Robbing Peter to pay Paul ...

It works until Peter doesn’t have any more to take, but Paul still needs more.  Or to use a more common analogy, opening a new credit card to pay off your other credit cards. 

You can only do it so long.  

That seems a good way to start a discussion of Democratic Socialism.

Unless you’ve been in a coma, you’ve seen a lot of Democrats proudly proclaiming themselves Democratic Socialists. I suppose that’s what happens when being a liberal or a progressive simply isn’t enough – you need something new to excite voters.

I first put the phrase “Democratic Socialist” in the same category as jumbo shrimp, baby grand piano, and other non sequiturs. Now I realize people are taking it seriously. 

I don’t know why.  Then again, claiming to be a Republican or Democrat doesn’t mean anything anymore, either. These are also labels without any real meaning.

Bernie Sanders deserves a lot of credit for the Democratic Socialist movement. He was stumping for socialism long before many of the new adherents were born. Perhaps even before their parents and grandparents were born.  He honeymooned in the Soviet Union and has always had a great deal of heart for socialist countries. 

I imagine he still has a Che Guevara t-shirt somewhere. 

As best as I can determine, the core belief of Democratic Socialists is fairly similar to communism – the means of production (and wealth) should be collectively and socially owned for the benefit of the people; in essence, the collective – not individuals or private businesses – would control and allocate all resources.  That’s a precursor to a state-planned and managed economic system, in contrast to capitalism which is considered a failed economic system that always rewards the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and doesn’t act in the best interests of society.    

Appending Democratic to this is meant to imply that there would still be popularly elected leaders and political parties.  Ordinary people, through their elected representatives, would also have a greater role in deciding how private companies operate and for what purpose.   

That sounds to me like a new way of saying dictatorship of the proletariat, but I could be missing something. I don’t think so.  I’m not sure how that would work, except that like communism perhaps it’s just a necessary interim step to gain popular support for seizing control of everything.  I can’t see how anyone elected to do this would be willing to give up such power once they have it. 

Call me skeptical of human nature, but totalitarian regimes don’t willingly give up control.

And that’s what would be created if Democratic Socialists have their way. They may not understand today how their movement will likely evolve if it succeeds, but they should. Perhaps they have an overly optimistic view of how communal ideologies work in the real world.     

Maybe they should read Lord of the Flies again. Or Animal Farm. 

Right now, most of the positions offered by Democratic Socialist wannabes concern free stuff.  Free universal healthcare. Free maternity and paternity leave.  Free college education.  Forgiveness of student debt.  On and on. 

Left aside is how to pay for all this.  Surprised? 

Maybe Democratic Socialists think they’ll be able to run private businesses better and more efficiently than those wicked, evil, greedy owners running them today. Maybe they think when there’s a comprehensive welfare state here people will still continue to work hard – not to better themselves and their families financially – but for the benefit of their fellow citizens. Maybe they think the reason socialism hasn’t worked anywhere else in the world is that nobody has executed it as thoroughly as they need to. 

Maybe they’ve forgotten what Maggie Thatcher said when she remarked that socialism is a great system until you run out of other people’s money.  

Maybe they are overlooking Venezuela’s socialist experiment, which turned one of the richest nations in this hemisphere in an economic and social nightmare.

Or maybe they don’t care.

Or maybe they’ve considered Venezuela and have stocked up on toilet paper already.  

I know I will. Just in case.