What Is Socialism?

Socialism is a socio-political and economical construct where the needs and Natural Rights of the individual are subordinated to the wants and desires of society as a whole. Since society consists of a multitude of voices expressing different and diverse opinions on a variety of matters it usually falls upon, or is usurped by, a minority of the affected populace to centrally plan and govern all the activities that all may, or must, engage in for support of the continued existence of the larger social organism. This minority group is normally called government.

Most people know Socialism as that condition where the government runs a business that competes with private entrepreneurs and this is partly correct. The government has an unfair advantage that it will always have the money it needs to run a business because it steals it from the people it governs in the form of taxes, including those who don't use the services offered, and has no need in satisfying its customers in order to make a profit. With no incentive from the potential loss of profit, it is no wonder that most businesses run by government are dismal failures at making any money, or at least breaking even, and usually continue to exist only for the political favors they can dish out to the crony friends of the politicians who run them.

But Socialism is much worse as a social philosophy. The worth of the individual is diminished to that point equal only to his contribution to the greater society. He is but a single "cell" in a larger "living" organism that can be cast off as it outlives its usefulness. All Natural Rights to life, liberty, and to accumulate property are stripped from the individual and given to the government for what "better" purposes it may find use for them. The worst part is that Socialism does not require the consent of the affected to be binding upon them.

Anarchists such as myself already realize that all forms of government are in effect socialistic in that governments usually take for themselves the monopolistic authority to engage in the business of writing rules and laws that all of the people, regardless of their individual plans or schedules, must obey or the government will punish them if they are not compliant. In a government-free environment people will individually consent and contractually agree to what set of regulations they will obey in their dealings with their fellow human beings and to what set of punishments will be meted out for breaching this contract.

There is a good synonym for Socialism that more people should learn to equate with this concept and that is "Slavery." Some people rush into Socialism believing it will solve all the ills of modern society without ever realizing that humans have not changed very much in the last 12,000 years and since Man prefers to live free, all attempts to chain and shackle Him in His Natural state will end in failure...