Try socialism 4

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

 If socialism is called by another name, like "democratic socialism," is it better? 

Will the outcomes be good if people actually vote for it in an election? No, the outcomes still won't be good.

Try socialism 3

When Cambodia shifted to economic freedom, things got a lot better for the people. No, we don't want socialism. Freedom is best for Americans.

(cont'd from yesterday's post).

Freer market reforms during the 1990's opened the door to optimism. Mr. Lim's parents had no hope for a better future, but his own generation saw that grinding poverty as rice farmers was no longer the only option: they saw freedom to improve their lives.

From 1995 to 2017 Cambodia's economy grew at an average rate of 7.7% per year. (To compare, good growth in the U.S. used to be about 3% per year.) In 2007 the poverty rate was still about 47%, but by 2014 it was at 14%.

photo

What does Cambodia look like now? This author recently visited Mr. Lim and reports:

"Mr. Lim works in tourism. He drives a Lexus SUV on paved roads. He buys groceries from a thriving local market, and his daughters go to school. His brother owns a pharmacy in Phnom Penh. Another brother is a nurse at a major hospital . . There are entrepreneurs everywhere . . I witnessed family-owned coffee shops, restaurants, general stores, and roadside markets."

In one generation the grim poverty was turned around. Mr. Lim says it came because of: "Peace, education, technology, and the entrepreneurial spirit of Cambodian people.”

from "Entrepreneurship Lifts Cambodia from the Clutches of Extreme Poverty in a Single Generation"

Try socialism 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

 

Pol Pot's hideous regime (Khmer Rouge) was ended by Vietnam, which captured and plundered the capital (Phnom Penh) in January of 1979. The ruined nation of Cambodia became the "People's Republic of Kampuchea" (the PRK) and remained a communist state.

"Under Vietnamese control, the PRK was established in the wake of the total destruction of the country's institutions, infrastructure and intelligentsia wreaked by Khmer Rouge rule."

Lim Pengkhun was born to rice farmers in 1980. "For the first 15 years of [his] life, Cambodia was a command economy controlled by communist and socialist policies and remained one of the most impoverished nations in the world."

Things started to change in 1989 when the last Vietnamese occupiers left Cambodia, and reforms started transitioning their economy from "command" to free market. New private property rights turned state-owned enterprises into person-owned enterprises. The U.N. invested in education, infrastructure, and health.

photo

(cont'd tomorrow)

Try socialism 1

One of our political parties wants us to try Socialism policies in America, a theme that comes up every four years in our national election. It's not a new idea. Other countries have tried socialism, and we don't want their results. The story of what happened in Cambodia is the theme of this week's posts, re-posts from five years ago on this blog.

A boy who had been educated in Cambodia's elite schools went to Paris, France, and became a follower of Marxist-Leninist communism there. Returning in 1953, he joined communist forces fighting the Cambodian government. The boy was Pol Pot.

Eventually he led his armies to defeat the government, and took control of Cambodia's politics and economy in 1975. His goal was to create an "agrarian socialist society," so he forced people out of cities and onto collective farms. His vision demanded social uniformity. His solution to dissent was to kill dissenters.

photo of mass grave

"Following the examples of Stalin and Mao, Pol Pot brutally murdered more than one million Cambodians in the infamous Killing Fields of 1975-1979 as he implemented his vision of communist utopia. He abolished private property, money, prices, commerce, and even cities—a full descent into barbarism.

"Death sentences were levied against any number of “class enemies.” Simply being a former civil servant, student, artist, or capitalist of any variety—including a “street noodle vendor or a motorcycle taxi driver”—was enough to earn a spot in one of Pol Pot’s mass graves."

from FEE
(cont'd tomorrow)

Price control

One of our candidates for president of the United States says she wants to start controlling prices in this country. She claims that food would be cheaper, for example, because greedy evil companies in the food business would be forced by the government to sell at low prices.

Would that be good for the people? Here's a report from National Public Radio about the outcomes in one nation where that plan has been done by the socialist government for years.

photo

Venezuelan citizen Anny can shop only on certain days and at government-run stores. She is limited in how much she can buy. She must prove her identity. And, of course, many shelves are empty and food shortages are common.

NPR published this article in 2015, nine years ago. I doubt that it would be published today. Why not? Because of this: our political party on the left wants similar controls now, and NPR is a mouthpiece for the party's policies. This article would tell voters that price controls are a bad thing.

from NPR, "The Nightmare of Food Shopping in Venezuela"

Resisting 5

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Nicolas Maduro still holds power in Venezuela, in spite of losing July's election (in the view of many countries) and in spite of massive protests. We know his tactics include accusations and threats against his opposition, but that's not all.

A dictator cannot be too careful of allowing influencers to speak. So he has ordered X (former Twitter) to be blocked from the country for ten days as a punishment for X owner Elon Musk. Why? Because--shock--Elon has made mean statements about him, like calling him a dictator and a clown.

(Actually, I call him a dictator too, but for some reason Maduro's not coming after me 😄)

 

from Seattle Times

Free market 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Do you doubt that a free market can enable prosperity, to meet the needs of more of the people? A sizeable number of our people really do doubt it. They think that an economy controlled by a socialist type of government (either voted into power, or forced into power by coup - doesn't matter which) will make more prosperity available to more people.

Jay Richards (Tuesday's video) learned the value of a free market from his 6th grade school teacher. On the day the class had to stay indoors during recess, their teacher brought in small toys like silly putty, paddle ball, Barbie trading cards, about $1/per toy, one for each child. They looked around at each other's toys, then wrote down how satisfied they were with the toy they had on a scale of 1 to 10. The teacher added up all the scores for a baseline total.

Then she gave them the freedom to trade with kids in the adjacent row, and added up all the scores again. No new toys had been added to the system, but the total score went up. Next, she gave them the freedom to trade with every student in the room, so their trading options multiplied.

They scored their satisfaction once more, she added up the total, and the number went way, way up. Overall happiness of the students soared when they were allowed to freely trade. No one was allowed to steal or force a trade (rule of law). They made only win/win exchanges, that is, trading only when both parties wanted to. 

That's a free market.

(cont'd tomorrow)

NK escape 1

Yeonmi Park was a child in North Korea, where she learned early that to speak was fraught with danger. Any talk that crossed the government's narrative could result in prison camp or execution for you and generations of your family. Even someone who seems friendly with you would have to report it, so don't trust anyone.

There is no word for friend. They use the word "comrade," meaning someone you work with for the "glory of the party." There is no word for love, except in the sense that you must love the "Dear Leader." They were taught that they lived in a socialist paradise.

Vocabulary control is thought control. Another tool for controlling thought is plain old hunger. Weak and desperate citizens who worry about every meal have little thought to spare for political change. Starving North Koreans are taught that former leader Kim Jong Un died of exhaustion working for the good of the people.

In 2007 her family could no longer find food. Yeonmi had never seen a map of the world, but saw lights across the border to China. That looked better to her, and that's where the family went.

image

from Epoch Times

(cont'd tomorrow)

Social wreckage 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Chenyuan grew up under the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China. Social power is in the hands of government people who control the economy. Buying, selling and managing decisions are made by the socialist government, and total obedience is required. 

She says this kind of power always corrupts, that it inevitably produces abuse because no checks and balances are built into the system to restrain it. Government elites at every level use intimidation and threats to protect their power. Her father said they had to live like dogs with their tail tucked behind their legs. 

photo

But Chenyuan noticed a big social difference when she came to the U.S. in 1989. She saw courtesy and mutual respect between people, which she believes comes from a system that values human freedom.

She begs Americans to continue to choose freedom over socialism.

from The Stream

Social wreckage 1

At the age of ~4 years, she woke up one night to a loudspeaker commanding all adults to get dressed and come out to the public square. Her parents suddenly left her and she started screaming along with the other abandoned children. 

They came back the next day but she still feels the trauma decades later. Her family lived in just one small room, though her father was a professor, and she picked up their fear and uncertainty. They used extreme caution in words and actions because any misstep could bring catastrophe.

Chenyuan grew up during the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-1976) with an unfocused sense of dread that went beyond the authorities. They had to fear their neighbors because friends commonly reported friends to the government for favor and benefits.

China's authoritarian socialism ruined their economy by 1976. But Chenyuan's lived experience tells her that it also devastated human relationships.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Changed mind 1a

She grew up in the wealthiest suburb of Montreal, Canada, but came to hate the snobbery aimed at her middle-class mom. By the time she got to university, Elizabeth Nickson was marching at any and all protests. Her philosophy prof-boyfriend recruited her for communism.

photo

In London, her circle of political/international friendships grew while she worked for Time magazine. She describes herself as "a happy swimmer in the cultural left," where everyone was waiting for socialism to save the world. She wrote a book and became the European Bureau Chief for Life magazine.

She discovered while visiting family that her great-great-grandmother had been a feminist back in 1850! What an inspiration! So she must write a novel, possibly centered around the oppression that woman must have endured from family and the barbaric society of that unenlightened time. She and her editor happily "dug for dirt" as they researched three centuries of family history.

from C2C Journal

(cont'd tomorrow)

Good liberty 1

There's a serious public debate going on in America (one of many) to ask which is better for us, socialism (government-controlled economic system) or capitalism (a person is free to create her or his own productivity). 

Those terms will have to be defined so we know what we're talking about, and that's a future post.

But before we get there, here are some good quotes from Jonah Goldberg (disclaimer: I don't endorse everything he writes) to answer the question, "what's so great about freedom?"

"The government can improve your net worth, but not your self-worth, and your self-worth comes from earned success and the good character that allows you to recognize what that means. If I could earn success for my daughter, I’d be tempted to do it. But I can’t and neither can the government.

"The free market creates opportunities for people to find what is meaningful to them . . creates opportunities for people to find their niche."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Blind spot 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Alex cites the example of Venezuela, where socialism was chosen when they democratically voted for Hugo Chavez in 1998. 

"Look no further than Venezuela for an example of how an allegedly socialist utopia necessarily leads to a communist crackdown. We are watching history repeat itself. As the socialist system collapses, Maduro implements tyranny. That’s how it works. That’s how it always works."

Alex believes that fans of socialism have not been told the whole story, that they have been educated by elites with a huge blind spot.

"My grandmother passed away in 1995 and my grandfather died last month. It is in their honor that I tell their story and on their behalf that I make this plea: Just like with Naziism, we must make it socially unacceptable to express any positive sentiments toward socialism or communism. Its 100 million victims cry out."

Blind spot 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

A common misconception, in Alex's view, is that socialism and communism are completely different. But the former will lead to the latter because of . . simple human nature.

In theory, "the people" own the businesses, the means of production. No person owns his farm or shop. The people elect leaders who then control all "the people's" businesses, buying and selling ("centralized planning"). But leaders are still flawed human beings.

"Powerful elites take charge. This group, which usually consists of a charismatic individual and his politically loyal kleptocrats, becomes the true owners of the means of production. They exist largely to serve themselves, so voices of opposition must be suppressed. Free speech is abandoned and, eventually, fair elections are too."

To hang on to their power, elites get more oppresssive. "The people" must be controlled. Individual persons must fall in line. "The people" gave their freedoms away and live to regret it.

Blind spot

Calling himself the "Junk Science Debunker," Alex Berezow is a microbiologist and the VP of Science Communications at the American Council on Science and Health. But he contributed something quite different, not science, at USAToday two years ago. 

His grandmother grew up in Ukraine when it was part of the USSR. She would check her family members every morning to see if any had died in the night during the mass starvation implemented by USSR leader Joseph Stalin. 

Alex hears CNN and others praise socialism as being "cool" but his family history tells him a different story. It frustrates him that many Americans may know about Nazi crimes but are ignorant about Soviet (USSR) crimes.

photo

He says, "It is still fashionable for intellectuals — particularly those in the cozy confines of academia who never had to suffer under it — to praise the virtues of socialism. This white-washed version of history is a moral blind spot . . ."

From USAToday
(cont'd tomorrow)

Cambodia 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Pol Pot's hideous regime (Khmer Rouge) was ended by Vietnam, which captured and plundered the capital (Phnom Penh) in January of 1979. The ruined nation of Cambodia became the "People's Republic of Kampuchea" (the PRK) and remained a communist state.

"Under Vietnamese control, the PRK was established in the wake of the total destruction of the country's institutions, infrastructure and intelligentsia wreaked by Khmer Rouge rule."

Lim Pengkhun was born to rice farmers in 1980. "For the first 15 years of [his] life, Cambodia was a command economy controlled by communist and socialist policies and remained one of the most impoverished nations in the world."

But things changed in 1989 when the last Vietnamese occupiers left Cambodia, and reforms started transitioning their economy from "command" to free market. New private property rights turned state-owned enterprises into person-owned enterprises. The U.N. invested in education, infrastructure, and health.

photo

(cont'd tomorrow) 

Cambodia 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

About two million is the number of Cambodian people murdered by their own government during the "killing fields" period between 1975 and 1979. That's 20-25% of the total population, but the suffering went even further than the appalling number of deaths..

A boy of five or six lived through it and tells his memories as an adult in the video below. He lost his whole family:




A woman soldier in the Khmer Rouge army now grieves her own participation in the brutal war of the government against the people here.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Cambodia 1

Disaster came to Cambodia in 1975. Here's how it happened.

A boy who had been educated in Cambodia's elite schools went to Paris, France, and became a follower of Marxist-Leninist communism there. Returning in 1953, he joined communist forces fighting the Cambodian government. The boy was Pol Pot.

Eventually he led his armies to defeat the government, and took control of Cambodia's politics and economy in 1975. His goal was to create an "agrarian socialist society," so he forced people out of cities and onto collective farms. 

His vision demanded social uniformity. His solution to dissent was to kill dissenters.

photo of mass grave

"Following the examples of Stalin and Mao, Pol Pot brutally murdered more than one million Cambodians in the infamous Killing Fields of 1975-1979 as he implemented his vision of communist utopia. He abolished private property, money, prices, commerce, and even cities—a full descent into barbarism.

"Death sentences were levied against any number of “class enemies.” Simply being a former civil servant, student, artist, or capitalist of any variety—including a “street noodle vendor or a motorcycle taxi driver”—was enough to earn a spot in one of Pol Pot’s mass graves."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Got banking 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Tala is not a non-profit charity. It's a business that must make profit to stay in business, so its banking services are not free. Customers must buy their services and pay for them.

Amylene Dingle, one of their customers, paid interest and a small fee for her first ($20) and subsequent loans. Like all business owners, she took a risk when she bet that people would want her product and that she could generate a profit of her own.  She was right, it was well worth it, and her family is much better off.

image

In a "free enterprise" or "free market" economic system, people like Amylene are free to do as she did. She is entitled to use her own intelligence, to act on her idea - and she's entitled to the rewards of her own work.

In socialism's "control or command economy," somebody in the government decides if she should be allowed to pursue her goal. And her business will never actually belong to her. Private ownership is abolished, and the business will belong to the collective which of course is run by the government.

Still socialism

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

 If socialism is called by another name, like "democratic socialism," is it better? 

Will the outcomes be good if people actually vote for it in an election? No, the outcomes still won't be good.