How Should We Teach Horrors of Socialism?

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the need to teach the younger generations about the horrors of socialism. A large percentage (70%) of the millennials according to one survey are leaning toward voting for a socialist and see communism as “favorable” (1 in 3). They do not seem to realize that socialist/communist nations have everything “free” except the people themselves.


            Walter Williams, professor of economics at George Mason University, shared information from a “recent survey conducted by the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation and polled by YouGov, a research and data firm.” The above figures were included. He compared the results of the survey with some real-life information.


            The annual “Economic Freedom of the World” by the Fraser Institute was recently released. The top ten of the world’s most economically free countries are: Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, the United States, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and Mauritius. The United States was listed in 16^th place in 2016 and is now in “the top five economically free countries of the world.” Venezuela, Argentina, and Ukraine are among the least free countries in the world.


            Williams explained that the Fraser Institute calculates economic freedom by “analyzing the policies and institutions of 162 countries and territories. These include regulation, freedom to trade internationally, size of government, sound legal system, private property rights, and government spending and taxation.”


            According to Fred McMahon, scholar at Fraser Institute, “Where people are free to pursue their own opportunities and make their own choices, they lead more prosperous, happier, and healthier lives.”


            The horrors of socialism and communism include more than poverty and starvation for millions of people. They also include the fact that communist countries are guilty of killing millions of people. 


            Williams references research by professor R.J. Rummel in “Death by Government.” According to the research, “from 1917 until its collapse, the Soviet Union murdered or caused the death of 61 million people, mostly its own citizens. From 1949 to 1976, Mao’s communist regime was responsible for the death of as many as 76 million Chinese citizens.” Williams sums up his message with these paragraphs.

Today’s leftists, socialists, and progressives would bristle at the suggestion that their agenda differs little from that of past tyrants. They should keep in mind that the origins of the unspeakable horrors of Nazism, Stalinism, and Maoism did not begin in the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s.

Those horrors were simply the result of a long evolution of ideas leading to a consolation of power in the central government in the quest for “social justice.”

            Williams has many more thoughts and facts about socialism, and I suggest that you follow this link to read his article.  The bottom line is that the rising generation must be taught the horrors of socialism before they suffer from it. 

One idea that I saw floating around on Facebook is as follows. Assign your child to clean the bathroom and pay them $10. Then take $7 and distribute the money to other children who did not do any work in the bathroom. That is basically the way that socialism works. It takes the rewards from those who are willing to work and spreads them to those who are not willing to work. 

However, the teaching takes place, it must be done. Somehow, the rising generation must understand that capitalism and the free market system is far superior to socialism and/or communism. There simply is no comparison of benefits. All you have to do is look at conditions in the United States where the market is booming and in Venezuela where people are starving. Where would you rather live?