Socialism, Why we are not Socialists

Socialism, Why we are not Socialists

Socialism and Communism have much in common and in fact all of the economic problems of Communism also relate to Socialism. But Socialism is still different to Communism, because unlike Communism it can be active in political systems other than Communism. Famously the Nazis called themselves National Socialists and all current Democracies are also Socialist, only the degree varies.

The definition provided by Google of Socialism is good and succinct:

a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

synonyms:

leftism, Fabianism, syndicalism, consumer socialism, utopian socialism, welfarism

There are a number of features within Socialism that can appear attractive to Traditional Conservatives. Both believe in Community, that the Community is important because it supports all of us whilst many other political theories work against the Community. We both believe that work is important and that work should be supported. We both believe that there are no "excess" people, that having an underclass is a failure and that every effort should be made to create a future for these people. We also believe that those truly in need of our help and protection should receive it.

But our means of achieving these things are quite different. Socialism thinks of Community as an economic unit and Traditional Conservatives think of Community as an identity, as forming, in most cases, a shared past present and future. Socialism thinks of work as important to both the economic needs of the Community and the Individual. Traditional Conservatives agree but we would add the Family and the self worth of all to this.  

We also differ on who should own the economy and who it should benefit. 

Socialism believes that the Community should own the economy and normally that means that the Community is represented by the Government. Which now means that by default the Government controls the Community, whether it was planned that way or not. It also believes in the idea of Equality, which means that in theory people should receive the same rewards for work, in practice it has never worked.  

Traditional Conservatives believe that the Community should own the economy, but unlike Socialism, we believe in a Free Enterprise system whereby economic concerns are owned by members of the community. That the Community is self supporting in most regards and that it is not owned and operated by the Government. Government has a rightful place but that should be regulation and oversight, in stopping things from moving too far in any one direction. We do not believe in the idea of Equality, we believe that because people are different in skill and ability they should be rewarded differently. We further believe that those who take more risks, with their own money not with other peoples, should be rewarded when that works instead of being punished. 

We live today under a form of quasi-Socialism, in some cases not so quasi. The Government has great influence and power. It supports some Industries but not others, in Europe and the United States it gives subsidies to Farmers. Subsidies are a form of Socialism. Having the Community pay economic concerns instead of insisting that these concerns be self supporting. 

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