Kerby Anderson exposes the faulty thinking behind the pro-socialism messaging that is making alarming inroads in the U.S.
News articles proclaim, “socialism is on the march.” The writers focus on the several Democratic Socialist candidates who are winning Democratic primaries. We already have socialist mayors in New York City and Seattle, Washington. Soon, we will have one in Washington, D.C.
American voters seem to be changing their minds about socialism. A 1942 Roper/Fortune survey found that 40 percent described socialism as a bad thing and 25 percent a good thing. The latest Gallup poll found that 43 percent of Americans believe socialism would be a good thing.{1} Also, two thirds (62%) of adults under 30 had a favorable view of socialism. For many young people, the term is associated with social safety nets and healthcare access rather than government control of the means of production.
Why the Interest in Socialism?
Socialist candidates have run for office in the past and rarely won. Why are these candidates winning in these midterm elections? Jim Geraghty has a suggestion that comes from a book he was reading by Mark Manson.{2}
The book talked about the strategy used by perennial presidential candidate Lyndon LaRouche. His youth movement attracted many disaffected and agitated college students. Their tactic was simple. Tell these young people that the problems they faced weren’t due to their parents or even the government. They explained that “it’s the system’s fault.” If they could just overthrow the system, everything would be okay. “No more war. No more suffering, No more injustice.”
Does this sound like what we are hearing from these candidates and the young people voting for them? Your problems are the fault of “the system.” This movement of young people are yearning for a vision of a better future. They want control over their lives but have been told that you need to overthrow “the system” to usher in utopia.
Of course, the system they want to overthrow is our constitutional republic and our free market economy. Granted, there are political and economic changes that need to be made, but overthrowing the current system for a socialist fantasy isn’t the answer. It will make their problems worse, not better.
Any student of history should be able to see that defunding the police, opening the border, abolishing jails and prisons, and having government take over the means of production will be a disaster. Unfortunately, too many young people haven’t studied history and have been seduced by the siren song of socialism.
In this article we look at the sad history of socialism, its failed economic claims, and even the question of whether the Bible teaches socialism.
Socialism and Tyranny
Socialism is more than an economic theory. Socialism is an all-encompassing view of the world. In his acceptance speech, Zohran Mamdani proclaimed, “We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.” One historian compared it to the famous statement by Benito Mussolini: “All within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
Socialism is based on Marxist principles. The first is the abolition of private property. This is one of the foundational tenets of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx: “The theory of Communism may be summed up in one sentence: Abolish all private property.” Many candidates state matter-of-factly that one of their goals is to “seize the means of production” in America.
The second principle is the end of religion. Karl Marx explained, “My object is to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.” He added, “The first requisite for the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion.” And a third is taxation. Karl Marx wrote, “A heavy or progressive or graduated income tax is necessary for the proper development of Communism.” Every socialist candidate proclaims they will raise taxes on the rich. They will have to levy very heavy taxes on everyone to pay for all the promises made in their campaigns.
Ben Shapiro warns, “Socialism is bad because socialism is tyranny. It’s not an aspect of tyranny. Socialism itself is tyranny.” As one commentator put it, “Socialism is based on oppression. Oppression is not a bug of socialism. It’s a feature.”{3}
This can best be illustrated by the list Dinesh D’Souza details in his book about the many countries have tried socialism and all failed.{4} The first socialist experiment was the Soviet Union, then came lots of countries in eastern Europe (Poland, Yugoslavia, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and East Germany). Add to that, countries in Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, -North Korea, and China) and countries in South America (Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, and Venezuela) and Africa (Angola, Ghana, Tanzania, Benin, Mali, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe). By his count, there are 25 failed experiments in socialism.
Many years ago, I did a week of Probe radio programs on Friedrich Hayek’s book The Road to Serfdom.{5} It is perhaps the best critique of socialism that very few have read. As the title of his book implies, the road to socialism may have good intentions, but it always leads to serfdom and tyranny.
Failed Economic Claims of Socialists
Margaret Thatcher famously observed, “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” Democratic socialists are already running out of other people’s money. They make economic claims that fall apart when given scrutiny. Here are just a few of the failing claims of politicians who propose socialist solutions to significant social and economic problems.
First, the economy is not a fixed pie. In a recent podcast, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez claimed, “Capitalism . . . is the absolute pursuit of profit at all human, environmental and social cost. That is not a redeemable system.” She added that, “No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion.” In other words, there is a fixed supply of wealth. If you have more wealth, you are taking it from others.
One YouTube channel (Secular Talk) developed AOC’s argument by saying that Jeff Bezos “made his wealth by making a lot of people poor.” He argues that “because we have a finite amount of money.” We do not have a finite amount of money. We do not have a finite amount of wealth. Entrepreneurs increase the amount of wealth by producing products and services that increase wealth in a society. Moreover, this wealth and value are increased by voluntary interaction in a free market.
Second, Sweden is not a model for socialism. Above, we listed the 25 failed experiments in socialism. The typical response from socialists is that these economic disasters were not implemented correctly. If you ask them about Cuba or Venezuela, they will instead point to democratic socialism in Sweden or other similar countries.
In a short video, Anders Hagstrom points out that the policies that Bernie Sanders and AOC want go far beyond what you find in the Nordic countries.{6} Moreover, these countries have tiny populations of less than 10 million. In the past, they were successful and then had huge economic problems because they adopted socialist redistributive policies.
Now Sweden has come back to a free market. Sweden’s market-oriented reforms have transformed it into an investment hub. The wealthy are flocking back to Sweden, and they’re taking their capital with them. Swedish per capita GDP is the envy of the European Union, and the country has become a hub of tech and telecom innovation. One commentator concluded, “The Democratic Socialists Need a New Model.”{7}
Does the Bible Teach Socialism?
Progressive and socialist candidates argue that the Bible teaches socialism. Some even argue that Jesus was a socialist. That is not surprising since many people “want Jesus on their team.” Environmentalists argue that Jesus wouldn’t drive an SUV. Gay activists maintain that Jesus said nothing about homosexuality. What does the Bible say?
If you have ever taught through the book of Acts, you know the question of socialism will likely surface. In Acts 4, we find a statement that the believers in Jerusalem “had all things in common.” It also says that those who possessed land or houses sold them and brought the proceeds to the apostles’ feet. They distributed these gifts to anyone in need. This looks like socialism to many who are already predisposed to believe it should be the economic system of choice.
First, we need to realize that this practice was only done in Jerusalem. As you read through the rest of the book of Acts and read the letters of Paul and Peter, you see that most believers in other parts of the Roman world had private property and possessions. Paul calls upon them to give voluntarily to the work of ministry.
Second, the word voluntary applies not only to Christians in other parts of the world, but it also was a voluntary act by the believers in Jerusalem to give sacrificially to each other in the midst of persecution. This one passage in the book of Acts is not a mandate for socialism.
If you keep reading in the book of Acts, you can also see that the believers in Jerusalem owned the property before they voluntarily gave the proceeds to the apostles. The next chapter (Acts 5) clearly teaches that. When Peter confronted Ananias, he clearly stated that “While it remained, was it not your own? After it was sold, was it not in your own control?”
Owning property contradicts one of the fundamental principles of socialism. In the Communist Manifesto, “the abolition of property” is a major item in the plan for moving from capitalism to socialism and eventually to communism.
By contrast, the Ten Commandments assume private property. The eighth commandment forbidding stealing and the tenth commandment about coveting both assume that people have private property rights.
In fact, we can use biblical principles to evaluate economic systems like capitalism and socialism. Although the Bible does not endorse a particular system, it does have key principles about human nature, private property rights, and the role of government. These can be used to evaluate economic systems.
Socialism Is Not Biblical
Although the Bible doesn’t endorse any economic systems, it does provide us with principles to judge economic systems. For example, the Bible clearly teaches that we are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27-28) and are made a little lower than the angels (Psalm 8:5). We can find noble characteristics in human beings such as empathy and altruism. We can make rational choices about goods and services in an economy.
But we also know that there is a flaw in human beings. The Bible teaches that all are sinful (Romans 3:23) and that the heart of man is deceitful above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). People can be greedy and ambitious. We need an economic system that protects us from anyone who might have too much power. In my Probe radio program on capitalism and socialism, I document that a free market is a system in which “bad people can do least harm, and good people have the freedom to do good works.”{8}
Socialism also derives its philosophical foundation from Marxism. That philosophy is a direct attack on private property rights. God has given us dominion over the creation (Genesis 1:28). In the Old Testament, we see the book of Exodus establishing the rights of property owners. In fact, removing landmarks that protect property is clearly forbidden (Deuteronomy 19:14; 27:17, Proverbs 22:28).
Government should protect citizens and their rights in society. We are to obey government (Romans 13:1-7) and submit to civil authority (1 Peter 2:13-17). But we should not implement a government and economic structure that fails to protect those rights from leaders with an authoritarian impulse.
How to Respond
As we have mentioned, many young people are enamored with socialism. How can we respond? I would recommend you ask young people how much they like having other people telling them what to do. In a socialist economy, the leaders are constantly telling you and the economy what to do. Usually, they have never thought about how oppressive a socialist economy might be.
You might also ask them how effective committees are in planning. A small group of bureaucrats would be making most of their economic decisions. Ask them if they have ever tried to get anything done with a committee. Now expand that to the millions of economic decisions that committee of bureaucrats needs to make.
And you might ask them to do the math. It is easy to argue for free college tuition when you aren’t paying for it. It is easy to let the government pay for everything until you realize you are the government.
If you would like more information, please check these additional articles on socialism and capitalism:
A Biblical Point of View on Socialism
Notes
1. news.gallup.com/poll/257639/four-americans-embrace-form-socialism.aspx.
2. www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/no-politician-is-coming-to-save-you/
3. John Stonestreet, “Why Socialism Always Fails,” colsoncenter.org/breakpoint/why-socialism-always-fails
4. Dinesh D’Souza, United States of Socialism, New York: All Points Books, 2020.
5. Kerby Anderson, “Hayek and the Road to Serfdom,” probe.org/hayek-and-the-road-to-serfdom/
6. Anders Hagstrom, “When you are forced to argue socialism with a liberal,” www.facebook.com/watch/?v=234493017230024.
7. Noah Rothman, Democratic Socialists Need a New Model,” www.nationalreview.com/corner/the-democratic-socialists-need-a-new-model/
8. Kerby Anderson, “Capitalism and Socialism,” probe.org/capitalism-and-socialism/
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