Martinus did a nice write-up on Orwell Monday. I remember reading 1984 in AP English, which would have been in 1984 in fact. Great novel. Short read. Essential read. Especially if you’re a Millennial or a Gen Z’er who thinks Socialism is the Bees Knees. It really is the best illustration of where collectivism ends up. You don’t get there overnight, but you get there.
But what makes any form of collectivism so popular with the youngest adults in our midst? I think this a question that we have to explore because these are the people who will be gaining more and more power in the coming years. It’s quite possible we will end up on a socialist trajectory doing a slow burn to get there. Then one day you’ll wake up, look around and say, “How the $&@^! did that happen?!“
Generally, when we favor one thing over another, especially when passionate or fervent about it, we’re attracted to that thing’s inherent goodness or we’re repelled by what we are rejecting.
Not always the case and certainly a little simplistic, but this IS a blog post. I suspect we’ll eventually expand on this in one of our upcoming Snakes and Otters books (coming eventually to an online store near your fingertips).
For these young adults who swoon over Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, both part of the 1% group I might add, what is so attractive about socialism? I suspect it’s both a running toward and a running away from thing.
They’re running away from what they call Capitalism and seek its sort of opposite, Socialism. They deem all things Socialist as good and true and right. Unfortunately, I think they’re running away from a red herring. We don’t live in a true Capitalistic society/economy. There is now, and has been for the last 125 years or so, a great deal of ever-increasing government regulation of the economy.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, the government sought to break up monopolies and foster competition. Big Business was the enemy. We’ve gotten to the point now where Big Business and Big Government are a revolving door of lobbyists, Cabinet Secretaries and members of Congress. They cooperate now to squash the little business. The government uses Big Business to push social programs like paid for health care, maternity leave and so on. They often exempt small businesses of less than 25-50 employees because they know only Big Business can generally afford to handle these things. Economies of scale come into play in compensation as well as purchasing power. Big Business agrees to these things and even lobbies for them, knowing that it will lessen competition and eventually drive wages down.
This is hardly a Free Market system they are fleeing, but that’s what the political Left would have you believe. The alternative to all this government intervention and collusion would appear to be even MORE intervention and collusion. Just far more open and hostile about it. Along with more government, you’re sure to get less careful guarding of your civil liberties. After all, to bring Utopia, one must break a few eggs.
Utopia is apparently an omelette.
What most people older than Millennials think of when the word Capitalism is used is more properly called a Market Economy.
What’s the difference?
A Market Economy is one where there is a marketplace where the barriers are low to enter. It’s well regulated, meaning there are safeguards for consumers, but also for the little guy who wants to get started. There is a system to adjudicate differences and work out issues in court if need be. The rules are understood and defined. You don’t need an ironic “Buy Local” bumper sticker on your Toyota to remind people to shop the local businesses because they’re abundant.
I think this is the total opposite of the system we have today. It’s geared against local power, control and the small businesses that used to be the driving force of our economy just 20-30 years ago.
While Martinus may want to be left totally alone so he can yell at those pesky kids in peace to get the hell of his lawn, I’d rather strive for the government that is just big enough to keep wealth and power from being concentrated in the hands of a few while remaining small enough to be affordable, effective, efficient and always seeking to shed power to the states and the people.
Probably neither one of us will get what we desire, because those pesky kids are too busy regulating the size of my lawn, the type of grass and plants I can grow in it, the height of said grass and plants, whether or not I’m using too much or too little water not to mention whether or not I am oppressing my lawn by walking on it to even think about getting the hell off it.
