Social Democracy

A Social Democracy, or a Democratic Socialist Republic, is neither fish nor fowl. Socialism and the human rights normally associated with a free, un-planned and un-controlled market place are so incompatible with each other as to be, eventually, mutually exclusive. Either one may increase only at the expense of the other.

Austrian economists such as Von Hayek and Von Mises warned long ago that any introduction of government restrictions or controls imposed upon the free market would prompt the free market to fail in some way and to some degree. The slightest failure detected in the less free market would then be used by government as an excuse to impose even more government planning and controls on the increasingly less free market. “Social” Democracy is therefore little more than a long, slippery slope, eventually and inevitably ending in Marx’s Dictatorship of the Proletariat, which is, of necessity, a pure Dictatorship.

Many well meaning idealistic people today view Socialist theory in a positive light because of the vague Socialist promise of greater equality than is apparent in purely Capitalist societies, which shows Capitalism in an unfavorable light. So a compromise position seems best, to the idealist seeking equality. But, we need to look more closely at what, exactly, is meant by equality.

When an American founding father spoke of equality, he was speaking of equality of rights, remedies and treatment before the law. When a Socialist speaks of equality, he is speaking about equality of stuff. Stuff of all variety, especially money, is what Socialism seeks to collectivize and re-distribute. This kind of equality precludes all human rights, including all of our enumerated Constitutional rights, in exchange for one right only: the right to be exactly the same as everyone else.

The lure for the poor man is the vision of equality of mansions to live in, equality in excellence in cuisine, equality in wealth, and so forth. In truth, what Socialism will deliver is equality of shacks and shanties, equality of poor and limited diet and equality of poverty. In Soviet Russia, multiple families shared one small city apartment with one bathroom and one kitchen. Everyone jealously watched each other to make certain no one got or had any more of anything than anyone else. And, except to squeal on each other, everybody kept his mouth shut.

Socialism is the end of the trail for all Social Democracies. To see what that’s like today, take a good look at Cuba, or North Korea. Even China, after all these years, realized that planned economies just don’t work. Democrats haven’t learned that yet. Even as Socialist China acts to free her market and unleash Capitalism to some degree, we see America moving in the opposite direction under Democrat leadership.

Social Democracy describes more of an ideology than a government organization. After miserable failures of Communist revolutions before World War I, and with the solitary success of the Russian Revolution, it became, in a variety of forms, the chosen non-revolutionary path to eventual world Communism. It emphasizes gradual legislative and/or regulative restrictions on practices of Capitalism and free markets while de-emphasizing the actual goal of Communism.

There is a worldwide organization called Socialist International (SI) with representation from various national and international political Parties that call themselves, variously, Social Democratic, or Democratic Socialist, etc., that defines "freedom" somewhat differently than it is defined in the USA. What they emphasize is "Social Justice" which over-emphasizes equality over freedom, including economic and cultural equality, encourages redistributionism and collectivization, and seeks either severe restrictions on or full control of the "means of production."

Note that economic and cultural equality absolutely preclude the particularly American notion of equality before the law. Equality of stuff cannot be achieved without violating the notion of equal rights, protections and remedies under the law.

Reference Material

Return to Web Site Log (Blog) page

Return to HOME PAGE

Build/Host/Maintain Your Own Personal Website using SBI! (Advertisement)

Please note the language and tone already established in this Website. This is not the place to stack up vulgar one-liners and crude rejoinders. While you may support, oppose or introduce any position or argument, your comments must meet our standards of logical rigor and of civil discourse. We will not participate in trading insults, and we will not tolerate participants trading insults with each other. Participants should not be thin-skinned or over sensitive to criticism, but should be prepared to defend their arguments when challenged. If you don’t really have a coherent argument or counter-argument of your own, sit down and don’t embarrass yourself. If you have something serious to contribute to the conversation, please keep it civil. We apologize to religious conservative thinkers for the need to even say these things.