Should We Be Nice to Socialists?

Annapurna South, Nepal

by Mike Burnaugh

In all this world no idea is more stupid than socialism. The socialist starts out at war with observable reality. It goes downhill from there. One of the oldest instructive myths of western civilization is the Greek story of Procrustes—he of the one size fits all beds.

The Greeks tried to warn us that the democratic lust for equality is deeply dangerous. If you stretch the short and amputate the tall to make them fit the bed, nothing good can happen.

Socialism fails even to understand the central truth of a basic farm economy: you never-ever!- eat the seed corn. That’s what keeps us alive next year. Instead, like some Community Organizer from Chicago, the socialist sees as his right the confiscation of all surplus to “spread the wealth around.”

The individual farmer saves his surplus as seed corn or money or both. He knows if either is taken, he is out of business. The socialist doesn’t know and doesn’t care. He can’t see that at some point the economy will collapse. He’ll see your Cuba and raise you a North Korea. Socialists always screw up everything. Ignorant people do that, without exception.

After a century of stupidity and untold millions of deaths due to starvation and outright murder, which American socialist has repudiated collectivism? Which thinks growing state power is a bad idea? Do they demand more or less power over our lives? More or less of our seed corn?

Why do we believe we need to be civil to the heirs of every totalitarian murderer of the last hundred years? I say we pitch a fit at every opportunity. Make the 2010 town hall meetings look like the good old days. Make professing socialism a VERY unpleasant experience.

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