[March 12, 2014] I have been toying with the idea of a blog feature on Socialism for some time now. So, what would be the point in discussing the not-so-obvious connection between Socialism and senior leadership? I believe that Socialism contains a number of beautifully crafted ideas that are appealing to everyone … but ultimately destructive in practice.
The topic is very important. Of course, there has been a lot of interest lately in a closer look at the impact Socialist ideology has in the workplace. Due to some space limitations, the series is broken into two parts.
Having seen the impact of a Socialist government up close and personal on the people it supposedly helps, is motivation for this blog post. Make no fanciful ideas about the concept of Socialism, next to its cousin Communism, it has historically been one of the world’s most destructive forces. While some may disagree with this assessment, the record of Socialist nations is evidence to this claim.
“Socialism in general has a record of failure so blatant that only an intellectual could ignore or evade it.” – Thomas Sowell
Socialism is an ideology, a way of thinking, and a political-economic system. While some see it as a pure economic system1, its ideas spread across all human domains of social interaction; including politics, economics, education, and entertainment.
Socialism is an attractive idea and is successful because it appeals to basic human psychological desires and needs. The fact that these needs are ultimately destructive is ignored – Socialism works! It is no accident that the “7 deadly sins” are a perfect accounting of the ideology’s vices.
I don’t mean to say this from a religious standpoint that it is “sinful” but from practical experience that it is inherently bad for humankind. Specifically, Socialism is built upon hate and envy. Someone once said that “socialism needs a bogeyman.” How else to easily unite people? Have them hate or envy something. It is far easier to be against something and degrade it, than to be far something and work to support it.
“Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy. Its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery.” – Winston Churchill
To be most successful Socialism must always have an enemy, even if that enemy must be invented. This helps explain the motivation and elevation of the near-crusade-like methods.
Interestingly, there is no set of fixed values that can be fashioned from Socialism because it is inherently relativistic. This is one reason why religion is incompatible with Socialism. Adolph Hitler, for example, rejected Christianity because it resisted the many incompatible values of National Socialism (Nationalsozialismus) – the foundation of Nazism.
Part 2 of this series will be more focused on the impact Socialism has on individual believers in the Socialist ideology.
[Don’t forget to “Like” the Leader Maker at our Facebook Page.]
—————————
[1] Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and co-operative management of the economy. “Social ownership” may refer to cooperative enterprises, common ownership, state ownership, citizen ownership of equity, or any combination of these. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them. They differ in the type of social ownership they advocate, the degree to which they rely on markets or planning, how management is to be organized within productive institutions, and the role of the state in constructing socialism. – Wikipedia