Socialism is not the answer for the future
Capitalism, not socialism, still has the upper hand as we work toward a better future.
Sanders is right that today our economic system has produced huge bubbles of wealth, hardened a social underclass and put even many middle-class Americans into a precarious position. But he thinks we’re living under “unfettered capitalism,” the cure and opposite of which is his brand of “democratic socialism.”
“If there was ever a moment where we had to effectively analyze the competing political and social forces which define this historical period, this is that time,” Bernie Sanders rightly observed in his recent speech presenting his campaign afresh to the American people.
Unfortunately for us, Sanders checked any more political wisdom at the door.
His case for “democratic socialism” may be an earnest response to the reality of our changed world, but it’s rooted in ideas that have failed in the past and won’t get any better results today.
The big symbol of the problem is in Sanders’ insistence that “we must take up the unfinished business of the New Deal and carry it to completion.”
Roosevelt’s plan was to dig the U.S. out of widespread poverty and stagnation by using big government to leverage our industrial economy and our strong moral and social fabric.
Sanders is right that today our economic system has produced huge bubbles of wealth, hardened a social underclass and put even many middle-class Americans into a precarious position.
But he thinks we’re living under “unfettered capitalism,” the cure and opposite of which is his brand of “democratic socialism.”
Nothing can be further from the truth.
A system in which failing financial institutions can be bailed out by the federal government is not a free market system.
Likewise, a system in which large corporate interests can use the force of government to advantage themselves or get large subsidies from governments isn’t a free market system.
The problems of the nation can’t be understood, much less solved, if capitalism is seen as the bogeyman, or if capitalism is equated with the system we have today.
If we’ve learned anything from failed socialist states or nations with bloated welfare states, including our own, it’s that we can’t trust any aspiring central planner or bureaucracy to come up with the correct answers or solutions.
Unfortunately, while Sanders correctly detects many of the flaws our current economic system, he wants to further deepen the role of government in our lives and our economy.
That just opens the door to a further distortion of the market system and expand opportunities for entrenched interests to hijack government for their own purposes.
Capitalism, not socialism, still has the upper hand as we work toward a better future.