5 Socialism Myths: Part 2 — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:03In my last video, we covered two big myths about socialism.
2. 0:07But we have more.
3. 0:08So here’s myth #3.
4. 0:09Socialism brings good things,
5. 0:11if it’s democratic socialism.
6. 0:14The examples of failed socialism that
7. 0:16critics used are not socialist democracies
8. 0:18but authoritarian states
9. 0:19Democratic socialists denounce all that.
10. 0:22The key word for them: Democratic.
11. 0:24They believe both the government and the economy
12. 0:26should be run by the people by way of the ballot box.
13. 0:33But Venezuela’s socialist was elected.
14. 0:40They can start off democratically elected,
15. 0:43and then, once they centralize control over the economy,
16. 0:45it becomes impossible to democratically unelect them.
17. 0:48Economist Ben Powell.
18. 0:50Now, Maduro rules while ordering state employees
19. 0:54to vote for him or they lose their job.
20. 0:55Maduro blatantly buying votes
21. 0:58They put food aid stations next to polling places,
22. 1:01and you get rewarded with rations if you vote correctly.
23. 1:04Now, democracy there is a sham.
24. 1:06It always becomes authoritarian, always?
25. 1:08Everywhere you try socialism, that's what you get.
26. 1:10Why?
27. 1:11It's hard to exercise political freedom
28. 1:14if you don't have economic freedoms.
29. 1:15If you're dependent upon the state for your livelihood,
30. 1:18you lose your ability to use your voice to
31. 1:20oppose them because you can be punished.
32. 1:22But unfortunately,
33. 1:22people don’t realize that when they’re promoting democratic socialism.
34. 1:27Democratic socialism is your kids public schools
35. 1:30It’s the researchers and scientists paid with our taxes
36. 1:33It’s our interstate highway system
37. 1:35We’re not purely capitalist,
38. 1:36there are some industries that are government owned, operated and controlled.
39. 1:40Socialized if you will.
40. 1:41It’s no accident that when you look at these
41. 1:43and think about things that are inefficiently done and underperforming,
42. 1:47our public education
43. 1:49our congested streets
44. 1:50These socialized industries don't work well.
45. 1:52But what about
46. 1:54Norway, its as socialist as they come
47. 1:56Instead of Cuba, or China, think Sweden.
48. 2:00Myth 4: Socialism does work well in Scandinavia.
49. 2:04But Scandinavian countries are not socialist.
50. 2:07Sweden isn't socialist.
51. 2:08Volvo is a private company.
52. 2:10Go to restaurants, hotels, they're privately owned.
53. 2:13Markets organize the vast majority of Swedish economic activity.
54. 2:17But Sweden…
55. 2:18did have a period in the 1970s and 1980s
56. 2:21when we had something that resembled socialism.
57. 2:24A big government that taxed and spent heavily
58. 2:26there were waiting lines to get health care,
59. 2:28people couldn’t get the pension that they depended on for the future.
60. 2:32At that point the Swedish population just said enough. We can't do this.
61. 2:37So Sweden cut taxes, and cut government spending.
62. 2:39[train]
63. 2:42They privatized trains,
64. 2:43sold state owned businesses
65. 2:45When I talk about democratic socialism
66. 2:48I’m looking at countries like Denmark
67. 2:50When American politicians wrongly called Scandinavia socialist
68. 2:54Denmark’s prime minster came to America to refute them
69. 2:57Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy
70. 3:01Denmark is a market economy.
71. 3:03In fact Denmark today is more free market than America.
72. 3:07With much freedom to pursue your dreams and live your life
73. 3:10Finally, Myth 5: socialism is completely different from fascism.
74. 3:16When a congressman said,
75. 3:17The potential is out there
76. 3:20for another Hitler, socialist like Hitler to come along
77. 3:23Another congressman said he was wrong.
78. 3:25It's the Nazis that's terrible, not the socialists
79. 3:27They were Nazi’s who killed Jews
80. 3:29and I would get offended when you compare socialists to Nazis
81. 3:32They were fascists
82. 3:33It’s true that fascism and socialism aren’t exactly the same.
83. 3:37But they do have a lot in common.
84. 3:39They both replace market decision-making with command and control.
85. 3:43While socialism abolished private property
86. 3:45and replaces it with state ownership,
87. 3:47fascism leaves private ownership in nominal terms at least,
88. 3:50but replaces decision-making with state control and orders
89. 3:54As an average person living your life,
90. 3:56whether under socialism or fascism,
91. 3:58you lose your autonomy,
92. 4:00your control over your own future.
93. 4:02Only under capitalism do you have the freedom to say "no."
94. 4:07Entrepreneurs offer you their services.
95. 4:09They offer you employment.
96. 4:11You can say "no," and choose a better path for yourself.
97. 4:14You don't get that same type of choice
98. 4:16when someone else is planning the economy.
99. 4:18Powell and another economist wrote a book about socialist countries.
100. 4:22We went to Socialism 2018
101. 4:24Chanting
102. 4:25The biggest gathering of young socialists.
103. 4:28And they pointed out lots of problems in the United States,
104. 4:31problems with migration, with war, with policing
105. 4:34[Siren]
106. 4:35The problems they were identifying were the product of bad government
107. 4:38that the US is giving them, not capitalism.
108. 4:40Socialism appeals because it promises fairness, and equality.
109. 4:45Resources should be allocated to those who need them
110. 4:49They hear the preaching of socialism,
111. 4:51about equality, b
112. 4:52ut they don't look on what it actually delivers.
113. 4:54The history of humanity is poverty, starvation, early death.
114. 5:00This was true throughout our history until very recently.
115. 5:04In the last 20 years, we've seen more humans
116. 5:07escape extreme poverty than any other time in human history,
117. 5:10and that's because of markets.