A Dialogue on Socialism

GBlagg: Good evening. It’s been awhile.

Sticks and Stones: Yes, too long. Is there something on your mind?

GBlagg: Well, yes. I have been thinking a lot lately on the idea of Socialism.

S&S: Ah...so what are your thoughts on this issue?

GBlagg: I just don’t get it. I mean I understand what Socialism is, in and of itself, but I can not get my mind around why any person or group would strive for it’s implementation and undeniable ultimate outcomes.

S&S: Are you sure that this ‘person or group’ truly understands those ultimate outcomes?

GBlagg: Hmm, maybe not...

S&S: Ok, but let us not begin at the end. What is socialism? What are it’s aims?

GBlagg: To my understanding, the governmental form of Socialism is, at it’s core, an attempt at evening the playing field.

S&S: Go on.

GBlagg: To take from the productive and give to those less productive, thereby bringing an equality to the whole of society, ostensibly for the betterment of society. From each as to his ability, to each as to his need.

S&S: What can be so wrong with that? Is this not the compassionate response?

GBlagg: ‘What can be wrong with that’? How much time do you have?
But, let me answer your last question first...Compassionate? In the short run, maybe. In the long run, absolutely not.

S&S: Explain.

GBlagg: Well, since Socialism is merely one step on the pathway to Communism, it will most assuredly end in disaster.

S&S: So you believe that Socialism is related to, or as you infer, a step towards Communism.

GBlagg: This should be obvious. When Socialism becomes the reigning ideal, does it not bring with it an unnatural reliance on government?

S&S: It is your theory..go on...

GBlagg: When all aspects and needs in life are dealt out by the government through wealth taken from it’s people...the Socialist doctrine...how far is that from complete governmental control of all aspects of society? From property to business to religion. When a people are inured to governmental control, to the nanny state, they are open to, made ready for, the next step. Which is, of course, Communism.

S&S: I see. I ask again, ‘What can be so wrong with that?’

GBlagg: Well let me first ask your thoughts for once...

S&S: As you will.

GBlagg: What is a societies greatest aim?

S&S: Well, I could say to feed, cloth, house, and protect it’s people.

GBlagg: You could say that?

S&S: Yes, I could. But I won’t. The greatest aim of society should be to raise the character, mind, and humanity of it’s people.

GBlagg: Go on.

S&S: Man is a creature with nearly infinite possibilities. A great society knows this, respects this, strives for it. It lusts for the evolution of man. It feeds the fires in the bellies of the great. It gives opportunity to the mediocre. It prods the lowly. It rewards the constructive. These are the things that grow a society. That make it great.

GBlagg: Yes, and Socialism does none of these things. It is, at best, a slogging towards mediocrity. The great are the abused as they are the producers. Of thought, of capital, of commerce. They are beaten down through attack after attack on their achievements. Weakened financially and in spirit through the redistribution of their wealth and product. Even the property of their minds is no longer their’s alone, it is now a possession of the group. In the end, all is taken from the one to benefit the collective. Where is the reinforcement of the great in that?

S&S: Yes, where?

GBlagg: Nowhere. The great men, and the men who hope and dare to be great, are demoralized. True greatness becomes, not an asset, but a deficit. What is the point? Where is the aim? No more are ‘all men created equal’. But now ‘all men are doomed to be equal’!

S&S: Ah, yes.

GBlagg: And worse, it is not even the equality of the mediocre. It’s final outcome is to that of the lowest common denominator. The citizen who produces little or none at all finally becomes the norm. The great and the average become so demoralized that they themselves finally stop producing altogether.

S&S: But this will not happen overnight.

GBlagg: Of course not. There will always be those men of unbelievable greatness who will not be cowed. But they are few. Far too few to buoy a society. Too few to oil the wheels of production. Too few to hold back the imminent collapse. And then, the final throws of anarchy.

S&S: Again, this will not happen overnight...

GBlagg: No. But it is inevitable. The human condition makes it so.

S&S: So, you feel this outcome you speak of is explained by basic human psychology?

GBlagg: Yes, explained and determined. Through the ideals of learned behavior, positive and negative reinforcement, the ego, the family structure and it’s dynamic.

S&S: As you say. But if this is indeed so, in your words, why would ‘any person or group...strive for it’s implementation’?

GBlagg: Hmm, I think maybe I hit on part of it earlier in our dialogue. Because it seems, to that person or group, to work in the short run. And in small packages. Truly, there are Socialist programs that work well, even in America today.

S&S: Go on...

GBlagg: Much of what the Federal government is now, and was once actually implemented to do, is in a sense Socialistic. Our military, for instance. And roads. Infrastructure. Then add to that pubic schools, Social Security, welfare, Medicare, and the like.

S&S: This seems to be true. So because it works...

GBlagg: Well, it ‘works’ in some of those programs better than others. In fact, it seems to me that the Socialistic programs that have been added post Founding Fathers seem always to be in need of reform. Never able to stand on their own merits.

S&S: Let that be a discussion for another time.
But it is because these programs, let me say, seem to work, that some believe all will work.

GBlagg: I do not personally believe that they do indeed work in a productive manner, but just the same, they are now in implementation. They do in actuality exist. And if you are one who feels they truly are successful, it would be only natural to feel that other Socialistic programs would be successful as well.

S&S: So there it is...but is that all?

GBlagg: I do not understand your question...

S&S: Is this the sole reason one would ‘strive for it’s implementation’?

GBlagg: I am sure there are others..Maybe a laziness or lack of self-confidence in the pro-Socialist himself.

S&S: Explain.

GBlagg: Well, if a man or woman is lazy, Socialism is the perfect fit. It allows them to be themselves, while still feeding themselves. They can just sit back and let the government take from those who produce and bring it home to them. Their laziness is complete, as they do not even have to attempt to take from the producers themselves, as Mother government does it for them. And I would add, it is this very thought process that leads to an ‘entitlement’ culture.

S&S: Explain.

GBlagg: When, from birth, something is given to you that requires little or no effort on your part to have earned, it seems to you that the receiving of that thing is simply a ‘right’. That you are ‘entitled’ to that thing as a birthright. The more then, that is received, without any effort given or finally even expected from the receiver, the more that feeling of entitlement.

S&S: Interesting. And of those who lack self-confidence...

GBlagg: Much the same, I would say. They feel they are inferior and can not do for themselves. They fear even trying. They fear failure. They fear risk. What better from of government then, than one that in the end makes these fears a value. That caters to these fears. And the more these fears are catered to, the more imbedded they become.
How can a man gain true self-confidence, self-worth, self-esteem, if he is not challenged? If he does not strive? If he does not dare?

S&S: Yes, how?

Gblagg: He could play ‘Tug of Peace’...

S&S: Is this not a serious dialogue?

GBlagg: Yes, sorry. But the point is there. You, yourself said, ‘The greatest aim of society should be to raise the character, mind, and humanity of it’s people.’ I think in this discussion we have seen that Socialism, in it’s finality, does none of those things.

S&S: As you say.

Crossposted @ The Wide Awakes