Why socialism doesn't work

"Taking the hard earned money of
others and giving it to underachievers"

Obamacare got passed a couple weeks ago. When I heard the news, I was devastated because it means that the US just took one step closer to Socialism. I haven’t read through the entire bill, because it’s written in confusing legal terminology and it’s hundreds of pages long. I have read parts of it and I've read what people have written for and against it. But honestly, I don’t need to know every single detail about Obamacare. I already know that socialized medicine is a bad idea because socialism doesn't work.

Do you know that socialism has been attempted in this country before? From the very beginning, actually! Socialism sounds like a great idea. It’s no secret that some people have too much while others have nothing. Socialism is man’s attempt to equalize the playing field. Why don’t the people who have too much share with the people who don’t have enough? Why not make things a little more fair in an unfair world?

Jamestown, one of the earliest settlements in America, was founded in 1607. The settlers decided to try a “common store” system, a form of socialism. They decided to take all the food that people produced and store it for common use. Then they could distribute it fairly and evenly. Everyone would work for the common good. No one would go hungry. Women and children who had no men to provide for them would still get fed. It seemed like a great idea.

Except it didn’t work. That winter, nearly half the settlers died from starvation. The whole town ran out of food. After that, they decided to do away with the common store system. It had been a complete and utter failure. The next year, each family was given a parcel of land on which they could produce their own food. They were responsible for themselves. The survival rate the next year was much better.

I can tell you why it didn’t work because it’s common sense. I know myself and I know human nature. I’m not going to work hard if I don’t get to keep anything for myself. Even if I know it’s for the greater good and even if I care about my neighbors, I’m not going to work as hard as I would for myself and my family.

If, under a socialist system, I saw someone else being lazy or slacking off, it would make me mad. Why aren’t they working as hard as I am? I’m certainly not going to bust my butt when we’re all going to get the same amount of food anyway. If I saw someone else working harder than me, I’d think, “Good. They’re picking up the slack for me. They can do more because they’re stronger and bigger. They should be working harder because they need to contribute more.” Either scenario would encourage me to do less than I could. In fact, why work at all if I’m sick or tired? A few days off won’t matter. I’m still going to get the same amount of food whether I work or not.

Do you relate? How would you react if you knew everything you worked for was going to be taken away and redistributed evenly among everyone? Would you be discouraged from working hard and doing your best?

Here’s the other scenario. I get to keep everything I make or harvest. I can either use it or trade it for something else. I know winter’s coming and food will be scarce. I’m going to make damn sure my family and I don’t starve. I’m going to be out working until my fingers bleed and my back aches. I’m going to be canning fruits and vegetables at night when I’m back inside my house, even though I’m tired and weary from a long day of work. I’m not going to miss a day of work unless I’m so sick I can’t get out of bed.

And as hard as all of this would be, I would take a certain pride in my work. As I’m gathering fruits and vegetables, I would imagine how they’re going to taste for dinner, instead of picturing them on someone else’s table. I would smile at my family’s surprise and delight when they found out I’d traded some of our crops for chocolate and candy. The winter would be hard and we’d have to be careful with our food, but if we worked hard, we’d have more than enough.

We might even have some food to spare for the people who didn't have enough. We'd try to take care of each other and help each other out when necessary. But the choice would be mine. It would be MY food to give away, not a collective OURS. It would be my generosity that would cause me to take compassion on my neighbor. No one would have to tell me to help out or force me to share. If my family was blessed with enough, we’d want to bless others.

Do you like capitalism? What about it seems unfair? Do people who work harder profit more, or is there an element of luck in who gets the biggest rewards? If you had more than enough, would you help other people?

I know this is not specifically about socialized health care. It’s about socialism IN GENERAL. The examples are based on Jamestown because it was a small community that attempted socialism. I used it as an example because I think the equal distribution of food is a concept that is easily explained and understood. I wanted to illustrate the basic principles of socialism to demonstrate why socialism doesn’t work. In a future post, I may try to tackle the flaws of socialized health care.