Violation of Human Rights with Socialism and Its Regime

Is socialism a bad thing? On the surface, it is a sociological, economic, and political system that sounds like the foundations of an egalitarian utopia. However, it is a system that violates people’s inalienable rights and whose implementation was the cause of the most heinous human catastrophes of the 20th century. In the book, The Problem with Socialism, by Thomas J. DiLorenzo, the author explores the history of socialism throughout the world and its impact on American society in both the past and present. Mr. DiLorenzo is an economics professor at Loyola University Maryland.1 The revival of socialism through the millennial generation is his influence for writing this book. With the increasing percentage of the population under thirty being willing to vote for socialist leaders and millions of young people voting for socialist leaders such as Bernie Sanders in the 2016 primary election2, the author aims to inform this demographic about the dangers of increased government regulation poses to American society both economically and socially. The author’s main thesis is that capitalism is superior to socialism in every way. This paper will outline the contents of the book and analyze how Mr. DiLorenzo conveys his arguments. In addition, this paper will provide outside assessments of the book and support the authors argument that socialism is inferior and a danger to our society.

Socialism is a system that manufactures weak people, who rely on the state and their fellow citizens to provide for them. When that safety net breaks, as it always does, it is the strong, individual capitalists who will thrive as the weak socialists fall. In his work, Mr. DiLorenzo incorporates a broad yet detailed scope of information about socialism and its weaknesses socially, economically and politically, while also including evidence to support his argument that capitalism is superior. The book first establishes that socialism is experiencing a revival through the millennial generation and that people have forgotten the tragedies that have occurred as a result of socialst governments. Then it explores the history of socialism and its continuous failures throughout history, including those in the United States. Socialism’s roots in American history date back to the Jamestown and Pilgrim colonies. In the colonies, settlers died of starvation from insufficient food production because of the lack of motivation to produce food that was going toward the whole community rather than the individual and their family. Once the colonies began to privatize agriculture, they flourished and produced plentiful amounts of food.

This problem was experienced by socialist regiments throughout the 20th century as well, including the Soviet Union, China, Cambodia, Ghana, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. Mr. DiLorenzo then ties this idea into economics, as he concludes concludes that since investors and businessmen hold personal financial stake in the value of companies, they make sure that they are meeting consumer demands. The inability for planned economies to properly manage vast quantities of economic information, including determining supply and demand makes it economically inferior to capitalism in terms of production and efficiency. The book then establishes how socialism strips people of the individuality and goes directly against human nature. Socialism’s aim is to provide material equality and fuel people’s hate and envy that people have for one another through propaganda. This is achieved by paying everyone equal wages no matter the profession, meaning a doctor would be making the same as a bus driver. This government regulation aims to prevent the growth of the upper and middle class by preventing talented people from utilizing their skills to improve themselves and also lifting up the lower class through welfare at the expense of other citizens. Then the author establishes how there are different levels of socialism in every government, including the United States.

Mr. DiLorenzo then establishes the differences between government-run agencies, which monopolize services and raise prices while relying on taxpayer money, and privately owned businesses, which create wealth whose productivity is based on profits and losses rather than budgets. He then presents evidence and establishes the argument that privately owned businesses are more productive and are better for consumers as compared to government-run agencies. The book then focuses on the political issues that arise through the implementation of socialism and when tyrannical leaders come to power and takes abusing their citizens. Mr. DiLorenzo proclaims that socialism requires government authority and the invasion of the private lives of citizens, leading to the deprivation of their civil liberties. When totalitarian leaders gain political power in these governments the citizens are essentially hostages of the government, resulting in deception and brainwash through socialist propaganda. The author also presents statistics showing the millions of deaths that have occurred throughout the world as a result of socialist governments killing their own people for disagreeing with socialism. The book then creates connections between facist governments of Italy and Germany with socialist governments.

Both governmental systems were anti-liberal and established the importance of the community over that of the individual. Also, both systems used propaganda to brainwash citizens and both had the mentality that if a citizen disagreed with the government then they were an enemy, resulting in the violation of civil liberties. Mr. DiLorenzo examines the governments of Mussolini and Hitler and how they allowed for privately owned businesses and means of production, but like socialism they regulated by the government required it to be for the good of the State. The author then shifts his focus to proving that perceived success of socialism in Scandinavia is actually a myth. The author first gives background information about the economies of Denmark and Sweden in the 19th and early 20th century. Free markets allowed these countries to prosper, and avoiding conflicts in Europe allowed them to maintain their resources.

However, once governments began to regulate their economy during the mid- to late 20th century their economies stagnated as a result of government spending. This also lead to a shift in society, as young citizens believed they were entitled to free healthcare, free education, or essentially the right to other people’s money. Since then, conserviative governments have been elected and have begun to rebuild their economies. Mr. DiLorenzo then presents the argument that welfare hurts the poor community and has lead to the destruction of social order. He argues that is more effective at helping to poor improve themselves. On the other hand, he argues that the welfare state destroys incentives to work by making people dependent on the government. Also, the author argues that the welfare state has indirectly destroyed family life in Africian American communities through the increase of out-of-wedlock births as a result of the promise of child support. Mr. DiLorenzo explains that this has far reaching consequences involving the emotional development and stability of these children later on in their lives.

The book then fixates on how issues of socialized healthcare. The author explains how government run healthcare leads to poor quality care as a result of high costs of supplies and a high demand of care. This in turn leads to price ceilings and the ration of supplies which renders doctors unable to perform their jobs. Also, doctors are more likely to leave and seek better pay in other countries, leaving the system short of experienced professionals. In addition, inequalities are likely to exist as a result of these shortages including the rationing of supplies and the prioritization of patients. These issues are illustrated when Mr. DiLorenzo describes the former Soviet Union and their disastrous healthcare system. The book then explains how socialism leads to pollution through their belief of economic progress of the greater good over the individual. The author explains how private ownership protects the environment because using less resources leads to profit maximization. Government owned lands tend to receive less quality care and are tapped of resources because no one takes pride in the quality of the land. Socialist countries throughout the Eastern Bloc experienced environmental catastrophes and today some of the most polluted cities in the world are located in China.

Mr. DiLorenzo then begins to describe income taxes and how it tries to achieve economic equality but treating people unequally. He argues that the tax punishes specialized citizens who earn a higher wage and that it decentives hard work. Statistics are also provided that show that those at the bottom half of the economic spectrum pay almost no income tax while those above it pay nearly all of it. The money that is paid ends up going to bureaucrats in the federal government where citizens have no control what it is used for. It is essentially the government taking away and controlling citizens' property, their wages. The book then interprets minimum wage, its history in America and its effect on the workforce. It was first lobbied for by Northern industrialists who could not compete with Southern and Puerto Rican industries who paid their workers less. The author states that it is a disadvantage for low-skilled workers because it decentives businesses from hiring and training them. This leads to rises in unemployment as a result of rising wages. Mr. DiLorenzo then focuses on how regulating competition and controlling currency lead to monopolies and the destruction of capitalism. He explains that monopolies arise as the result of lobbying and regulation by the government on a service.

The author argues that tactics such as predatory pricing would be unreasonable because it would involve sacrificing profits. He gives examples of government monopolies and how they were poor quality businesses that eventually broke up into private companies which improved in quality. In regards to currency, capitalism relies on a free fluid market dictated by consumers and the government attempts to regulate this by printing currency, lowering interest rates, and bailing out businesses. This regulation has lead to the loss of the purchasing power of the US dollar, economic recessions, corruption, and the loss of economic freedom. Mr. DiLorenzo then describes government’s monopoly on public schools. He explains how money is pumped into weaker schools to try to improve their performance but to no avail. This money is not distributed evenly as more affluent communities receive more money than low income communities. This forces parents in low income communities to either send their children to a poor performing school, or try to get enough wealth to send them to a private school. In addition, government-run schools can mean government regulated academics meaning students are taught what the government wants them to be taught. The author essentially describes a system in which their is no freedom of choice for children’s education. The book concludes by debunking myths surrounding capitalism and how why it is superior to socialism.

The author argues that capitalism is regulated by the consumer and therefore caters to the consumers needs. Also, it drives wages up for skilled hard working professionals and creates opportunity. He further explains that capitalism has more efficient businesses as a result of competition and that the required international collaboration for the free movement of goods encourages peace. In, The Problems with Socialism, Mr. DiLorenzo provides the readers with information on how socialism has negatively affected countries in the past and has the ability to do so in the future; while providing concrete evidence that proves that free-market capitalist societies are superior in terms of citizens’ political freedom, economic prosperity, and social advancement. Mr. DiLorenzo’s argument throughout his book is that free-market capitalism is superior to government regulated socialism politically, socially, and economically. His stance on the matter in clear throughout the book, and he puts forth a strong and convincing argument that socialism is faltered system. The author conveys his argument by appealing to inductive reasoning by referencing historical events, statistics, and outside sources to debunk socialism and its ideology, while also supporting capitalism and its ideology. Continue Mr. DiLorenzo’s argument that capitalism is superior to socialism is correct.

The millennial generation’s favoring view of socialism is concerning for the future and directly contradicts everything America stands for. The American Revolution was fought because colonists were being unjustly taxed and their rights to property were being violated by the English government. The Founding Fathers stated in the Constitution that everyone has the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and property.” The Bill of Rights was created to guarantee the civil rights of individuals such as freedom of speech, protest, press, and religion.3 The American Dream has and continues to attract millions of people from across the globe to improve themselves as individuals and be economically rewarded for hard work and sacrifice. America is supposed to be a land that lifts up the individual, provide economic opportunity and protect from government tyranny seen in socialist regimes.

However, it seems as Americans are becoming more willing to give up the rights that their ancestors protested, fought, and died for. They are becoming willing to allow the government to tax them to pay for someone else's medical care and education. They are willing to allow the government to tell them what health insurance they should have, what curriculum schools are allowed to teach, and essentially spy on them in the name of security through the technology in which they are addicted to. Americans are becoming complacent, weak, and uninformed. They allow themselves to believe they are entitled to free services, that they have a right to free education and healthcare. They allow themselves to think when someone says something is free, it does not come from billions of dollars of taxpayer money. Americans seem to be naive to the fact that once you give up your rights, it is hard to regain them. Americans are not willing to work hard to achieve their goals, they expect it to be handed to them. These are the people that need to be informed about the problems of socialism and how important it is to limit government regulation and, in turn, protect civil liberties and the free-market economy. As Americans continue to give up their rights and allow the government to have more power over society, the closer it comes to become a socialist regime. Citizens have already given up their rights to choose their health insurance plan, freedom to choose what school to send their children to, and where their tax dollars go. The government has and continues to use the Federal Reserves to manipulate interest rates and take money out of the pockets of it citizens in the name of “equality” through income taxes. The further America goes down the rabbit hole that is government regulation of society, the more dangerous it becomes.