Socialism and the use of force stand in basic and sharp contradiction. Socialism is based on the fundamental belief in the worth and sacredness of man, and by that I mean of each person, even the least one–indeed, of him or her above all; the very soul of socialism is a deep reverence for persons. Another way of saying it is this: socialism lives and breathes respect for the freedom of the people. It takes seriously the fact that a person is an end in himself and not just a means for other purposes, that he is not just a thing, a commodity, but rather a being whose worth is unconditionally grounded in his existence, his human existence. In other words, socialism takes seriously the fact that a human being is something holy, in a certain sense a holy being. Because of this fundamental belief, it is the deadly enemy of every form of slavery. Because of this fundamental belief, it is against war; its antimilitarism corresponds to its innermost nature. Because of this fundamental belief, it wants to apply “thou shall not kill” in all areas of life; it views human life as something of eternal and unconditional value. That is why socialism is a freedom movement; that is why it is a way by which humans become human. In economic life as well as in everything else, it wants to change people from commodities or slaves into people.
Would anyone among us doubt that this is the meaning of socialism? Socialism is not just an economic or political system as such; that is, it is not simply an apparatus, an external form of living. Socialism is a moral ideal, and the political or economic system is simply the means by which it gets realized…Socialism is a form of community that is based on the principle of solidarity rather than on the principle of mutual combat.
Leonhard Ragatz in Signs of the Kingdom: A Ragatz Reader, 49 (1919)
Sweet sentiments, but utterly unrealistic. Even Alexis de Tocqueville recognized that: “Democracy and socialism have nothing in common but one word: equality. But notice the difference: while democracy seeks equality in liberty, socialism seeks equality in restraint and servitude.”
Unless socialism can brainwash the masses into believing in its Utopian visions, it has to rely on force to impose it’s vision. Human nature is fallen. The attraction to socialism is that you can get stuff while someone else (“the rich”) pays for you to have it.
As economist Thomas Sowell noted: “Socialism is a great idea. That does not mean it’s a great reality.”
One other thought. “Socialism is a form of community that is based on the principle of solidarity rather than on the principle of mutual combat.” There is scarcity in the world. Who can honestly say other than a fundamentalist socialist detached from reality that combat over limited resources would be eliminated. There are no socialist leaders that have lived in the same state of poverty as their subjects. They always seem to live quite well and have the best of whatever their society can offer while other wallow in a far lower standard of living.
Amen, to Edt and his or her (great pronouns, by the way) comments.
Let me extend these thoughts into the spiritual realm. The -Social or Socialist gospel-is great in a philanthropic sense and sounds good and feels good and does help people, but in an eternal salvation solution, it is like political Socialism–It doesn’t- Work.
Political Socialism always devolves into a power class demanding people- obey in order to get pay. And no, Bernie you are not a -Democrat Socialist-, you are a Communist.