A 2020 Vision of Socialism
It’s not what you think it is
The United States is a capitalist country — it always has been, and it always will be, because the core values of freedom, independence and innovation that are a condition of capitalism are deeply woven into America’s culture and mythology. Since, by some accounts, we are presumably under threat of a socialist takeover if Democrats take power in our upcoming election, this is an appropriate time for a good faith analysis of socialism and its relevance in the U.S.. Let’s start by making a distinction between a socialist government and a socialist component of a government.
A socialist government is defined as one that owns or controls the entire means of production of products and services for its citizens. It is mutually exclusive of any true capitalism because if the government dominates production, no private enterprise can compete at a sustainable level. The Soviet Union of the past and North Korea of the present are two good examples of socialist governments. Unless these governments maintain an entirely closed system (as North Korea does), they will die (as the Soviet Union did), because only capitalism, with the benefit of a free, open and dynamic marketplace, can provide an optimal alignment between the supply and demand for the majority of a society’s products and services.
