How
to Debunk a Socialist
Or, What I learned at Bread and Roses
published
09/09/03
Socialists,
Communists, Marxists and other liberty hating
ideologues were out in full force at Lawrence's
Bread and Roses festival again this year. It is a
great celebration but usually hijacked by
political groups with very unrealistic ideas.
This is a real conversation with socialists who
actually had a table at the Bread and Roses
festival on Labor Day.
 The couple I met at the
socialists table told me that the capitalism and
money was "evil".
"The goal
of all good people (notice you are
"good" if you have their approved
ideas) is to do away with money and fight for
equality," the woman told me.
Remember,
equality and individual liberty cannot coexist
because if you are free to discriminate or spend
your own money that would be "unfair,"
it would be "inequality."
"You see,
" the woman continued, "there is enough
food to feed the whole world but because of money
those resources are concentrated among very few
people…the rich are the only ones with
access to it."
Really? So how
do we survive without money?
"We can
trade goods and services at the very basic level.
We can grow our own food and trade what we make
with our hands. Capitalism is evil it deprives
food and necessities to poor people."
As we chatted I
noticed a poster hailing Fidel Castro as a hero
so I asked her, "If capitalism is evil is
communism (more specifically) is Fidel Castro
evil?"
"In Cuba
there is only poverty because of America. Our
boycott is starving the people of Cuba."
I looked
thoughtful and asked her about the lack of free
speech in Cuba and the journalists who are now
serving long prison terms for speaking out
against Castro. "Was that America's fault
too?"
"America
is no better. We imprison people for their
beliefs all the time, you just don't hear about
it."
Resisting the
urge to ask her which planet she was talking
about, I continued with my feigned receptiveness
and continued to ask questions. "So, it's
wrong if we do that?" I asked.
"Of course
it is!"
She then went
into a five minute speech on how horribly
oppressive America is and how we have no free
speech (mind you, all the while she is in a
public place, in the open, with a table of anti
American and anti capitalist literature blaming
America for every problem in the world).
For the record,
we do not imprison journalists for their beliefs.
But I was not there to argue I was there to
learn.
"So then
if it's wrong for us to do that how is Castro
such a great guy when he imprisons journalists
for openly criticizes him or his communist
policies?"
Ah, its
America's fault!
"Those
journalists are traitors who have sold out their
country by working with the US government to
overthrow the country. We do the same
thing." She repeated.
So, OK, I'll
bite. Give me specifics. Tell me how many
journalists are in jail for criticizing America.
Who are these people exactly?
(One thing I
learned about discussions with liberals and
leftists is that they are quick to make an
accusation but devoid of specific details when
pressed. That's why it is important to ask lots
of questions.
"What
about Guantanamo? What about the political
prisoners?" ...as if this was an answer. The
prisoners at Guantanamo are Al Queda and Taliban
terrorists.
Not ready to
let her change the subject by answering her, I
pressed on.
"I was
only asking you about freedom of speech and the
press in this country. Who exactly is in jail for
their beliefs or for writing a column or book
criticizing the government?"
"What
about Mumia?" she asked clearly getting
flustered. (Mumia happens to be an admitted enemy
of the United States and is in prison for killing
police officers.)
"He is in
prison for his beliefs!" she charged. More
proof that to have a leftist view of the world is
to live in denial of reality. Rather than
argue I just kept going.
"How many
Americans were arrested and tortured last year?
And who exactly are these people?" Clearly
she had to have some specifics if she was so
convinced this was true. Instead, she wanted to
talk about how racist and evil America is for
"waging war against Muslims."
...another
topic unrelated to my question. Apparently she
hadn't read anything about the war in Bosnia
where the U.S. rescued millions of Muslims from
extermination or the Muslims we freed in Kuwait.
"Why do
you suppose America hates Muslims and what makes
you think this is true?" I asked.
"uh....racial
profiling after 911, dozens of Americans are
being held just for being Muslims."
Really? That
was the charge? I didn't see any headlines saying
"Dozens Arrested for Being Muslim."
(And for the
record they were not American citizens but
foreign citizens entering the country from
terrorist nations.)
She didn't even
hear me.
"You can't
trust the media," he husband broke in.
"You have to get the real news…from our
publications," she added, pointing to her
table filled with books on the glory of Marx and
Castro (who is commmunist not socialist) as well
as the evils of America.
"So, for
socialism to work," I probed, "we need
to get rid of money and have the government make
us all financially equal by taking away our
liberty?" I asked, seeking clarification as
to why money, capitalism and personal liberty
were bad things.
"If you
have something that has value and someone else
doesn't you are not equal," she said.
"The standard of living for some people will
decrease of course, but that is just a minority
of our citizens."
Astonished by
this I asked her if minorities (by definition)
should have the will of the majority forced upon
them. It seems as though this flies in the face
of everything leftists and socialists say
they stand for.
"But they
are rich and they are depriving
people of the food and resources they need to
live. It is morally wrong to make someone pay
money for something like food, housing or
education when someone else has more! If we stop
being so selfish with our resources and learn to
give to others, the world will be a better place.
Anyone who can't see that is either ignorant or
selfishly refusing to see the errors in their
ways."
"Oh,"
I responded. "Well, thanks for your time, I
would like to educate myself more about this
socialism thing. These books on socialism and
Marxism, can I take these home? Are they free? I
want to read more!"
"Oh,
no" she replied. The book on Marx is four
dollars, the pamphlet is three……"
And there you
have it. Living Hypocricy. Socialists value
forced equality over individual liberty and do so
on the premise that you must practice what they
preach. All the while they profit from capitalism
and benefit by spreading their anti-American
message in a country that allows (values) free
speech.
Try doing that
in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba or 3/4 of the
rest of the world.
Another
valuable lesson learned right here in Lawrence,
thanks to the freedoms of our capitalist system
and the love of liberty our
nation was founded upon (not equality as Marx and
Tennis Lilly would have you believe).
|