an endlessly moving target.
Socialists are so intellectually slippery that they could crawl through a barrel of pretzels without knocking the salt off.
Marx called for the abolition of private property and state ownership of the means of production. He labeled it “scientific socialism.”
“But that’s not what we mean!” today’s socialist dreamers proclaim.
Lenin established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). He put the Soviet state in charge of every aspect of life for “the good of the people.” Stalin, his mass murdering successor, declared that Soviet socialism would perfect the “workers’ paradise” promised by socialist intellectuals.
“But that’s not what we mean!” today’s socialist dreamers proclaim.
Hitler and his minions “planned” the German economy, called themselves socialist and even named their political organization the National Socialist German Workers Party.
“But that’s not we mean!” today’s socialist dreamers proclaim.
Fifteen different republics within the Soviet empire all proclaimed themselves dedicated to socialism (until all of their socialist regimes collapsed in 1989–91).
“But that’s not what we mean!” today’s socialist dreamers proclaim.
More Failed Examples of Socialism
Dozens of regimes in Africa and Asia from the 1950s on committed themselves to the socialist utopia, embracing socialism proudly by name. Every single one of them elicits the same proclamation from today’s socialist dreamers: “But that’s not what we mean!”
Socialists all over the world rejoiced in the rise to power of socialist Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. “This is what we mean!” seemed to be their mantra as he expropriated and nationalized and redistributed. Barely 15 years later with the country now a total basket case, you have to press today’s socialist dreamers to get them to say anything at all. But when you finally get them to talk, once more we hear the familiar refrain: “But that’s not what we mean!”
Today’s socialist dreamers, Bernie Sanders being among the more prominent, are on a kick about Scandinavia. “That’s what we mean!” they proclaim. Then more studious observers of that part of the world point out that Scandinavian countries have no minimum wage laws; lower taxes on business and more school choice than the United States; trade-based, globalized economies; and few if any nationalized industries.
The prime minister of Denmark recently declared, “I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” So today’s socialist dreamers say, “Well, that’s not what we mean.” They advocate hikes in the minimum wage, higher taxes on business, little if any school choice, and massive intervention in commerce.
To continue reading: Socialism: Force or Fantasy?
