The Socialist Pitfall

The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.

~ Margaret Thatcher

The goal of socialism is communism.

~ Vladimir Lenin

A lifetime of comfort and abundance has rendered many Americans either forgetful or ignorant of the dangers of socialism. For that serious reason, we should pause to reflect a long moment before racing down that particular ideological path.

History, if we pay attention to it, screams at us to slow down. The past hundred years are a frightening lesson in what can happen to countries in pursuit of socialist utopias. The Soviet Union, China, Vietnam, Cuba, and now Venezuela are all stark lessons in how badly such socialist experiments can end. The people of these countries have suffered hunger, oppression, imprisonment, and execution.

Why are so many Americans so ungrateful for our system of government, which has kept us free, prosperous, and a destination of hope for all other nations? Our failure to appreciate our republic is remarkable proof of our innate, fatal human flaw--the certainty that we have it all figured out, that "this time, it will be different."

No, it won't. The world has watched this tired show many times over. Socialism would end with the death of American promise, the limitation of our dreams for ourselves and our children. We would pay more taxes for less benefits. The role of centralized government would grow, while that of the individual would shrink. We would be less free and more controlled. We would be ripe for an authoritarian government takeover. And we could never recover what we had squandered.

Why would we risk such a grim outcome? The reasons are as sad as they are simple. Because the dark history of socialism and communism is no longer taught in schools and colleges, because we are too complacent to comprehend the danger, we are in deep peril of falling into the socialist pit.

I do hope I'm wrong, because this time won't be different. This time actually will be worse. Because this time, the world's haven of refuge and beacon of light--the U.S.A.--will be gone.